A 0.5 FROM THE EAST GERMAN JUDGE...

The Westminster governments commitment to the electrification of the Great Western mainline through to Swansea (along with the electrification of the valley lines) may represent one of the largest commitment of resources to Wales for a specific project by a Westminster government in most people in Wales’s lifetimes. While this is significant it’s a job that upon completion will be at best partially completed because of a failure to commit to the electrification of the Severn Tunnel diversionary route from Kemble, in Gloucestershire to Swindon and through Lydney to connect with the mainline at Severn Tunnel Junction via Chepstow. 

As regular rail users will know the regular closure of the Severn Tunnel for maintenance tends to be an issue when it comes to weekend travel. Historically the diversion added an hour to and from weekend journeys to Paddington – the line was only single track. This section was finally upgraded to double track (completed in August 2014) is the only diversionary rail route between South Wales and London so the next step should be to electrify the diversionary route in parallel to the planned electrification of the Great Western mainline to Swansea.

In the event of a major accident or incident in the tunnel, perhaps a crash, a fire or even flooding, we need a fully operational alternative so that passenger and freight services to London are not affected. Talk to anyone who works the rails (or anyone who has relatives who work on the rails) in the south and they will tell you that the ageing Severn Tunnel is going to require more and more maintenance as time passes, it remains a vital transport link, but it ranks pretty low on Network Rails or Westminster’s list of priorities. 

This is a vital rail link between Wales and London (and Europe) and the only alternative to using the Severn Tunnel. We need some original thinking to solve this potential block on our rail links; the construction of a railway bridge / tidal fence close to the Second Severn Crossing should be seriously considered as part of any plans to harness the enormous renewable energy potential of the Severn Estuary. This could carry the main rail link from South Wales, solving the problem of the Severn Tunnel, enhance rail services from Severn Tunnel Station and generate sustainable energy, which we will need in the very near future.

HANDBAGS AT 50 YARDS

The latest bout of handbags between the current Con Dem Westminster Government and the Labour in Wales Government over just exactly who is going to pay what for railway electrification in Wales (and who said what?) is depressing to say the least. There is a convenient manufactured feel about it, with both sides scoring easy political points at our  expense and once again failing to get the electrification of the valley lines project started.

I suspect that but for the increasingly nominal difference in ideology then the Welsh Government in Cardiff would not even be asking Westminster to stump up the cash for electrifying the valley lines. Neither the Westminster government or the Welsh government are serving Wales well or let alone standing up for our interests being too busy having yet another convenient spat.

Plaid is actively campaigning to ensure that Wales gets its fair share of funding from the England-only HS2 project. Plaid has also successfully campaigned to make sure that the electrification programme for the Great Western region was extended beyond Bristol (the original limit for electrification as quietly proposed by the last New Labour government in Westminster).

Sadly it is now becoming clear that the Labour in Wales Government is too weak to stand up to Westminster and its failure to secure a written agreement from the UK Government that the Treasury would cover the costs of electrifying the Valley lines may suggest a more than a degree of incompetence. Until a definitive agreement is reached and signed, then the delays will continue and our country will continue to miss out on millions of pounds of funding that could transform our transport infrastructure, connect our communities, and create a rail network fit for the 21^st rather than the 19^thcentury.

Speaking on Tuesday Plaid Cymru’s Jonathan Edwards MP  said:

“Wales historically receives only a fraction of our population share in transport infrastructure which explains why our road and rail networks are so poor.  We are the only country in the whole of the European continent that does not currently have a single mile of electrified rail track, apart from Albania. This is why electrifying our existing network is so important, but in effect it would only lead to Wales catching up with other parts of the UK.

“Both the UK and Welsh governments have claimed credit for moves to electrify the Valleys lines without agreeing on how it will be paid for.  The posturing by both administrations is putting the project – and the economic benefits that would follow – at risk.  Once again we have Westminster taking Wales for a ride and unfortunately the Labour government is too weak to stand up and protect the interest of Wales.  Labour are also guilty of gross incompetence, basing their position on a TV interview by the Prime Minister rather than the fine detail of correspondence between both Administrations.   

“The truth is that, if the Labour Welsh Government got behind Plaid Cymru’s campaign for a fair share of HS2 funding for Wales – a figure which could be as high as £4bn according to some estimates – then this tiff would be academic.   Instead, the Labour Government blindly follow the position of their Labour masters in London, despite independent economic assessments indicating that HS2 would hit the South Wales economy particularly hard.

“Rather than engage in tedious tit-for-tat exchanges between Westminster and Cardiff Bay, Plaid Cymru is interested in securing fair and sustainable funding for Wales’ railways in order to transform our transport infrastructure and create a network fit for purpose.

“The line between Glasgow and London was electrified forty years ago. Once again, the Westminster elite are happy to treat Wales as a second class nation.

“Carrying out rail policy on the basis of ‘doing deals’ project-by-project is a recipe for disaster, as this row has clearly shown. It is not the way rail policy is done in Scotland and Northern Ireland, where transport infrastructure is devolved where there are much better levels of rail investment.

“If the people of Wales want improved services, quicker journeys and better-connected communities, they should back Plaid Cymru’s efforts to secure fair transport funding for our nation. This Labour and Tory spat shows that the Westminster parties cannot be trusted to act in the Welsh national interest.”

HANDBAGS AT 50 YARDS?

I have a small degree of sympathy with the view expressed by the Welsh Government that London should pay for rail electrification projects, as control over Network Rail (in Wales) has not (yet - if you read the Silk Commission report) been devolved to Wales. Now I would qualify that by saying that London (as the senior partner) in the Union should pay for UK wide infrastructure projects, and the electrification of the railway from London to Swansea would tick the box for most people as being a UK infrastructure project.

Rail electrification in the South?

The electrification of the Valley lines into Cardiff, possibly Swansea and hopefully Newport may well be another matter, having not been on the cards when the original electrification projects were planned. It is worth noting at this point that the last New Labour Westminster Government never intended the proposed electrification of the old Great Western line to go beyond Bristol – so much for standing up for Wales. As for electrifying the Valley lines, I would personally suggest getting on with it, it has been calculated that the Welsh Government could pay for that from its own transport budget, even after the Con Dem imposed cuts.

The problem comes from the fact that when it comes to transport infrastructure projects we in Wales literally have one hand tied behind out backs, because, unlike in Scotland, we have no control over transport infrastructure planning. It should be obvious by now that this (and the previous Westminster government) have little more than a passing interest in Wales, let alone any concerns for our national interests.

Handbags at fifty yards?

There is an old diplomatic service / civil service adage about crisis management, which goes along the lines of first you create your crisis, and then you manage it. That said there is more than a distinctly manufactured feel to this latest spat between the Labour Government in Cardiff Bay and the Con Dem coalition government in Westminster. Perhaps rather than a constitutional crisis or even a disagreement about more powers or a clash over point of principal, it may be more of a case of handbags at fifty yards.

The party formerly known as New Labour, when in Westminster government proved to be largely indifferent to Welsh interests, beyond political token gestures. This view can be said to have been backed up by the Welsh MPs voting record on matters of interest to Wales, since their party lost power in Westminster. Sadly this latest spat merely serves to strengthen the illusion that our nominally Welsh Labour government is standing up for Wales, the danger is that this dispute could end up delaying the much needed electrification of the valley lines for a few more years. 

We should have learned by now that we cannot rely on any Westminster Government to deliver for Wales. Let's electrify the Valley lines and the Ebbw Vale line (initially) into Cardiff by using some of the National Assembly's 0.78 billion transport budget. Here  in the South East, we need railway stations at Caerleon and Magor and better facilities for passengers and more stopping services at Severn Tunnel, Chepstow and Abergavenny along with more secure park and ride schemes and better integration with local bus services – it’s time to stop asking and to start demanding that government actually delivers for our country. 

SLEEPING IN THE ARMCHAIR FOR WALES

To be honest, it did shock me, even though it shouldn't – just to clarify I am not talking about Newport County's away win against Gateshead (and the much needed three points). I am talking about the news that the Con Dem Government teamed up with the party formerly known as New Labour to arguing against using European funding to electrify the Great Western Line to Swansea.

The potential new funds are part of the Connecting Europe Facility which is a 50 billion Euro scheme rolled out by the European Commission (at the end of last year) which includes some 10 billion Euro's which are specifically ring-fenced funding for transport schemes in Cohesion Fund areas such as West Wales and the Valleys. To be honest this is long overdue and would actually mean if implemented properly that people would see something physical on the ground as a result of the commitment of EU funding.

The funding aims to make improvements to trans-national links between EU member states in the next European budget period from 2014 to 2020. The EU Commission report makes specific recommends in relation to transport schemes in what are termed ‘Core Corridors'. The reason why this should interest us here in Wales is that , Corridor 8 shows links between the Republic of Ireland, the UK, France and Belgium, with upgrading of the Great Western Main Line from Swansea through Cardiff and Bristol to London one of their recommendations as a pre-identified project.

Bonus you would think – something useful that will bring actual benefits to transport links within part of Wales. Apparently not, the Conservative-Liberal Democrat UK Government and the Labour opposition both argued against this European funding in a debate last Thursday and as we are aware the Con-Dem government have entirely refused to electrify the railway line beyond Cardiff.

By now it should be pretty clear by now that none of the London based parties have any concept of the Welsh national interest. Welsh and British national interests have now diverged, whatever the British national interest its not even wildly related to our national interests. Our country would get a far better deal when it comes infrastructure funding as an independent country inside the EU than we do as part of the UK.

Rather than arguing against EU funding for Wales, the UK Westminster Government should be prioritising efforts to tap into this funding to electrify the railway line to Swansea and to the West Wales coast and including Milford Haven port as a core link for trade between the Republic of Ireland, Wales and the European mainland. Clearly as far as the London based Parties are concerned there are no Welsh priorities, something that can also be said for the Labour Government in Cardiff, who appear to be busy sleeping in the armchair for Wales.

THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER!

The three London based parties had a pretty poor record in the old parliament when it came to standing up for Wales. Things did not get off to a good start in this still relatively new parliament either - especially when the new Con Dem Government refused to either commit to or provide a timetable to develop a high speed rail link to Swansea - sorry make that Cardiff.

Originally New Labour only proposed to electrify and improve the rail line as far as Bristol, and only after the intervention of the Plaid driven One Wales Government and Ieuan Wyn Jones did they reluctantly agree to propose to electrify the line as far as Swansea.

In the long months that followed the emergence of the ConDem Government in Westminster, they were just a tad evasive when it comes to committing to the extending the electrification programme into Wales. And we are seriously expected to believe that Wales is a ConDem, let alone a Labour priority – I think not.

Now of course now it's not just the Swansea - London railway line that needs electrification, there are plenty of other more local lines including the North Wales Coast line and the Valley lines where the National Assembly can make a real difference to transport links and people’s lives. We should also not forget the Severn Tunnel diversionary line, which lies entirely outside of Wales, but, is particularly important.

So why is the Severn Tunnel diversion route important you may well ask? I mention it because, the proposed multi-million pound upgrade and electrification of the rail line between London and Cardiff, which if it goes ahead should be completed by 2017 and which should cut 20 minutes off the existing journey times, but this would only fix only part of the problem.

It's pretty simple really, when the Severn Tunnel is closed for maintenance rail traffic from South Wales is diverted via a single-track 12-mile section of line between Swindon and Kemble in Gloucestershire. Any plans to upgrade this section to double track as it is the only diversionary route between Wales and London were conspicuous by their absence from Network Rail’s plans in 2008/2009.

Talk to (or listen to) anyone who works the rails (or anyone who has relatives who work on the rails) in the south and they will tell you that the aging Severn Tunnel is going to require more maintenance as time passes, yet it remains a vital transport link, but it ranks pretty low on Network Rails list of priorities.

Interestingly enough back in November 2008 when Gordon Brown was running the shop, the Office of Rail Regulation’s settlement for Network Rail allocated some £26 billion pounds some 2.4 billion less than requested. This has forced Network Rail to drop a number of projects - if you think this was a short sighted decision just wait until the ConDem cuts really kick in!

Anyway, you may have worked out by now that one of the project that was dropped was a plan to restore the 12 miles of single track to double from Kemble to Swindon, at the moment the reduced capacity of this line adds an hour to passenger journeys as trains to and from Wales have to wait for services coming in the opposite direction, and lets not forget any impact on rail freight movements.

This is a vital link between Wales and London (and Europe) and is the only alternative to using the Severn Tunnel. In the event of a major accident or incident in the tunnel, perhaps a crash, a fire or even flooding, then we need a fully operational alternative so that passenger and freight services to London are not affected.

It is pretty essential that re-doubling work on the line, which would allow at least an hourly service, is carried out as quickly as possible. While the upgrade and electrification programme is under way on the mainline, its only common sense to electrify the line all the way from Severn Tunnel Junction through to Swindon as well.

So at the moment Wales is one of the few counties in Europe, save for Albania and Moldova to have no electrified rail-lines, this is one exclusive club we do not need to be a member of. While the Con Dems have finally committed to electrification of the railway lines from Cardiff to London, admittedly with about as much grace as someone having wisdom teeth extracted, they have finally done so.

Having got this far we now need a concrete commitment to a timetable as to when the job will get actually gets done. Personally I would also ask them to start the work from the Cardiff end of the line. When it comes to electrified railways it used to be a case of literally for Wales see England - and that was never acceptable! However, as was once said, things can only get better !

COMMON SENSE

Plaid has outlined some of ambitious yet achievable proposals for the rail network in Wales calling for the electrification of the railways in the Valleys. This makes sense as it would create a modern transport system, help with carbon reduction programmes and create a quicker, cleaner and more efficient railway network and will allow for larger passenger numbers. hand in hand with the electrification programme newer and more modern electric trains will allow our railways to carry more passengers. As well as this commitment to the electrification of the Valleys lines, Plaid remains committed to electrification of the Great Western mainline.