Transport for Wales introduces improved Cardiff-Holyhead rail service

[chrisp_1927]

The original hst coaches are mk3s but have been significantly upgraded with the removal of slam doors and introduction of sliders - but I take your point.

I think they're still classed as mk3, not positive mind. Either way, I bloody love em. Pleasure to work and the passengers like them aswell. I wish the iets were more like them

[bobh]

the article says it went from Holyhead to Cardiff in 2.5 hours? that's surely not right, unless the new train is high speed rail

The Hovver-train is coming!

[light up the darkness]

There’s going to be a new rail station at Ely Paper Mills site but still nothing that I can see about East Cardiff although Plasdwr got a mention

[IanD]

From someone ITK:
"City Line*gets brand new tram-trains [Class 398]. *They are being built by Stadler in Valencia as 3 car trains and are expected in service late 2022 or early 2023. * They will run twice an hour, although extras can be expected whenever people have a burning desire to*get to Ninian Park. *It is being marketed as South Wales Metro, so frequency enhancement is more attractive than longer trains."

[Joe Gillis]

Why would anyone want to get to Holyhead quicker? More Assembly bollocks

[Rjk]

https://www.wales247.co.uk/plans-rev...h-west-cardiff

[bobh]

I won't believe any of these "plans2 until it physically takes shape.

We've had a train station "planned" for St Mellons for thirty years!

[xsnaggle]

This is what pissed me off about the Burns report on the M$ and the speed restrictions.
The Welsh Government leapt on the speed camera part but none of the rest.
The report said that 60% of the traffic using the Brynglas tunnels was people commuting between Newoprt and Cardiff. That astounds me. Over the last 4 years I've made that trip many time and rarely went anywhere near the tunnels. But they said in order to reduce that they needed to having a practical and fully integrated public transport system, and put speed restrictions on as part of that to ease flow.
This included the rail stations from Bristol to Cardiff which took in the east of the city. But as they were trying to get people who come from Chepstow and the Bristol area on board (Sorry about the pun) it would seem reasonable that once all these people arrive in Cardiff that they have an efficient transport system to take them to the place the actually want to go, which we all know is non-existent.
The Burns report said all these things should be dealt with but as we see they put the speed restrictions in within weeks but have done nothing else. The buses that do run in Cardiff are now even worse than they were before the pandemic, but they don't care.

[Rjk]

This is what pissed me off about the Burns report on the M$ and the speed restrictions.
The Welsh Government leapt on the speed camera part but none of the rest.
The report said that 60% of the traffic using the Brynglas tunnels was people commuting between Newoprt and Cardiff. That astounds me. Over the last 4 years I've made that trip many time and rarely went anywhere near the tunnels. But they said in order to reduce that they needed to having a practical and fully integrated public transport system, and put speed restrictions on as part of that to ease flow.
This included the rail stations from Bristol to Cardiff which took in the east of the city. But as they were trying to get people who come from Chepstow and the Bristol area on board (Sorry about the pun) it would seem reasonable that once all these people arrive in Cardiff that they have an efficient transport system to take them to the place the actually want to go, which we all know is non-existent.
The Burns report said all these things should be dealt with but as we see they put the speed restrictions in within weeks but have done nothing else. The buses that do run in Cardiff are now even worse than they were before the pandemic, but they don't care.

I think just maybe it is easier and quicker to put a 50mph limit on the M4 than deliver an integrated public transport network encompassing most of South Wales.
Clearly they would like to do the latter

[xsnaggle]

I think just maybe it is easier and quicker to put a 50mph limit on the M4 than deliver an integrated public transport network encompassing most of South Wales.
Clearly they would like to do the latter

Of course its easier and they make money from it but it does nothing to solve the problem that it was supposed to be just a small part of the solution to.
The actual speed limit doesn't bother me it is just the attitude of hammer the motorist first and think about everything else later. As bobh said, still no mention of a rail service from/to the east of the city. And anyone coming into Cardiff by rail has a real problem going to where they want to be in good time. Not that that matters because they haven't upgraded the service from Bristol as the report mentioned either, so no one will be benefitting from that either

[PontBlue]

The issue with the main line is it hasn't been devolved and it may never be devolved because Westminster would need to admit to years of underinvestment in rail in wales.

At least the metro is coming along, maybe not as quickly as hoped but improvements are on the way.

[Wozza16]

It'll be interesting to see the Metro v the Westminster track performance/infrastructure once it's up and running, it could very well show how under funded the rest of the train system in Wales really is.

I hope the Welsh Gov pull it off, it sounds an excellent system if it reaches its potential.