South Wales Mainline Electrification

The slowest bit seems to be between Newport and Cardiff, feels like you're on a sprinter. Not sure if it's due to speed constraints, traffic or there not being enough distance to make it worthwhile getting up to max speed (or all).

Some might not like it but come electrification why not have an express service (every other train say) and get rid of the stops at Newport and Didcot? That'll shave 10-15mins off the travel time by getting rid of the time lost slowing down and stopping at Newport and Didcot, and the subsequent acceleration up to max speed. That way there will be roughly 40 miles in-between stops Swansea - Cardiff - Bristol - Swindon - Reading and London so plenty of time/distance to get up to full speed.

Sounds fantastic to me, will make my weekly commute to London are lot quicker.

Birds sing bells ring

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-30128378

Thank f*@k for that, now bring on the 40 odd year old electric trains

What with that and the metro, I wonder how reliable the service will be and how much fares will be in comparison to the current set up. Also if you have quicker cheaper travel to Cardiff on the Rhymney and Taff Valley lines, will that take pressure off the need to vastly increase Cardiff's housing stock?

The operating costs may be lower, but I don't think the fares will - they are relying on an increase in revenue (perhaps through more passengers) and a fall in operating costs to fund the Welsh Govt's contribution to the project.

I'd say the UK government won during these negotiations - even though they contributed £125 million (I'm not gonna count the £105 million for the Cardiff-Bridgend section. That had to be done for the London-Swansea electrification anyway, so it would be double counting the UK government's contribution).

Why? Because this always should have been 100% funded by the UK government in my view. It passed cost-benefit analyses that Dept. for Transport uses for funding projects. And rail infrastructure investment is not something that is devolved - the Welsh government gets no block grant to cover it, the Transport Department's budget is meant to cover Wales too.

The counter-argument is that investment in electrification will reduce operating costs and boost revenue, which will reduce the amount of subsidy that needs to be provided to Arriva Trains Wales. Wales will pocket this reduced operational subsidy (rail 'resource' spending is devolved even though rail 'capital' spending isn't), so should make a contribution to the investment. Otherwise it is pocketing the savings but not picking up any of the tab.

However, I think the likelihood is that it will increase demand on rush hour services more than "leisure time" services. Rush hour services are already overcrowded so new services will need to be provided. This might require extra subsidy: operating cost per service falls, but extra services need to be run, which might not be fully covered by extra revenue. The UK government has pushed all the risk of this on to the Welsh Government's budget, which is a little unfair given limited borrowing and taxation powers.

Ultimately, I think the current half-way house of rail devolution is not sustainable. It should be fully devolved, with Wales getting a population share of the Network rail grant (as Scotland does), or it should be fully undevolved.

So has control of the railways within Wales been devolved to Wales or is it just partial devolution?

As I understand it the the Wales and the borders franchise has been devolved so the WG will be responsible for settings the terms and awarding the franchise. Other franchises that serve Wales like Great Western and Cross Country remain under UKG as does Network Rail.

Windsor road shuts 2nd week of Jan until spring 2016, that will cause some traffic chaos in the area.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/cardiff-railway-bridge-rebuilt-network-8171388

Windsor Road bridge gone for over a year, that is going to cause some travel issues.