Railways

[SteveH]

HS2: Why Rishi Sunak's big gamble may not pay off

When Rishi Sunak confirmed he was scrapping the huge infrastructure project of the West Midlands to Manchester leg of HS2 high-speed rail, he said the project had come from a "false consensus" that links between big cities were "all that matters".

The immediate pressing question is whether the UK is capable of delivering projects at this scale, at all. This was a nationally strategic project advertised to the world as a way for Britain's regional cities to attract investment from the biggest investment funds in the world.

All of the prime minister's secret conference projects were codenamed after trees. Scrapping HS2 was called "Project Redwood". High-speed rail in the UK has been shorn of its branches, and is now left as an expensive stump from London to Birmingham.

cont https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67003881

[SteveH]

North Wales electric rail expected to cost more than ?1bn

The UK government has given "a cast-iron commitment" that the electrification of the north Wales main rail line will happen.

Welsh Secretary David TC Davies said the full business case is still to be done but the line will be built.

Welsh ministers dismissed the ?1bn cost announced as a "back of a fag packet figure" and a transport expert has put the cost at about ?1.5bn or more.

Mr Davies admitted the cost would "probably be a bit higher" than ?1bn.

On Thursday, Rishi Sunak announced that ?1bn would be provided to electrify the north Wales main line, following his decision to scrap the second leg of the HS2 high speed rail line between Birmingham and Manchester.

cont https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-67005350

[SteveH]

North Wales Mainline electrification and other projects ?examples?

In the Prime Minister's recent announcement of the scrapping of the northern leg of HS2, he said billions would instead be spent on other transport schemes in a Network North plan.

But speaking the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire last Sunday, the transport secretary, Mark Harper, said: ?We gave some examples to people about the sorts of things ? and we know these things are priorities locally ? the sorts of things that that money could be spent on, and to bring it to life for people."

cont https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/23855197.north-wales-mainline-electrification-projects-examples/

[SteveH]

Train services and jobs would have been lost without extra Welsh government funding, the chief executive of Transport for Wales (TfW) has said.

On Tuesday, Finance Minister Rebecca Evans announced cuts for most government departments, but TfW was given an extra ?125m.

The decision was questioned by opposition Members of the Senedd (MSs).

TfW boss James Price warned that without that money it would have been in a "very, very difficult situation".

Why was TfW given more money?     https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-67171669

[SteveH]

Saturday cancellations and Christmas cuts - another week of chaos for London/Wales train route
Avanti West Coast announced cuts to Christmas services between the region and the capital of England

cont https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/saturday-cancellations-christmas-cuts-another-28011004?IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589

[SteveH]

This December will see Transport for Wales (TfW) deliver additional services and trains across Wales and into England. It will see benefits for passengers in North Wales as TfW look to improve on its under-fire services.

TfW is planning to run daytime services every 45 minutes on the Wrexham Central to Bidston line, an increase from every hour. And there has been a reintroduction of an hourly Chester to Liverpool service via Liverpool airport.

There is an additional Sunday service at 11.45am from Holyhead ? Chester. There has also been an adjustment in the timetable so quite a few of the Chester ? Crewe services will go at five minutes to the hour to give more time for connections from Llandudno, which arrive at around 10 minutes to the hour.

cont https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/transport-wales-announces-new-trains-28180420

[Hugo]

Old North Wales railway becomes jobs vs tourism battleground with millions of pounds at stake
A debate is raging over whether the route should be a 'playground' for visitors or a vital economic link for locals

This should be interesting to see how it develops as the rails and sleepers are still in place.   We did discuss this on the forum some time ago when a lorry got stuck under the railway bridge in Llangefni and the bridge had to be removed


https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/old-north-wales-railway-becomes-28344666

[SteveH]

A project to electrify the North Wales main line will involve ?unprecedented investment?, UK transport secretary Mark Harper said. But the cabinet minister said no timetable had yet been fixed for implementation.

The Government plans to provide ?1bn to fund a major upgrade of the North Wales Main Line to reinforce its role as a ?vital part? of the UK?s strategic transport network. This will include electrification, which has long been a key demand from transport campaigners in the region.

The scheme is designed to improve journey times and reliability on a 126-mile route between Crewe, Warrington, Wrexham and Holyhead. Electrification will also reduce the route?s carbon footprint.

cont https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/billion-pound-rail-plan-north-28696871?IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589

[Hugo]

Is there a General Election going on this year?       We have heard all this stuff before with no definite date for doing the work

[SteveH]

Commuters in England and Wales have seen the cost of their rail fare increase by 4.9% from Sunday, March 3. Whilst the price is lower than was originally forecast, this hike will cause a lot of anguish for commuters and regular travelers - adding more than ?200 to the price of some annual tickets.

Finance expert Jasmine Birtles says there are some simple ways to cut the cut back and get cheap rail fares and offers.

Railcard
Jasmine said: "If you don?t have a railcard already, get on it ? this could be the smartest investment you make all year. A Railcard takes 1/3 off every train journey, on Anytime, Off-Peak and Advance tickets from any National Rail operator in the UK.

"It costs only ?30 for a year, which you could make back in your first couple of trips, or ?70 for three years. It?s quick and easy to apply online, at a station ticket office or over the phone."

More details  https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/five-ways-cut-cost-train-9138938?IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589

[SteveH]

Train drivers at Avanti West Coast will see their fee for an overtime shift increase to ?600 following a deal between the company and union Aslef.

Avanti said it hoped offering more attractive terms to its drivers to work extra shifts would make its services "more reliable and resilient".-

The company has faced criticism over cancellations, delays and poor service.

An Aslef source confirmed that Avanti's offer was accepted by union bosses.

The new rest day working agreement is in addition to a driver's salary. Previously the deal involved a flat ?125 payment, with an hourly rate paid on top, which could have totalled between ?421 and ?495 depending on whether a driver worked and eight or 10-hour shift.

cont  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68650114

[SteveH]

Worst performing train operator announced - and North Wales passengers won't be surprised
Avanti West Coast took top spot on the table of failure

cont https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/worst-performing-train-operator-announced-28936069

[SteveH]

Direct Llandudno to Liverpool trains back on table but cuts also proposed
While this news was welcomed there are cuts proposed for services in Gwynedd

They have now published a list of proposals (full list below) and there is good and bad news for North Wales. The biggest potential upgrade is the extension of the direct Liverpool to Chester service to Llandudno.

cont https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/direct-llandudno-liverpool-trains-back-28982205

[Cambrian]

It's a pity today's journos just print press releases without asking relevant questions.  The current Chester-Lime Street operates broadly hourly during the day.  Does the extension to Llandudno mean that the Llandudno-Manchester services will divert to Bangor as was previously mooted ? Given the regular Merseyrail services into Liverpool from Chester, a question could be posed as to whether a Llandudno-Crewe service would be more helpful to North Wales travellers, especially those going to/from Scotland, the West Country and the East Midlands, let alone augmenting the poor Avanti service.

[mull]

Hi Cambrian----That is too  sensible .