From
Business LiveWhy passengers on rail's South Wales to Paddington line deserve better
Tony Lodge of the Centre for Policy Studies said it needs to be opened up to competition
Next year marks the 45th anniversary of a key railway milestone for Wales and western England.
The long-awaited introduction of the Intercity 125 high-speed train in 1976 had been preceded for three years with intensive trials between south Wales and London, and the new train not only slashed travel times, but introduced a whole new level of high-speed service.
As the Great Western Main Line (GWML) led the way Britain’s other main lines looked on enviously as Wales and western England were first to enjoy the much-hyped new “age of the train”.
But in the stakes to lead by example and embrace railway passenger innovation then the GWML has fallen way behind its famous rival routes on the East Coast and West Coast which connect the cities of northern England and Scotland with London.
This time it has less to do with train design or speed, though these are still important.
Instead it has everything to do with passengers enjoying train choice, lower fares, more routes, healthy competition and the better standards of innovation and travel experience which these deliver.
High-speed train travel between Cardiff, Bristol and London Paddington is unique among Britain’s intercity routes, but for all the wrong reasons.
Why do passengers who use First Great Western rate their journey as one of the worst in the country?
Importantly, policy-makers and local MPs are now looking into this and are aware of the challenge and opportunity for improvement.
The reason why the GWML has fallen behind is a complete absence of passenger competition and choice.
I checked the date on the article, and it IS current in spite of the reference to "First Great Western" and the picture of an HST illustrating the article.
A long article carries on ... quotation from further down:
The plan is for a new high-speed train service running every two hours in both directions between London Paddington and Cardiff Central, also calling at Bristol Parkway, Severn Tunnel Junction and Newport in direct competition with First Great Western.
These new Grand Union trains would also stop at Cardiff Parkway when it opens.
They would operate seven trains in each direction from May 2021 if they can get permission from the UK Government’s Office of Rail and Road.
Importantly, MPs along the route are supporting the plan, as is the Welsh Government. From 2023 Grand Union would then like to extend the services to Swansea, Llanelli and Carmarthen.
Key direct benefits would include an average 25% reduction on “walk on” fares, no penalty for purchasing a ticket on the train, flexible carnet tickets, a 50% reduction if you can’t find a seat and limited stops.
If TOCs move from a franchise to a management contract model, and get further rebuild support which I suspect they'll need over the next 18 months from September, it will be interesting to see how new open access operators might fit in.
