North-South railway for Wales proposed

[Will Mann]

Interesting piece on a campaign by Wales's only Orthodox priest (!) to connect the country's north and south by railway.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...ent-and-debate

Dr Beeching turned the country I have come to love into an outpost of empire

The Welsh rail map is a classic indicator of an extractive economy, with lines extended towards London and the ports

George Monbiot The Guardian, Tuesday 30 December 2008

A strange thing has happened to me over the two years since I moved to Wales. I have become susceptible to a novel and disturbing sensation: pride in my adopted country. England, the land of my birth, means nothing to me, nor does Britain. I despise nationalism. But I have been overtaken by an irrational impulse. I find myself supporting Wales in rugby, football (someone's got to, and we did beat Liechtenstein) and all its competing claims against other nations.

This impulse arises from a number of observations: in two years of walking through the valleys and over the hills here, I have never been shouted at; the cafe in the local leisure centre serves smoothies in measures labelled "small" (about a pint) and "regular" (about two pints); when I wrote to a very active councillor asking his permission to recommend him for a gong, he replied: "I would prefer not to seek such an honour."

Through such observations, I have begun to form the impression that Wales is less socially stratified, less grasping, more liberal than the rest of Britain. Though I am an outsider, from the colonial power, with an unerring ability to wind people up, I have never been made to feel unwelcome. And it seldom rains here, and then only at night. (That's not strictly true, but this is what nationalism does.)

In this spirit I have to record that something is missing. Its absence offends my newfound national pride. It mocks our attempt to become a coherent country. It means that the Gogs (of north Wales) and the Hwntws (of south Wales) will for ever be at each other's throats. It means that the greenest nation in the UK is locked into unsustainability. It is also bleeding ridiculous. As far as I can discover, this is the only country in Europe that you cannot traverse by train without spending most of the journey passing through another. The only rail link that allows you to travel from north to south crosses the border near Llangollen and doesn't re-enter Wales until it approaches Abergavenny, 100 miles away.

The railway map of Wales is a classic indicator of an extractive economy. The lines extend either towards London or towards the ports. As Eduardo Galeano established in The Open Veins of Latin America, the infrastructure of a country is a guide to the purpose of its development. If the main roads and railways form a network, linking the regions and the settlements within the regions, they are likely to have been developed to enhance internal commerce and mobility. If they resemble a series of drainage basins, flowing towards the ports and borders, they are likely to have been built to empty the nation of its wealth for the benefit of another. Like Latin America, Wales is poor because it was so rich. Its abundant natural resources gave rise to an extractive system, designed to leave as little wealth behind as possible.

Just as the railway network was developed largely for the benefit of another economy, it was dismantled for the same purpose. Wales was hit very hard by the Beeching cuts of the 1960s. Before that, one of the lines that could have been used as part of a north-south railway was flooded by Llyn Celyn, a reservoir that drowned the village of Capel Celyn in order to supply water to Liverpool. It was this act of enclosure that inspired RS Thomas's famous poem Reservoirs, in which he mourned "... the smashed faces / Of the farms with the stone trickle / Of their tears down the hills' side". The dam wall was built across the Bala-to-Ffestiniog line.

Before Beeching, a handful of minor routes existed that could have enabled a determined passenger who was prepared to make a few changes to travel from north to south, but there was no line either conceived or used as a long-distance railway connecting the nation. Could such a railway be built? Thanks to the efforts of a remarkable man, the idea is beginning to seep into the national consciousness.

Archimandrite Deiniol is the only Orthodox priest serving in north Wales. Bull-headed, magnificently bearded, he is the spokesman for Yn Ein Blaenau, a group set up to lobby for the regeneration of Blaenau Ffestiniog, one of the country's poorest communities. Unlike many other depressed Welsh towns, Blaenau has a way out: but it is blocked. It is surrounded - hideously - by the waste from its slate workings. The British government has a policy of replacing virgin building stone with mining spoil and rubble. The slate waste around Blaenau would supply Britain with roadstone for years, but it's stuck there until the Conwy Valley railway line is upgraded. Deiniol has been negotiating with the byzantine network of railway companies, authorities and regulators, and has so far been frustrated.

But in doing so, he has learned a good deal about how the railways of the UK work - or don't. He has also discovered that a railway can be critical to a region's regeneration, and that the north-south roads in Wales are close to gridlock.

There are plenty of lobbyists calling for new roads, but Deiniol's plan is likely to be cheaper and more sustainable. His survey of the disused railway lines of Wales shows that there is one route - from Rhyl through Denbigh, Rhuthun, Corwen, Newtown, Llanidloes, Rhaeadr and Builth Road to Dowlais - that would require only two miles of new formation to link Holyhead to Cardiff. The rest of the way makes use of current and former railways. He proposes that short feeder lines also be built, connecting this trunk route to Mold, Llangollen, Oswestry, Bala, Hay-on-Wye and Brecon.

The One-Wales Line could not only offer a much faster journey than the current long detour through England, but it would also knit the other railways of Wales into a coherent network, as it crosses the north coast railway, the Cambrian line and the Shrewsbury-to-Swansea line. It would help to regenerate a desperately poor region in the south called the Heads of the Valleys. The project would look rather like the Western Railway Corridor in Ireland, which is reopening 184km of disused lines between Limerick and Sligo.

The least the Welsh assembly government should do is to commission a feasibility study and cost-benefit analysis of Deiniol's plan. His railway would help Wales looks like a country again, rather than a depot for someone else's empire.

[johnb78]

Originally Posted by Will Mann

The least the Welsh assembly government should do is to commission a feasibility study and cost-benefit analysis of Deiniol's plan.

I'm happy to do this: it isn't feasible; the costs are enormous; the benefits are negligible.

His railway would help Wales looks like a country again, rather than a depot for someone else's empire.

I'm half-Welsh and love Wales - but the use of 'again' here is silly. Wales never was a country, it was a whole load of independent princedoms who hated each other as much as they hated the English. The reason the North Welsh and South Welsh don't get on, similarly, is that they're as different from each other as they are from the English.

And the Welsh national cultural identity was invented by nostalgic middle-class arty types (many of whom were English, like George M) during the 19th and 20th centuries...

[Gherkin]

That's what Shrewsbury's for. If you want to go from Cardiff to Rhyl then you go on the Cardiff-Manchester line and just change as Shrewsbury. I can't believe there are people out there who want to build a railway through the Welsh vallies and Snowdonia National Park just to avoid waiting on the platform of Shrewsbury for a few minutes

[poshbakerloo]

sounds interesting...but there isnt much in Wales to link up...

[HollyBlack]

Originally Posted by poshbakerloo

sounds interesting...but there isnt much in Wales to link up...

There is a market for (Welsh) rock for road and other construction.

Doubling and electrifying the Conway Valley railway to Blaneau would enable slate waste and other rock to be hauled away profitably. And have many side benefits.

Far more realistic to put in quarry railways that serve a dual purpose now that there is a good and environment friendly market for hard rock. Who knows, South from Trawsfynydd one day too.

[Karldiff]

Originally Posted by johnb78

I'm half-Welsh and love Wales - but the use of 'again' here is silly. Wales never was a country, it was a whole load of independent princedoms who hated each other as much as they hated the English. The reason the North Welsh and South Welsh don't get on, similarly, is that they're as different from each other as they are from the English.

And the Welsh national cultural identity was invented by nostalgic middle-class arty types (many of whom were English, like George M) during the 19th and 20th centuries...

But isn't that the same as any other country? Look into the histories of any nation around the world and the vast majority of them have only been unified relatively recently. Likewise national cultural identity. It is almost always invented then adopted regardless of how true a reflection it is. See Scotland or Ireland in that respect. I don't see that as a basis for claiming that Wales isn't a 'country' has never been a 'country' or can't be a 'country.'

Possibly the reason that this is so prevalent is because outside of Wales there is this idea that the country is peopled by a homogenous mass, that we all sound the same, are engaged in the same cultural activities, work in the same industries etc etc. When it's discovered that actually Wales is made up of a number of different regions, accents, identities (exactly the same way as England for example) this somehow gets translated as Wales not capable of being a 'country' in the traditional sense because we all hate each other or are too different.

As for this plan it's an exercise in whimsy by a middle class, English migrant who has 'gone native.' I'm all in favour of better links between north and south Wales but I have no problem in travelling through England. The first thing that should happen is that trains should pass through north Wales' biggest town, Wrexham.

[Manchester Planner]

So this guy's only reasoning for his railway line is that at the moment you have to travel through England when travelling north-south in Wales?

Well whoop-de-fucking-do-dah.

Does it really matter? It's not like there's border controls which impede movement or so. It's like saying there should be a new railway line in Derbyshire so that you can travel north-south across that county without having to go through another county. What a load of (typically, Guardian) bullshit.

Next..

[Manchester Planner]

Originally Posted by Guardian Tosspot

The One-Wales Line could not only offer a much faster journey than the current long detour through England, but it would also knit the other railways of Wales into a coherent network...

No it would not though! The existing Marches Line from Newport to Crewe/Chester (split at Shrewsbury) is 100mph pretty much all the way. The new line would cost absolutely loads to get anywhere near this spead. As for the Marches Line being "a long detour through England" - no it isn't! It goes north-south in pretty much a straight line! It's just the English counties of Shropshire and Herefordshire jut into Wales and therefore the middle section of the line is in England (and, frankly, so what). As for the railways of Wales being part of a coherent network - they are. It's called the railway network of Great Britain.

Further, Wales has its own passenger operator - Arriva Trains Wales - which runs all the services on the Marches Line and manages all the stations in Wales and all the stations along the said Marches Line, including Shrewsbury, Chester and Hereford.

Such absolute bloody nonsense.

[Manchester Planner]

Originally Posted by Gherkin007

If you want to go from Cardiff to Rhyl then you go on the Cardiff-Manchester line and just change as Shrewsbury.

Or get the existing direct train that goes from Cardiff/South Wales to Holyhead/North Wales via the Marches Line (through Shrewsbury).

Originally Posted by johnb78

I'm happy to do this: it isn't feasible; the costs are enormous; the benefits are negligible.

Exactly.

Anyone fancy writing in to this fuckwit and pointing out the bleedin' obvious?

[CharlieP]

We need maps, dammit!

[Jon10]

And Roads:

[Manchester Planner]

The A49 should have been included on that map. The backbone of the Welsh Marches, road wise.

Great Britain rail network in full:

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%...able%20Map.pdf

[somersetchris]

And what there used to be

http://www.systemed.plus.com/New_Adl...lway_Atlas.pdf

[Manchester Planner]

I know, quite ridiculous really how much of the railway infrastructure was disbanded in the second half of the 20th Century. Some of it had to go (rather a lot of somewhat pointless branch lines), but so many lines should have been kept. We will see a few new/reopened lines but it'll never be like it was c. 1950. The Welsh and Scottish devolved governments have got the right idea in reopening a couple of lines here and there. Now we need to see the same thing in the English regions.

[Will Mann]

Originally Posted by somersetchris

And what there used to be

http://www.systemed.plus.com/New_Adl...lway_Atlas.pdf

So even in the good old pre-Beeching days it would still have been a rather circuitous journey to get from north to south Wales by rail.

[cle]

Could the line from Carmarthen to Aber not be reopened, with reversals on passenger services and a through spur for freight? Surely that wouldn't be too expensive? There's fuck all in between though, and you'd need a link to the line up to Llanduds Jn.

[gothicform]

looking at the maps i have to say there looks like there is a case BUT the railways have pretty scarce resources and i don't think that building a railway to north wales is perhaps the best of these. why not electrify the MML. oh yeah, different budget.

[ill tonkso]

Originally Posted by gothicform

looking at the maps i have to say there looks like there is a case BUT the railways have pretty scarce resources and i don't think that building a railway to north wales is perhaps the best of these. why not electrify the MML. oh yeah, different budget.

Agreed, the MML and GWML REALLY need electrifying before we invest billions in patch up jobs.

[Leeds No.1]

If MML was electrified, then Skipton-Carlisle was electrified with an upgrade of the electrification between Leeds-Skipton, there would suddenly be a more direct, electrified route for trains between London and Glasgow. Would enable journey times to be cut for Glasgow as well as free up capacity for more Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham-London trains on the WCML.

Similar for the ECML- an electrified MML would add extra capacity for Edinburgh-London via Leeds instead of Doncaster.

In other words, the MML could take some of the strain off both the ECML and WCML quite easily with a bit of holistic thinking.

[Zim Flyer]

On the subject of electrification is there a national policy for it? I've heard people in Blackpool ask for it from Preston to Blackpool North, it just seems there isn't much of a plan.