Great Western Coffee Shop

From www.gov.uk (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-government-publishes-union-connectivity-review-proposed-transport-investments-for-stronger-and-better-connected-united-kingdom)


Full report at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1036027/union-connectivity-review-final-report.pdf which I will add to our mirror of documents over the weekend so it comes up in searches

As a review of connectivity between the nations of the United Kingdom, there is only very limited reference to the South West - though there is coverage of both the "South Wales Corridor" from London to Milford Haven via the "Greater Bristol Area" and Cardiff, and a section noting the heavy commuter traffic between the Bristol area and the Cardiff area.

A bit disappointing, really.

The trouble with simplified maps like the one I've attached, from p.36 of the report, is that they don't really highlight little details. Like, for example, the fact that the South-West Corridor and the South Wales Corridor share the same two track main line for about 8km between Bristol Parkway and Westerleigh.

Regardless of the fact that I always use the train rather than plane when travelling longer distances around the UK mainland, I find it instructive that this report omits both Newquay & Exeter airports from the list of UKNET strategic locations despite the fact that 'geographic isolation' is specified as a major issue. South West England still ends at Bristol!

It doesn't say that, you have assumed it.  The lack of detail means they could be looking at the line through Lydney or even via Hereford and Abergavenny. 

Perhaps Cornwall should become a devolved nation within the UK ? Connectivity between Cornwall and the other UK nations would then be important, with faster daytime trains of a proper inter city specification, direct to London, Wales, Scotland.
Rather than local services with connections at Plymouth and Reading.

I think what you are really advocating is Regionalism, something that John Prescott failed to get adopted, largely because the prototype in the North East would have become a Labour Rotten Borough - something most Labour voters recoiled from - remember Newcastle's T Dan Smith?

There were sort of Regional assemblies and a Government Office for the South East, about the same size as the devolved Nations (in Britain at least).

So we are back to England being run from Westminster (i.e the South East).

OTC

Not quite sure that was the reason, but few people younger than me would remember T Dan Smith. 

So we get seem to be getting an English Government which is a Conservative Rotten Borough!

T Dan Smith? The name rang a faint bell. It turns out his entire political career was before my birth, and his death was over half my lifetime ago. I'm over 125% of the median age so the chance that anyone young would have heard of him, seeing as he's not really a major figure, is slim indeed.

Anyway, what's he got to do with railways?

His career was one of serious corruption of local government, aided by it being a one party sub-state. The issue of regionalism was voted on nearly two decades ago so the memory was fresher.  Fading memories mean lessons have to be re-learned.

Westminster is not an English rotten borough as there is enough transparency and shared oversight to expose many of the abuses of any party. Rottenness happens under Labour as well.

The relevance to railways is that large rail contracts would be let purely locally. At least the GWEP overspend was a result of incompetence not of cronyism.

OTC

Something similar to the Preston model. The USA seems to have many such restrictions written into law at both federal and state level, including one relating specifically to railway track (the actual rails themselves).

Being devolved nations doesn't seem to have helped Wales and Scotland much is this regard. Holyhead, Swansea and Edinburgh will in a few years all have Hitachi class 80x units running their INTERCITY services to London, just as Cornwall does (albeit that Holyhead's will I believe have Transcal rather than Fainsa seats fitted).

I doubt that Cornwall getting devolved status would improve journey times simply because of the nature of the route through Cornwall.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/union-connectivity-review-final-report/union-connectivity-review-and-fixed-link-feasibility-study-costs (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/union-connectivity-review-final-report/union-connectivity-review-and-fixed-link-feasibility-study-costs)



So now if you can answer the GBR Transition Team's Call for Evidence, and provide evidence-supported predictions of what the railway will be doing in 5,10, 30 years' time, you would be saving them quite a bit of money!
 ;) >:( :o ::)