Why a 49-mile journey in Wales takes seven hours

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

This story is currently running on the BBC website. IMHO a bit of a 'non story' as there must be plenty of places across the network where the train does not offer a competitive journey time compared to buses.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-67134361

How far could you travel in seven hours?
A flight from the UK could get you all the way to Dubai, and by using the Tube you could go east to west across London seven times.
But for people living in west Wales, travelling between the region's two biggest towns - Carmarthen and Aberystwyth - takes the same amount of time.
So with the Welsh government wanting more people to use greener modes of transport, I wanted to get a taste of what it's like getting around by train as a west Walian for the day.

• Aberystwyth-Carmarthen line could reopen
• World's longest passenger train rolls through Alps

Driving by car from Carmarthen directly to Aberystwyth would take only about one hour and 15 minutes, while a bus service takes about two hours and 15 minutes.
But since the railway line between them closed back in 1965, there is no longer a direct rail line.

Image caption,
The Traws Cymru bus that took me from Aberystwyth to Carmarthen
To get from Aberystwyth to Carmarthen down the west coast of Wales by train, I first needed to head over the English border to Shrewsbury in Shropshire.
At 12:30, a Transport for Wales train arrived, and off I went.
Lucy, a very friendly conductor, came to check my ticket and despite having worked the Aberystwyth to Shrewsbury line for three years, said she had never met anyone taking the route I was about to use.

Image caption,
A quick photo from the five minutes I spent enjoying Aberystwyth seafront
"Excuse me, what are you doing?" asked another passenger who overheard our conversation, who introduced herself as Laura Hockenhull-Smith, from Aberystwyth.
She found it "ludicrous" passengers needed to travel all the way into a different country just to get from town to town in another.
In between all the chatting I was doing, I must say, when I did look out of the window, the route was gorgeous.
Rolling hills, coastline, lush green fields dotted with sheep - it really had it all.

Image caption,
I'd quite enjoyed my journey so far up to Shrewsbury, but I didn't know what was coming next
By 2:15pm, I had crossed the border and arrived at Shrewsbury with a 45-minute pit stop to stretch my legs, so I ventured into the historical town to grab a coffee.
I must say, of all the train stations I have seen in my time, Shrewsbury's building has to be right up there.
A slight delay meant I got a bit more time at arguably the world's nicest train station, so I spoke to some more friendly station staff.
"Blimey, you could bike faster," one remarked.
Almost 30 minutes later than planned, my second Transport for Wales train pulled up.
The prospect of another four hours on a train didn't exactly fill me with joy - but to add insult to injury, I could see straight away there was no chance I would get a seat.

Image caption,
Built in 1848, Shrewsbury railway station is a grade II listed building
Luckily, I only spent about 30 minutes on my feet in the end before grabbing myself somewhere to sit for the remaining hours I had to endure.
After six stops in England, Abergavenny saw my return back in Wales with just under three hours to go.
Then, 30 minutes later, I pulled into Newport and a realisation dawned on me.
We would arrive into Cardiff at about 5.30pm - so an already-rammed train was about to get a whole lot busier.
The Welsh capital at rush hour.

• Tube mishap sees train pull into abandoned station
• A look back at the Aberystwyth-Carmarthen railway line

The train was boiling hot, severely overcrowded, and coupled with being surrounded by the glum faces of workers just desperate to get home, I'd already been on trains for five hours.
The two hours from Cardiff to Carmarthen felt like a lifetime.
Gone were the rolling hills and stone cottages, replaced with looming autumn darkness from town to town.
But amid the gloom came a sight to warm my heart.
After a journey that started seven hours earlier, at 7:30pm I finally managed to reach a town just 49 miles from where I started.

Image caption,
The end of a long day - reaching this sign couldn't have come fast enough
Thirty-five stations, a documentary series, half a book and one film later - I was in Carmarthen.
For anyone interested, I could have flown to Dubai from Heathrow about 30 minutes faster.
Mind you, it wouldn't have had the views.

 

[dk1]

Because the line was closed in stages from 1965. What a misleading headline and non-story. Same could be said for hundreds of journey opportunities up & down the UK.

 

[D Williams]

It is a complete "non story" but it does demonstrate the ongoing ability of the BBC to waste licence-payers money.

 

[PeterC]

Next week why we need a new Tube line between Paddington and Lancaster Gate.

 

[BayPaul]

The story itself even says there is a bus that takes about 2 hours... Surely that would be a more relevant story - why there is no demand for an express bus service.

You may as well have a story about someone dying whilst waiting 60 years for the next train from Ilfracombe to Bideford.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

What's coming up next from the BBC in this mini-series of "Not So Great British Rail Jouneys"? Whitby to Scarborough by rail, perhaps? Dumfries to Stranraer?

 

[zwk500]

This story is currently running on the BBC website. IMHO a bit of a 'non story' as there must be plenty of places across the network where the train does not offer a competitive journey time compared to buses.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-67134361

A very important line in the article:

Lucy, a very friendly conductor, came to check my ticket and despite having worked the Aberystwyth to Shrewsbury line for three years, said she had never met anyone taking the route I was about to use

There'll be hundreds if not thousands of journey origin/destination pairs with public transport services like this. It's how a properly structured public transport network is meant to work. Trains are *not* for everywhere to anywhere journeys. Smaller flows need different solutions and trains are the motorways of the public transport network.

 

[gazthomas]

It is a complete "non story" but it does demonstrate the ongoing ability of the BBC to waste licence-payers money.

Spot on. There are hundreds of lost journeys like this. The BBC have stooped as low as the click baters!

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

Next week why we need a new Tube line between Paddington and Lancaster Gate.

More pressing are the lines linking Waterloo with Waterloo East and Bayswater with Queensway

 

[The Puddock]

It is a complete "non story" but it does demonstrate the ongoing ability of the BBC to waste licence-payers money.

Spot on. There are hundreds of lost journeys like this. The BBC have stooped as low as the click baters!

The BBC news website has been headed this way for quite a while now. It’s turning into a cross between the Daily Mail website and an old Reader’s Digest magazine, particularly at the weekend.

 

[Merle Haggard]

"the region's two biggest towns"; one has a population of less than 20,000, the other less than 16,000.

 

[DerekC]

It is a complete "non story" but it does demonstrate the ongoing ability of the BBC to waste licence-payers money.

What's coming up next from the BBC in this mini-series of "Not So Great British Rail Jouneys"? Whitby to Scarborough by rail, perhaps? Dumfries to Stranraer?

Spot on. There are hundreds of lost journeys like this. The BBC have stooped as low as the click baters!

Any old excuse for a bit of BBC-bashing I see. It's a light hearted story with a bit of a political push from the Welsh Government behind it, I suspect. Quite a lot of people see a good railway network as helping to give a sense of strong national identity and connectedness. Whatever you say, bus networks aren't perceived in the same way - partly, I think because routes can be (and are) abandoned at a moment's notice and without any pretence of consultation.

 

[Carlisle]

Spot on. There are hundreds of lost journeys like this. The BBC have stooped as low as the click baters!

Yes there are, but this one’s rather more relevant due to a longstanding campaign to reopen the route

 

[dk1]

"the region's two biggest towns"; one has a population of less than 20,000, the other less than 16,000.

I know. Quite amusing when you look at it in cold facts.

 

[zwk500]

Any old excuse for a bit of BBC-bashing I see. It's a light hearted story with a bit of a political push from the Welsh Government behind it, I suspect.

No, it's a rehashed blog post and very lazy journalism as there's no discussion of the costs to sustain such a train route

Quite a lot of people see a good railway network as helping to give a sense of strong national identity and connectedness.

No, good railway networks are about getting people between places they want to go. The article doesn't mention how many people want to make the journey or would if there was a train

Whatever you say, bus networks aren't perceived in the same way - partly, I think because routes can be (and are) abandoned at a moment's notice and without any pretence of consultation.

The solution to that is not to build a railway but to strengthen the consultation.

 

[Welshman]

Whilst agreeing with all the above, the aspect I found interesting was the comment that the conductor on the Shrewsbury train who examined his ticket [singular!] said that she'd never met anyone taking that route before.

The only ticket the website will sell me for Aberystwyth to Carmarthen is a £3.50 bus ticket for the T1 TrawsCymru service. If that was the ticket accepted on the train, allowing travel via Shrewsbury, Hereford, Cardiff, etc, it must rank as the loophole ticket of the century.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

The only ticket the website will sell me for Aberystwyth to Carmarthen is a £3.50 bus ticket for the T1 TrawsCymru service. If that was the ticket accepted on the train, allowing travel via Shrewsbury, Hereford, Cardiff, etc, it must rank as the loophole ticket of the century.

Highly doubt it would be. The £3.50 ticket is only ever issued as a "Bus Day Single", I believe.

 

[Falcon1200]

An utterly nonsensical story! In the BBC article a passenger is quoted as saying;
She found it "ludicrous" passengers needed to travel all the way into a different country just to get from town to town in another.
Yet earlier the very same article states;
a bus service takes about two hours and 15 minutes.

So unless one has a phobia allowing transport only ever by rail, and not by any other means, there is no need whatsoever to go 'all the way into a different country' to get between these two towns.

Any old excuse for a bit of BBC-bashing I see.

Not BBC-bashing at all, it is a ridiculous story and a complete waste of the BBC's, and therefore the TV licence payer's, money.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Are we sure it's not a Plaid advert? Who would describe Shrewsbury as "in another country"?
TfW operates the Wales & Borders contract, along a border which some trains, many based in England, cross 8 times en route between Cardiff and Holyhead.
The article also shows the T1 bus, and the picture is captioned "The Traws Cymru bus that took me from Aberystwyth to Carmarthen".
And the shortest rail route would surely have been via Llandovery, not via Newport?

He might also have tried Pwllheli to Bangor for another short journey made roundabout by rail closures, also easily done by bus.
Or Blaenau Ffestiniog to Merthyr Tydfil, although in that case the bus alternatives along the A470 which connects both towns would be a bit trickier.

 

[Merle Haggard]

Whilst agreeing with all the above, the aspect I found interesting was the comment that the conductor on the Shrewsbury train who examined his ticket [singular!] said that she'd never met anyone taking that route before.

The only ticket the website will sell me for Aberystwyth to Carmarthen is a £3.50 bus ticket for the T1 TrawsCymru service. If that was the ticket accepted on the train, allowing travel via Shrewsbury, Hereford, Cardiff, etc, it must rank as the loophole ticket of the century.

Highly doubt it would be. The £3.50 ticket is only ever issued as a "Bus Day Single", I believe.

That's raised an interesting point; to obtain a rail ticket from NRES I've tried rebooking at Shrewsbury. For the "7.30 p.m." arrival I make it about £70. It's surprising that this isn't mentioned - 'and it's a stinging £70 on the train compared to ONLY £3.50 on the bus". Odd...

 

[greatkingrat]

There are normal rail tickets from Aberystwyth to Carmarthen as well.

Look up fares for any train journey in Britain

Full details of all British rail Single, Return & Season tickets and Travelcards. Built-in Season Ticket Calculator.

www.brfares.com

 

[Dr Hoo]

So unless one has a phobia allowing transport only ever by rail, and not by any other means, there is no need whatsoever to go 'all the way into a different country' to get between these two towns.

To be fair, there does appear to be a material slice of members of these Forums that 'don't/can't drive/don't own a car/are "unable" to tolerate bus or coach travel/etc.'.

 

[185]

Rather pointless journey that no-one local or indeed sane would make. If it was to be more accurate, it would remind people which clueless, crooked political party decided there was no longer a need for a railway line between the two in 1965. Reopening this line should be a long term aspiration for the Welsh Assembly.

 

[70014IronDuke]

An utterly nonsensical story! In the BBC article a passenger is quoted as saying;
She found it "ludicrous" passengers needed to travel all the way into a different country just to get from town to town in another.
Yet earlier the very same article states;
a bus service takes about two hours and 15 minutes.

So unless one has a phobia allowing transport only ever by rail, and not by any other means, there is no need whatsoever to go 'all the way into a different country' to get between these two towns.

The 'another country' bit is what gives this story the 'edge' (sort of) over most other similar absurdities one could choose, eg a rail journey from Buxton to Matlock.

Not BBC-bashing at all, it is a ridiculous story and a complete waste of the BBC's, and therefore the TV licence payer's, money.

Fully agree. The trouble with this sort of 'story' is that, eg in a group like this, most will ridicule it, but given that it's on the BBC website (rather than, eg Bob's Blog) it gives it some sort of serious standing.

That woman (and, I suspect, many readers) who thought the whole thing 'ludicrous' probably believes it, and is re-inforced with this kind of superficial thinking if/when she sees it on a BBC website without any questioning.

A serious journalist should present 'the other side(s)' and challenge the reader with the implications of this, namely (in this case) the absurd cost of construction and operation of the supposedly needed rail alternative.

Of course, the smart-a*s* writer has no interest whatsoever in presenting this aspect of the case (it would also mean doing some real investigation work, rather than a pleasant travel trip).

And then we wonder why democracies are in trouble.

 

[Merle Haggard]

Rather pointless journey that no-one local or indeed sane would make. If it was to be more accurate, it would remind people which clueless, crooked political party decided there was no longer a need for a railway line between the two in 1965. Reopening this line should be a long term aspiration for the Welsh Assembly.

You do realise that was the Labour Party...

 

[Doctor Fegg]

And then we wonder why democracies are in trouble.

Democracies are in trouble because people are unable to apply the slightest amount of critical thinking to their reading and instead expect the media to think for them.

Like most of the posters in this thread, whose reaction to reading something they disagree with is "OMG BBC non-story waste of money MUST BE STOPPED" rather than "oh, I just read something I disagree with, which is something I should expect to happen regularly in everyday life".

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

You do realise that was the Labour Party...

That still run Wales and are still destroying it bit by bit..........

 

[DelW]

Coming next in the same series : why we should build a new railway from Mallaig to Kyle of Lochalsh (with a bridge over the Sound of Sleat) because it's just ridiculous that the journey by train has to go via Glasgow, Perth and Inverness.

Rather pointless journey that no-one local or indeed sane would make. If it was to be more accurate, it would remind people which clueless, crooked political party decided there was no longer a need for a railway line between the two in 1965. Reopening this line should be a long term aspiration for the Welsh Assembly.

No it shouldn't. The line was already a basket case when it closed, indeed ever since the transport of agricultural produce to or from the area moved onto road lorries in the 1950s. The line was slow, indirect, went through nowhere of any size and served very few passengers even when many fewer people than now owned cars. The bus is easily adequate for the available business, more frequent than trains would be, and stops more conveniently for the villages that it serves.

 

[185]

My apologies, I didn't realise Ernest Marples was a labour politician who in 1961 appointed his Labour friend Mr B Ching.

Perhaps Labour should have stepped in to prevent it once they took power but the damage was already done. By the Tories.

 

[thedbdiboy]

There's a serious point here though. HS2's northern leg has been canned with the entire economic benefit of any of the route now mortally compromised - with the implication that it 'frees up' money for local schemes. Yet these local schemes can never replicate the economic stimulation that a scheme like HS2 or Crossrail brings which in turn grows the economy and therefore the revenues for paying for local and regional services.
Emotionally it would be wonderful to travel by train between Aberystwyth and Carmarthen, but to actually build and run it would be the most enormous waste of money that really could be better spent elsewhere.