Metro

Not really anything new in this article, which is frustrating, but a new news article at least:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-28662473

Would personally like it if they went towards making a more traditional metro system like the Tyne and Wear Metro or the Glasgow Subway, in addition to a tram system, but I guess there's basically no chance of that ever happening sadly.

They've got a fairly decent tram system in and around Croydon, South London... that sort of metro system would be great to be honest

A bit pie in the sky, but if the Welsh Government offered incentives to companies looking into Hydrogen based technologies then we could have a whole host of Hydrogen Fuel Cell test vehicles one of which could be a tram/light rail solution. No need for overhead electrics, versatile for road, heavy rail and light rail applications with it's own on board power plant and rather than trying to roll out hydrogen infrastructure to everyone (too expensive) just keep it to public transport.

Anything is better than having to wait over 15 years to have better connectivity between Cardiff and the Valleys.

A conversion of the core valley lines to LR (as has been the case of the tram network in Manchester) could work well - and deliver a higher capacity network at lower opex cost

It's a bit rich of the CBI to say that the Metro should be backed while their obsession with a brand new motorway south of Newport rather than an M4 relief road has basically stymied the whole thing. Some £500m that could be spent on the Metro is going to be poured into a pointless road that other business organisations rightly oppose.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/m4-relief-road-gerald-holtham-7456932

The problem is the M4 at Newport is an issue that should have been dealt with years ago, usually I am completely opposed to any unnecessary road building but South Wales needs to have at least one good motorway grade road which it just doesn't have presently. It is silly to think that all people and cargo will move to rail and public transport in the future, as whatever does replace fossil fuels will keep maintaining the upward trend of congestion on the roads.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, no progress at all, blah, blah, blah

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/revealed-plans-next-stage-15bn-7681696

Blah, blah, blah, blah, no progress at all, blah, blah, blah

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/revealed-plans-next-stage-15bn-7681696

That is quite upsetting.
I really hope there is more to the report than Wales Online have mentioned. Surely they haven't spent 6 months deciding smart ticketing is something that could improve the public transport experience in Cardiff.
In early 2015 we will have a report telling us that wheels will be the best method of facilitating movement on the different Metro forms of transport

Blah, blah, blah, blah, no progress at all, blah, blah, blah

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/revealed-plans-next-stage-15bn-7681696

Just read the report, this is a very good summary!
Basically ramble on for 10 pages about how important it is to have 1 brand, 1 logo, 1 style of timetable (good luck getting Newport Bus, Cardiff Bus and Arriva TW to agree to that!) and how smart ticketing should be utilised. At the back of the report is a 13 point action plan - no actual mention of creating a 'metro'.

The only interesting thing I noticed was on page 8 of the report is a render of a potential new station on the City Line at the Ely Mill development (a mere 650 metres from Waun Gron Park) and new integrated pedestrian bridge over both the railway lines here.

Just in case you want to read it, here it is http://wales.gov.uk/docs/det/report/140 ... 014-en.pdf