Railwatch 078 - December 1998

South Wales

By Peter Clark and Julian Langston

SWIFT South Wales Integrated Fast Transit is a rather grand name for a welcome partnership of transport operators and six local authorities covering Cardiff and areas north and west thereof (but curiously not east). Their transport package bids include £2.2m of rail projects, including £200,000 for assessing the viability of a Vale of Glamorgan line passenger service and the cost of the actual works required. We await with great interest the Welsh Office decision on which projects will receive funding. Meanwhile, the Vale of Glamorgan Council has formed a Rail Reopening Working Group. A presentation by David Mather of Railtrack was well received. RDS will be represented at future meetings of the working group.

Railfreight Pembrokeshire County Council has included in its transport package bid, funding for feasibility studies into rail freight interchange facilities at Fishguard and Pembroke Dock - something RDS South Wales has long advocated. But in view of the Welsh Office's previously declared views on the topic, perhaps we shouldn't hold our breath.

Tourism RDS's long-running campaign for operators of tourist sites to include public transport directions in their literature bore fruit when the Wales Tourist Board commenced a project to compile such information for more than 200 sites in time for the 1999 season. An RDS member tendered, albeit unsuccessfully for this project. Meanwhile, we have suspended our campaign, but will be monitoring the quality and adequacy of next year's brochures.

Pacer versus Sprinter Opinion seems to be divided following Cardiff Railway Company's exchange of seven Class 150 units for refurbished Pacers from Northern Spirit. The upgraded seating in the Pacers led Cardiff Railway to present them as an upgrade but South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive which apparently instigated the swap, clearly doesn't see it that way. We were struck by Cardiff Railway's assertion that the reduced seating capacity (102 instead of 149) will not cause any problems, and left to reflect on the power of a passenger transport executive and the absence of any body of comparable muscle in South Wales. A press release on the subject has received fair coverage.

Cambrian Express Rail Link RDS South Wales has supported the aspirations of Friends of the Earth Cymru for a rail route up the west coast of Wales from Carmarthen to Bangor. Initially, FoE is calling for sections of trackbed between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth and between Bangor and Porthmadog to be protected from building. We have supported this by writing to Carmarthen and Ceredigion councils asking them not to build the proposed Ceredigion Link Road on the track bed.

No Christmas cheer for Valleys lines The announcement by Cardiff Railway Company that there will be no pre-Christmas Sunday morning trains this year is another disturbing example of rail finding itself unable to play a part in meeting a particular transport need. Sunday shopping has increased greatly in popularity, but the vestigial winter Sunday service in the valleys does not cater for it. The extra trains which ran last year were well used, but apparently still constituted a financial loss for the operator. Yet the new signalling and infrastructure improvements - provided largely at public expense - in the Taff Valley should have reduced operating costs! RDS deplores a structure which prevents operators from offering a proper service when needed - something else which needs rectifying if integrated transport is to mean anything.

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