We need Heathrow link to truly soar

THERE was excitement in Wales in 2012 when plans were announced to link the Great Western line to Heathrow.

No longer would we have to go into Paddington and then head west again in order to reach Britain’s most important airport.

Former First Minister Rhodri Morgan described it as “one of the most important announcements in the last 50 years”. He considered the failure to put a link in place when the airport was first built as the “definition of a missed opportunity”.

With his typical mischief, he said: “Now we can put a huge sign up in Heathrow: ‘Come to Wales!’”

What has happened to that excitement in the nearly six years that have passed since?

There has been discouragement at the cancellation of the electrification of the Great Western line from Cardiff to Swansea. The proposed M4 relief road is the subject of renewed controversy, the dire state of links in mid Wales and north Wales are a source of frustration and sometimes despair, and the future of metro schemes for the Cardiff and Swansea areas command great attention.

This is the time when businesses should have been preparing to exploit radically faster travel to Heathrow but a link that was supposed to open in 2020 has now been delayed until 2027. Who would bet on it becoming a reality by then?

There is a danger of deep cynicism taking root about the government’s ability to deliver gamechanging transport enhancements. Just as it is intolerable that commuters, tourists and hauliers spend so much time in gridlock around Newport, it is nonsensical that we lack a four-mile connection to a great airport which is poised for expansion.

Network Rail has started its third public consultation on the link. There is little sign that ministers have a driving ambition to stage the opening ceremony in their political lifetimes.

This is a grand shame. Wales has learned that bold change rarely happens unless elected representatives are willing to use their clout and their political capital to overcome the bureaucratic inertia that is such a lethal enemy of innovation.

Wales is held back by poor transport links with the rest of the world and between our own communities. We owe a debt of gratitude to those who ensured the M4 and the Severn Crossings became reality – and we need a similar commitment in government today.