EBBW VALE AND BEYOND...

It is quite simple really - decisions about railway infrastructure development and spending upon our railways need to be made here in Cymru / Wales, not in Westminster. This already happens in England by default, and in Scotland and Northern Ireland by design. For this to happen in Cymru / Wale then full control of our railways, network rail operations and the network rail budget needs to be devolved to the Senedd.

11% of UK railways, 1% of Network Rail spend...

Thats the first step, a. Full control of planning processes in relation to infrastructure, full control of the all of the railways in Cymru / Wales and full control of network rail and the network rail budget for Cymru / Wales would simply be the first step towards actually giving our embryonic democracy all of the toolset required to do the job properly. 

While that’s not necessarily the relatively easy bit it would be a significant start. The slightly more difficult bit is electing a government that will actually use said tools to actually do the job - of improving, and developing our railway infrastructure.  We simply can not rely on Labour in Wales or any of the other Westminster focused / based political parties to make the case for further powers or to supply the will power and the vision to change things. 

One of the reasons why we have little choice but to use our cars and the M4 to get around Newport (and to go to work) is because of the lack of any reasonable alternative easily accessible means of public transport. Long before Corvid 19 came along, even the Welsh Labour government had finally run out of tired excuses and soft weasel words to hide their inaction and failure to deliver much beyond sound bites and logo laden graphic images. 

A ghost train...

The failure to connect the Ebbw Vale line to Newport means that commuters living in communities in the Ebbw Valley remain unable to travel directly to Newport (and beyond) by train and have little option but to use their cars. They are denied the opportunity of catching connecting trains to Newport, Bristol, London, Cheltenham and beyond as well as possibly travelling slightly more rapidly to Cardiff in the morning and evening as result of the failure to run a fast service direct from Abertillery to Cardiff as originally promised back in 2003. 

This leaves commuters no choice but to drive and feed the congestion of an already at times overcrowded M4. The Ebbw Vale line, at least to Cardiff, which reopened in 2008 (carried a years worth of anticipated passenger numbers in the first four months) has made a real difference to peoples lives. The new rail service failed to connect to Newport from day one despite the implied promises, hints and suggestions made before and since the railway line was reopened that it would. 

Nothing to see here, move along...

Somewhat ironically to all intents and purposes is already operating – as trains already run by stealth on occasions from Ebbw Vale into Newport and vice versa when regular maintenance occurs. The rail line and the signalling work fine – what we need is a regularly timetabled rail service - now rather than later. Long overdue decisions about our infrastructure could make a real and significant difference and begin the process of providing realistic alternatives to everyday car use. 

Elsewhere in our SE, the construction of new railway stations at Caerleon / Ponthir, Llanwern and Magor - with well planned walk routes, and ample safe, secure park and ride facilities would also make a real difference. Any railway stations should also include decent facilities - along with the reinstatement of a more functional bus service (that's directly connected to the new railway stations). 

Elsewhere in Europe where significant housing developments are planned the infrastructure - often railway stations, tram stops and transport hubs are constructed first before any houses are built - but just not here. We should see a real commitment from the new Senedd government in May 2021 to prioritise the addition of  infrastructure before any approval for proposed housing developments is given.

Our transport and infrastructure problems require political solutions and political decisions - something that will not come from the current incumbent inert Labour government in Cardiff Bay. With a post BREXIT (and hopefully a post Corona) world rapidly approaching- some hard sensible sustainable longer term choices need to be made with a degree of urgency - one of those should be to start work on (those parts of) the Metro that will make a real rapid difference to our lives and our communties.

THE ILLUSION OF PROGRESS…

Ken Skates, Labour in Wales’ Transport Minister has written to the UK Government's Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, setting out a strong argument to build four new stations in Wales. Ken’s note calls on Grant Shapps to invest in the Wales and Borders rail network through the UK Government’s Restoring Your Railways fund.

A report undertaken by Transport for Wales for the Transport Minister Ken Skates has identified four locations for new stations. The developments, which would be paid for under the New Stations Fund 3, would be ready by early 2024.

The 4 stations are:

• Deeside Parkway, on the Borderlands Line in North Wales
• Carno, on the Cambrian Mainline in Mid Wales
• St Clears on the Great Western Mainline in West Wales
• Ely Mill on the City Line in Cardiff, in South Wales

Ken Skates also said that he took the opportunity to reiterate the case strongly for plans which included the Aberystwyth – Carmarthen and Bangor – Caernarfon re-openings.

Clearly on a roll, the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales Ken Skates also stated that the stations would improve access to the rail network across Wales.

The Transport Minister also invited the Transport Secretary to discuss further priorities for rail investment, including new stations at Greenfield and Magor. 

He also wants to use  the New Ideas Fund, to restore passenger services on the line between Gaerwen and Amlwch on Anglesey and wants to use the Accelerating Existing Proposals fund to restore the line and services to Abertillery in South Wales.

No while I don’t have any problems with the proposed new stations or re-opened railway lines - its worth exploring the fact that with 11% of the UK’s railways within Cymru / Wales we have no control of any rail funding or any real input into Network Rails priorities. 

However, we have been here before - back on the 28th August 2019  - perhaps for the Labour in Wales that day was a good day to bury bad news. 

Some even further back story, in April 2017, a list of 12 potential new and revived railway station sites was made public which would have gone a long way towards adding connectively to various parts of our country’s poor railway network and potentially reducing road congestion. 

On the 28th August 2019, it was revealed that the original list of 12 has now become  4  - when another list of 4 was published - perhaps Ken is really good with lists - rather than actual action. Or perhaps in the absence of actually doing anything positive an old press release is re-issued to create the illusion of progress.

Now this was not a definitive list, and there are no guarantees that these 4 prospective railway stations will eventually be built or re-opened as they have to go on for yet further assessment in Westminster. 

The lucky 4 prospective railway stations then were: 

• Ely Mill/Victoria Park in Cardiff
• St Clears in Carmarthenshire
• Deeside Industrial Park/Northern Gateway
• Carno in Powys

What’s interesting is the railway stations which did not made it through the initial Westminster assessment  - they were:

• Llanwern
• Newport Road/Rover Way
• St Mellons
• Cockett
• Landore
• North Wrexham
• South Wrexham
• Llangefni

It is important to remember that control of our railway infrastructure investment remains not devolved to Cymru / Wales - a decision made by the then Labour Government in Westminster.  It still remains with the UK Westminster Government, all the Welsh Labour Government does is draw up a short list of suggestions.

Regardless of whether it was then of now, all potential stations go through three stages of assessment, not in Wales but in Westminster / Whitehall:

• The first looks at Welsh Transport Appraisal Guidance criteria and consideration of the Wellbeing and Future Generations Act.
• The second looks at the strength of the financial and economic case for a new station and advice from Network Rail on deliverability.
• The third is "development and assessment of the highest priorities".

To help narrow the list down, station demand forecasts were drawn up which are designed to give a likely viability of proposed stations. This may actually sound a more scientific and rational process than it is. 

It is worth remembering that the anticipated number of passengers who were expected to travel on the reopened Ebbw Vale line to Cardiff in 12 months travelled on the new service in the first 4 months. 

A word of warning - please don’t hold your breath in anticipation of any regular train service from Ebbw Vale to Newport - we may yet have quite along wait. 

The 7,000 + householders who will end up living on the Llanwern site will have no option but to use their cars or the bus service to get to and from work. 

Not pushing for a railway station at Llanwern continues to directly impact on the congestion in an around Newport, on the SDR and the existing M4. 

Then, as now, any proposal will only be successful with "a sound business case" and the assessment "increases the ability of station proposals to be in a position to benefit from funding calls" - and that decision will be made in Westminster rather than here in Cymru / Wales. 

Back then a Welsh Government spokesman said: "The stations that scored the highest in the assessment will now be taken forward. The proposals for the remaining stations will be considered when additional resources become available." I wonder if the same old tired excuse will be rolled out…

It is also worth noting that, then as no doubt now, the process is ongoing and there is no date for any potential reopening of any station. 

Considering that Westminster has been tearing itself apart over BREXIT for the last few years and the Westminster government, now presided over by Boris has other more things to be concerned about.

That said, even with no pandemic, it would be a safe bet that it may be a while before any Westminster government focuses on Cymru / Wales and our national interests. 

Quite simply decisions about railway infrastructure development and spending need to be made here in Cymru / Wales, not in Westminster - as happens in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland - but don’t hold your breath.

A UNION IN NAME ONLY

We have a Labour government in Cardiff Bay that's in denial about the fact that it's in charge and that the buck stops with them. Despite the occasional rhetoric about defending Cymru / Wales - the lack of coherent powers not to mention any real desire to try to acquire or strengthen existing devolved powers let alone acquire any new ones - lies with the Labour Party. 

The 2006 devolution settlement deliberately excluded any control of water - one of our country's key resources (and a potential source of future revenue). It left the then National Assembly with partial control over our county's railways and effectively no real powers to develop, expand or plan for real growth of our nations fragmented railway network. We have 11% of the UK's railway network, 20% of the level crossings and 2% of the funding over the last ten years. 

The HS2 debacle  is an affront to the Welsh taxpayer, and with spiralling costs it is only going to become worse. Wales is losing out on billions of pounds of funding that is rightfully ours – it is simply not tenable for the Westminster Government to argue that this project is 'England and Wales' when not a single inch of track is in our country.

The UK government must immediately commit to honouring its funding formula and pay Wales full Barnett consequential payments of approximately £5 billion. Part of the problem is that the UK government has lied repeatedly over the case for HS2. With the cost for HS2 Phase 1 rising by 361% in the space of 3 years, there are serious questions to be answered concerning project delivery and management by HS2 Ltd and the Government.

The people of Wales deserve honesty from Westminster. While paying for a high-speed electrified railway that will only run in and benefit England, Welsh commuters are lucky to find a seat on dated diesel trains. Powers over rail must be devolved to Wales. The Government's own project accountants have calculated that HS2 will directly harm the Welsh economy. Yet again, Westminster has knowingly delivered a project that will benefit London and the south-east of England at the expense of Wales.

The overall impact of the HS2 project, as it, will actually have a negative impact on the economy of Cymru / Wales. What we need is fair funding and the powers to do the job in Cymru / Wales. A flawed half way house devolutionary settlement will no longer work. Quite simply either the union, post BREXIT is probably incapable of delivering for all, fairly and equally, something the union did not do previously, before and after devolution was implemented, it is simply a union in name only.