Wales & Borders Franchise Consultation

[Gareth Marston]

Absolutely - I think there's a strong case for an hourly stopper from Hereford to Crewe (and have posted that here before).

That way, Ludlow and Leominster would be served by this stopper and a few additional stops in the express services; Craven Arms and Church Stretton by this stopper and the occasional HOWL.

I'm not particularly familiar with the line south of Hereford (I've used it to Abergavenny a few times, but not regularly) so won't pronounce on what you do south of there, but if a stopper were to run there then absolutely, it would make sense to combine the two.

Abergavenny and Ludlow are quite prosperous areas that generate a lot of revenue rich long distance traffic. Abergavenny is on the outer fringe of the Cardiff and Bristol Travel to Work area as well. Ludlow sees a large number of schoolchildren commute to the Private Blue Coat school in Hereford - were talking serious £ per term. Leominster is more skewed toward commuting into Hereford for the Bluecoat school and also the FE college. However it has to be born in mind that the paucity of direct trains to London from Hereford mean that a lot of London traffic from the Marches goes via Newport hence why having a Regional Express stop at Ludlow and Leominster is important for London connections.

Abergavenny should be the outer terminus for Metro services to Cardiff. South of it lies the depressed UA of Torfaen despite having a large new town Cwmbran (pop c45k) and purpose built dual carriageways linking it to the M4. Cwmbran station has a lower footfall than Abergavenny but with 3 trains per 2 hours has the poorest service of any similar size town linked to Cardiff of a similar distance (18 miles). Pontypool & New Inn is proof that Beeching's rail heading assumptions were wrong - it was the junction for the cross Valleys line to Neath but despite Pontypool and a depressed valley up to Abersychan being a few miles away hardly anyone uses it. Caerleon has about 9K population and needs to have its station reopened its only 14 miles from Cardiff.

 

[coppercapped]

from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-42081159



Essentially a load of wish wash and a very expensive piece of pork barrel politics unnecessary infrastructure spend on Narberth Tunnel to keep Pembrokeshire voting Tory.

Presumably it ceases to be 'pork barrel politics' if the available money is spent in your area?

 

[Bwlch y Groes]

Caerleon has about 9K population and needs to have its station reopened its only 14 miles from Cardiff.

I've seen reports into this. I think the main problem with Caerleon is that the railway is on a really sharp curve going through there which makes building a new station very difficult and expensive. I suspect it'll happen eventually but it'll end up like Ilkeston, taking a lot longer than originally planned

 

[gareth950]

Presumably it ceases to be 'pork barrel politics' if the available money is spent in your area?

I can guarantee you that if Pembrokeshire was a solid Tory area and Stephen Crabb wasn't vulnerable Narbeth tunnel would not be planned to be needlessly expensively re-engineered.

 

[Gareth Marston]

Presumably it ceases to be 'pork barrel politics' if the available money is spent in your area?

Lets see .... Cambrian Mainline really could do with extending Welshpool to Fron double track to Forden and Buttington, Maybe the double track from Sutton Bridge Junction westward onto the Cambrian, a passing loop at Borth and a reinstated second platform at Aberystwyth. However a National UK Priority that needs announcing by the Chancellor in the budget- no.

The reality is that Tenby needs some tidy length direct services from the populace South Wales areas at certain times of the year. GWR HST's have been doing this as Regional Railways and successors have not had the resource to. The fact the HST's are to/from London is somewhat of a red herring.

 

[Gareth Marston]

I've seen reports into this. I think the main problem with Caerleon is that the railway is on a really sharp curve going through there which makes building a new station very difficult and expensive. I suspect it'll happen eventually but it'll end up like Ilkeston, taking a lot longer than originally planned

I can remember discussion on this 15 years ago in my RPC days... the slow progress of UK rail improvements

.

 

[Gareth Marston]

Bearing in mind that Abergavenny is about to become one of my potential railheads, a service to Birmingham would be much more useful than one to Holyhead.

Don't post such heresy Carwyn will have you flogged in public down in the Bay.

 

[iantherev]

I love a good bit of heresy . If you think that’s bad, don’t get me started on the notion of running trams up the Valleys!

 

[coppercapped]

I can guarantee you that if Pembrokeshire was a solid Tory area and Stephen Crabb wasn't vulnerable Narbeth tunnel would not be planned to be needlessly expensively re-engineered.

Whoosh...

 

[Gareth Marston]

I love a good bit of heresy . If you think that’s bad, don’t get me started on the notion of running trams up the Valleys!

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/western-mail-letters-monday-october-13766254

Scroll down to my letter.

 

[iantherev]

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/western-mail-letters-monday-october-13766254

Scroll down to my letter.

Well said.

 

[Parallel]

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/western-mail-letters-monday-october-13766254

Scroll down to my letter.

I agree with what you have said.

The only benefit trams would bring to the Valleys would be if new light rail lines were introduced to areas not currently served by rail.

 

[gareth950]

Whoosh...

There's obviously something I'm not getting in this reply.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/western-mail-letters-monday-october-13766254

Scroll down to my letter.

Agreed completely.

 

[berneyarms]

If Holyhead has 4tpd to London why not have some GWR services to meet Pembroke and Fishguard services? Presumably GWR services to Pembroke Dock will be 5 coaches splitting and joining in Swansea?

I think that you’re overplaying the ferry connections.

There are six VT services to and from Holyhead each day - only two of them in each direction offer ferry connections.

The rest are there to offer a direct service from North Wales to London.

 

[Class 170101]

Here's the new Stadler Regional Product the WINK - probably no coming to Wales or the Borders but we can dream..

http://www.stadlerrail.com/en/products/detail/wink/

Given that thing is an electric train with a diesel fuel tank bolted on, all I'll say is be careful what you wish for.

 

[Domh245]

Given that thing is an electric train with a diesel fuel tank bolted on, all I'll say is be careful what you wish for.

Not quite, the regional FLIRT's ordered for Greater Anglia are an electric train with a diesel generator bolted on, the WINK is a FLIRT, but with the possibility of using batteries, hydrogen, or fuel cells in place of the diesel engine (although the diesel remains an option, including running on hydrogenated vegetable oil)

 

[Class 170101]

Nevertheless be careful what you wish for these are basically electric trains. I wouldn't be surprised if fuel range was insufficient to complete a days work on the Valleys.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The WINK is a replacement for the GTW, I think - cheaper than the FLIRT. Interestingly, though, it's only offered as a two-car, while the GTW has longer options.

 

[Gareth Marston]

Nevertheless be careful what you wish for these are basically electric trains. I wouldn't be surprised if fuel range was insufficient to complete a days work on the Valleys.

No one is suggesting there used on the Valleys Lines.

 

[allaction]

Whoosh...

I can guarantee you that if Pembrokeshire was a solid Tory area and Stephen Crabb wasn't vulnerable Narbeth tunnel would not be planned to be needlessly expensively re-engineered.

The whole of the Pembroke Dock line is actually in the constituency of Conservative MP Simon Hart, rather than Stephen Crabb...

 

[coppercapped]

There's obviously something I'm not getting in this reply.

OK. One man's 'pork barrel' politics is another's 'overdue investment'.

 

[Gareth Marston]

OK. One man's 'pork barrel' politics is another's 'overdue investment'.

So there's been a long running campaign to re bore Narberth tunnel then?

 

[gareth950]

OK. One man's 'pork barrel' politics is another's 'overdue investment'.

Oh come on. The place where there is 'overdue investment' needed in South Wales is to have enough money to do a propoer job of the Metro and fully electrify the Valley lines, not re-boring Narbeth tunnel for potential political gain.
If you asked Network Rail where the lines are in Wales that need 'overdue investment' this pork barrel scheme wouldn't even make it on the list.

 

[edwin_m]

If they enlarge the tunnel then they can get bigger barrels of pork through it.

 

[coppercapped]

If they enlarge the tunnel then they can get bigger barrels of pork through it.

Thank you! That is the type of answer I expected...but everybody is so serious...

(One man's 'pork barrel politics' is another's 'representing the interests of the local community'. The applicability of such a phrase depends on where one stands).

 

[DenmarkRail]

If Abellio won the franchise, would there be any competition issues? Considering they will be running West Midlands, Northern, and Mersey Rail?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Not an awful lot of overlap there.

 

[Pete_uk]

I'll pup my head up above the parapet and ask if some short (3-5 carriages) HSTs could be used for some longer services, perhaps the north to south services to free stock up for other service?

 

[craigybagel]

I'll pup my head up above the parapet and ask if some short (3-5 carriages) HSTs could be used for some longer services, perhaps the north to south services to free stock up for other service?

Until a year or two ago, I was expecting that myself. But after the new train bonanzas at the new Anglia, Northern and London Midland franchises I'm not sure if the WAG will accept anything that isn't new and shiny....

 

[DanNCL]

If Abellio won the franchise, would there be any competition issues? Considering they will be running West Midlands, Northern, and Mersey Rail?

Abellio don't operate Northern anymore; they lost out to Arriva last year. The only stations served by both ATW and Merseyrail are Bidston and Chester, and the only route with both ATW and West Midlands services is Shrewsbury to Birmingham. Seeing as there is such little overlap I can't see there being any competition issues if Abellio won the Wales & Borders franchise.