New routes for Wales

In his article on Wales ( RAIL 856), Industry Insider says “an eyecatching route is to provide access between towns once served by the LNWR Heads of the Valleys line”.

There is a bus service (Stagecoach X4) every two hours, although this is seven minutes slower than the LNWR was, according to my 1922 Bradshaw’s and the current Stagecoach timetable. However, we (the poor public) have not yet been told when (or even if) such routes will be taken over by the new Metro providers, and how through ticketing will be implemented.

Nor have we received any indication of how exactly they propose to provide the improved frequency on single-track sections without major permanent way improvements.

Provision for disabled passengers on Arriva Trans Wales has been good, but I wonder whether the GWR standard of ‘no mobility scooters with more than three wheels’ will apply, especially as the Equality Act only covers ‘invalid carriages’ and there is no legal definition of a ‘wheelchair’ or a ‘mobility scooter’.

As ever, the devil will be in the details (apparently imposed at will by the operator). And apparently, we will not be told many of the details before the franchise change, even if it is all revealed even then.

As for Transport for Wales, this organisation appears to take responsibility for major decisions away from the elected Assembly members, and give it to unaccountable (often unidentified) Welsh Government employees who have no experience in any aspect of transport operation. That is exactly what Barry Doe was complaining of in his article in RAIL 856. D W Roberts, New Tredegar