is that a violin I hear 

Definately.

Shazz, do you work for FGW^▸ (First Great Western) at all?

Both in back pocket!

Noticed bus smart card doest work if held in same Gand as phone. Connected?

I read in the papers about the Severn Barrage today.

Surely this must be excellent? - 5% of our electrcity etc, no flood risk for Gloucester, etc.

New bridge for high speed rail - surely excellent.

Not when I saw the proposed position: between the South of Weston and South of Cardiff!

What type of rail service would utlise that? I suppose Lonodon, Bristol, Cardiff. But that means:

*services to Newport and Bristol Parkway (and maybe Swindon) would be cut due to the new route;

*service to Swansea only possible with a turnaround

*very long way round, meaning that journey time too long.

*congestion at Bristol Temple Meads?

Remember, it is not just about a High Speed Link, the barrier would provide an opportunity to electrify the line to South Wales (thereby making full GWMLs^▸ (Great Western Main Line) electrification worth while).

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Oh, and the alternative to the rail link is a "4 lane dual carriageway."

I still think that the M4 Toll will get preference!

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So what do others think of the plans?

I remember seeing in some book a copy of an old GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) telegram back in the 1930s from the General Manager to a station master down in Cornwall (somewhere around Liskeard, I think) in terms of "Please explain the delay to the Limited (ie Cornish Riviera) at your station yesterday". Could crash an entire e-mail system if you followed up all the delays these days.

Any idea why on earth they cost so much, and how could Wessex afford those prices when they used to run their loco Weymouth trains?