And? That's irrelevant, using that argument, control over rail infrastructure should not be devolved in Scotland either. If control over NR was fully devolved to Welsh Govt, they would get the spending needed for it allocated to them every year through the block grant, as they do for health, education, roads etc.
Indeed. I thought it was universally agreed that fragmentation was bad for the rail industry. We shouldn't be creating even more!
It can be 150% guaranteed that without devolution and the Welsh Govt in Wales, the South Wales Metro wouldn't have even been thought about, let alone actually happening. The Valley lines would just be getting new DMUs to replace Pacers, with PRM'd 150s staying for the foreseeable future, and that would be it.
Which is why, as I said, Ebbw Vale re-opening was done on the cheap as a single line, as the money for it had to come out of the overall Welsh Govt budget, which also has to be split between the NHS, education, councils etc. If rail infrastructure was fully devolved in Wales, the Welsh Govt's overall annual budget would increase to reflect this.
You cannot possibly make that assertion. British Rail were looking at electrifying the Valley Lines decades ago. Come back when something that isn't value-engineered into oblivion actually happens.
Tomos answered that question in the last part of his post, as I suspect you're implying that low passenger numbers in Wales doesn't warrant investment in the network, but:
Deer, deer!
Not to mention the highly political and operationally nonsensical decision to run trains to Cardiff. Would that have happened without WAG intervention?
Would the line have re-opened at all without WAG intervention? Given the line has been successful in terms of passenger numbers (indeed almost too successful given overcrowding), I don't think the decision to route services to Cardiff was the wrong one - the problem was that there were no services to Newport as well.
It is impossible to say what would have happened, but what has happened is value engineered and undoubtedly highly political. Let us not forget that the line was supposedly reopened to passengers as a mitigation of the loss of steelworks jobs in Ebbw Vale and Newport. How does running trains from Newport's hinterland and western suburbs to Cardiff help Newport in any way?
On the instructions of the WAG!
Abandonment of the bus shuttle was because it took a ridiculously circuitous route that took far too long and involved changing from train to bus and vice-versa.
My actual expression was "operationally nonsensical". The line was originally built from Newport to Blaina, with the "Cardiff Curve" coming much later. A branch line train comes to within less than a mile of NWP, then travels ten miles in the opposite direction along the main line to CDF. That makes no sense operationally, does not mitigate for loss of steelworks jobs in Newport and is entirely political. There are dozens of trains from NWP to CDF that Ebbw Valley passengers can take, but anyone wanting to get to Newport faces a pointless 30-minute+ round trip to Cardiff first. Lunacy!
Because Network Rail quickly blew the agreed budget. DfT instructed NR to abandon projects, notably electrification, for the exact same reasons in England.
Unfortunately? Yes, it's very sad that after decades of under-investment, or more accurately, zero investment, that the Valley lines of South Wales are finally getting upgraded for this century.
No, it wasn't singled fully until the late 1990s. I designed a signalling scheme plan for the job in 1996 or 97 when working as a consultant for Railtrack at Swindon. I had no further involvement, but it was a rush job accomplished fairly soon afterwards as the track engineer had some serious concerns about track condition and wanted to avoid spending a great deal on renewals of both tracks. The scheme was to cobble together an acceptable single line from the best bits of the remaining double track section between Lime Kiln Sidings and Aberbeeg. Aberbeeg SB closed and Lime Kiln Sidings SB was downgraded to a crossing cabin, with token working from Park Junction introduced for the entire section to Ebbw Vale South GF, where a remote token instrument was to remain for lock-in at the steel works. If I recall correctly, it was originally TCB with acceptance levers on the single line between Park Jn and Lime Kiln Sidings, then TCB with some intermediate 2 aspect auto and distant signals en route in each direction to Aberbeeg, then token on the single line to Ebbw Vale. There were a lot of individual track circuit sections to cover the distance, so the scheme made appreciable savings on signalling maintenance too.
Agree, and those lines will be getting new rolling stock and some infrastructure enhancements (although less is needed, as there is little single track already), so it’s wrong to say the coastal lines are not being upgraded.
