Archive for the ‘Rail’ Category

Plaid Cymru spokesperson at Westminster, Jonathon Edwards MP, has once again made calls on behalf of Wales for the government to make a positive decision on the electrification of the Great Western Railway line between London and Swansea. This follows a recent statement by the Secretary of State for Transport where he admitted that the government has forgotten the fundamental purpose of railways.

Jonathon Edwards is firmly of the belief, along with the rest of Wales, that the electrification of the railway link between London and Swansea is not only great value for money, but it will also help to generate £2.30 for every £1 spent on the service. This is in contrast to a £1.60 return for every £1 spent on the Crossrail transport network.

The government’s refusal to come to a decision about the electrification of the line between London and Wales is proving to be a very thorny subject of late and Welsh politicians are doing their best to persuade the government to press ahead with the project as it represents a great opportunity to give Wales a huge economic boost.

The Department of Transport published the Rail Industry Review today, and in the light of this report, it has also been announced that the government intends to revise the way in which rail franchises are handed out. Jonathon Edwards has welcomed this decision and he commented that this was definitely a step in the right direction as overly narrow rail franchises were hindering the Welsh attempt to achieve the kind of railway networks it needed.

Arriva Trains are currently running the railway franchise in Wales, but Plaid Cymru is calling for this to be brought under the control of the Welsh government in order that a better rail service can be developed. It is hoped that by doing this, the Welsh people will end up with a railway more in keeping with their requirements.

The Chief Executive in Hong Kong has given the South Island (SIL) and Kwun Tong Line (KTE) extension on the MTR permission to go ahead and construction work will now begin in mid 2011. The project is expected to reach completion on 2015.

Work will include a 4km section of drill and blast tunnel on the 7km South Line Island extension between Admiralty and South Horizons. The Kwun Tong Line will be 3km long, but will be entirely underground. Two stations are planned for Whampoa and Ho Man and there will be three more built on the SIL at Ocean Park, Lei Tung Estate, and Wong Chuk.

The MTR extension should go along way towards easing congestion between along the Cross Harbour Tunnel to Yau Ma Tei and Hung Hom section. Journeys along this stretch currently take about twenty five minutes, but after the upgrade the time will be cut to only five minutes. The SIL will ease the congestion in the Aberdeen Tunnel and commuter journeys between South Horizons and Admiralty will be slashed to ten minutes.

Cost for the project are not definite at this stage, but estimates for the Kwun Tong Line extension are between US$680 million and US$720 million, and those for the South Island Line are estimated to be between US$1.6 billion and US$1.62 billion. There are expected to be some minor adjustments to the figures following further fine tuning of design details and extra technical considerations for the project.

When the project was first considered back in 2007, costs were considered to be too high and it was shelved. This was mainly due to the rising cost of construction materials between 2007 and 2009, and now that the project has finally been approved, costs will be very closely monitored by the Administration. The MTRCL will have strict budget control and consultants have been recruited to conduct an assessment on the project cost estimate.

According to the Wales Online site, Welsh MPs are hoping for an announcement in the next ten days as to whether the government is intending to extend electrification of the Great Western Line from London all the way to Swansea. Although the scheme has been in discussion since 2009 when Gordon Brown first announced it would begin immediately, nothing has yet been done and many are of the opinion that the project is actually considered unaffordable.

However, Welsh politicians are concerned that a failure to go ahead with rail electrification into Wales could damage the Welsh economy. Labour MP for Ogmore, Huw Irranca-Davies, has pledged to raise the issue in the House of Commons today in the hope that some much needed answers will be forthcoming.

“It would be an utter disgrace and another slap in the face for Wales if rail electrification turned out to be an England-only investment.”

Welsh Secretary, Cheryl Gillan, has also been in discussion with the Transport Secretary this week looking for reassurance, as many believe the Department for Transport is planning on stalling the rail electrification at Bristol, rather than allowing it to continue through the Severn Tunnel.

Extending rail electrification into Wales is vital for the Welsh economy and Professor Cole from Glamorgan School of Business has commented that it could easily offer a greater cost-benefit than Crossrail. He thinks that the delivery cost of an electrified infrastructure all the way through to Swansea would be marginal since it would only be a matter of extending existing the Crossrail network.

One of the benefits of the Crossrail scheme is that it will boost the job prospects for people living in the greater London area as well as attracting further investment, so by introducing electrified rail infrastructure across the border into Wales, more businesses are likely to view Wales as a desirable place to be.