Where is the money going to come from to develop the metro plan once electrification is done in I think its 2018?

Thank you sir I asked that question earlier in this thread and none of the "experts" on here answered When I have children im going to moan to them how useless our rail network used to be (much like 68 my year old Dad tells me how he used to walk miles and miles to school in Merthyr in the 50s) and then ill say you should thank Mark Barry for this lovely shiny Metro we have

Just came here to post that exact link too Cracking news, even at quarter to 2 on a Saturday morning!

Cracking news, just the case of sorting out Cardiff Airport with spur, the M4 around Newport and cost of using the Severn Bridge and I'll call it quits

Seriously good news though. It's important we aren't left behind.

this is excellent new. just to recap, in 13 years of Labour during the largest economic boom in history, Carwyn the Caring and President Tony offered Wales nothing, whereas within two years of Coalition rule, the evil Tories give us this.

yet some people think Labour are good for Wales and the Tories are not. You couldn't make it up.

I wonder what reason WG will back track from developing the Metro now Westminster have come up with the goods.

The +ve decision we are expecting is really a joint Cardiff/London effort. The DfT in London could not have said yes without there being a very strong busines case. The WG and its senior officials ( with expert support) have done an excellent job in preparing a very compelling busienss case.

However, there still seems to be a Q over whether the scheme will include Ebbw Vale/Maesteg. I think these sections and the associated costs are small enough ultimately for the WG to pick up if need be; perhaps in a VLE phase 2 or a Metro Phase 1!

I wasn't serious with my experts comment! But yes so far this coalition has done more for transport in Wales in two years than Labour did in 13 im afraid facts are facts.

Jantra - it'll take more than a few electrified railway lines to convince me the Tories care much about Wales. They clearly believe that all the regions' economic problems will be solved by better transport links to our great capital on the Thames. For instance Cameron absurdly claiming that HS2 would end the North South divide - in about 20 years or something.

The buisness case for HS2 is much less sound than electrification in South Wales but if you think the Tories dont care about Wales then you must surely concede Labour care even less?

I'm not really qualified to comment. Though it's worth remembering that rail electrification was initially planned under Labour before the coalition put it on hold.

We tend to assume that different governments are poles apart but the truth they often carry on the same sorts schemes that the previous lot were planning - particularly with something like the railways.

If this gets delivered the Tories will start to compete with Labour in Welsh Politics.
Tata Port Talbot will pay about 200 million in carbon Tax, we pay our fair share of taxes in south Wales, let no one tell you otherwise.
This scheme improves the long term prospects for south Wales significantly.
We still need more M roads!!!!!!!!

With it looking increasingly likely that Labour will win the next general election, I very much doubt the Tories are going to start rivalling them in Wales.

The only way I could imagine that happening is if Labour collapsed and haemorraged voters to Plaid and LDs, so that you ended up with a real 4 way split.

Its going to be another hung parliament with Labour as the biggest party then we will have weak Ed Milipede as prime minister. All his union mates will make demands for pay rises and more days off and he will try and keep them in check resulting in lots of strike then people in the UK will finally wake up that tax and spend statism doesn't get you to El Dorado and the Tory pary will get in on a majority on a more right wing platform after the gov falls led by someone like Michael Gove à la 1979 all over again you must think im Jantra's son or something.

We really should have a dedicated politics thread.

According to Walesonline full electrification to Swansea plus all Valley Lines incl. Ebbw Vale, Maesteg and Vale of Glamorgan.

If true - blimey. I don't know if this is a result of a perfect storm - transport secretary loving rail, effective lobbying from south Wales, infrastructure needing updating anyway etc etc - who cares. It must be good news for us especially coupled with the Heathrow rail link. And even if it doesn't put as at an advantage against other UK regions at least it means we don't fall further behind.

One has to wonder exactly what advances in Welsh infrastructure did the Labour UK government make during the period 1997-2009? Thats a rhetorical question and one that doesn't require a 3 pager from Jantra thank you very much...........

Karl

Far be it from me to blether on about politics as I prefer for the facts to speak for themselves. I think this is a positive step and one we all knew was coming thanks to certain folk keeping us (reasonably well) informed.

Given this is due to start in 2014 I hope the GWR line and Valley lines are started in the first rounds. The reason is due to political capital. Whatever peoples's opinions i'm not against a left wing Labour government if we are in a truly multi party system. Thus we need the conservatives to be making in roads into the Welsh political system. Having the threat of being removed from office should then improve Welsh Labour's performance. Having a political party that can be elected offering a differnet point of view can only be a good thing.

i am not usggesting that this will undo years of (illogical) hatred of the Conservatives in the South Wales Valleys - but all they need is a decent PR machine pointing out that 77k Welsh people never worked at all under Labour or that in 2 years they delivered far more infrastructure than Labour did in 13....

but some people really cannot see the wood for the trees.

This is indeed great news all round. Like Barden, I was starting to worry when the Midland line electrification was being trailed as the main plank of the announcement but thankfully that fear was unfounded.

Hats off to all those who worked on getting this project through to the decision makers' table, and indeed to those in power who have given it the green light.

Now let's get it started before we change our minds,delay it for a couple of years because the public finances are worse than we thought or Labour get voted back in!

This is all excellent news - while it was widely leaked that Swansea & Valleys lines would be juiced up, I was pleasantly surprised to see Maesteg, Ebbw Valley & VoG lines getting the treatment as well.

Lets hope it all gets built on schedule and the Metro plans become a reality.

Cue Monty Python....what have the Romans (Conservatives) ever done for us?

Brilliant news. Hopefully the city region will get a boost from this and we can start to implement the valleys metro idea. Da iawn.

I take the point that Labour didn't do a great deal for Wales. Check out Adam Curtis' excellent documentary '8 people sipping wine in Kettering' for an understanding of that one - available on youtube.

Did anyone hear Mark on the radio wales phone in today with that Proffesor from Glamorgan uni? What an eye opener into how many miserable idiots are knocking about in Wales in the hour they discussed this only one person phoned up to say it was good investment and everyone else said it was a waste of money I couldn't believe what I was hearing the shear negativity! Mark how did it feel to listen to these idiots after you and other have worked so hard on this?

What was the basis of the negative comments? Just that we don't need it?

In general I don't think people care much about public transport. That's why they have cars.

Well Jason Mohammad kept saying it was £9billion being spent but thats not just for Wales many of the complaints stemmed from the time saving is only 20 minutes and how it would be better spent on the NHS or Schools blah blah blah it will be on Iplayer later.

Someone also disputed the idea of people from the heads of the valleys looking for jobs in Cardiff and Newport because "there are no jobs in Cardiff and Newport".

Today Wales moved into the new Millenium.
I hope that the construction runs smooth and many Welsh people get work out of it.
Infrastructure, health and education the way forward for Cymru - ymlaen!

PS I have never voted Tory, but would not rule it out in the future.

I heard the last quarter of the programme but the topic had clearly moved on from rail transport to that overblown story about national anthems.

It is sometimes rather frightening to listen to phone-ins. There is an almost palpable sense of nervousness emanating from the people who phone in (which is totally understandable given that most people have never had any type of media training). This nervousness often quickly descends into people saying things that they don't really mean and losing their tempers somewhat when they have their views cross examined.

A radio phone in programme can often descend into a tiresome tirade of negative opinions which borders on the embarrassing.Sounds like this was one of those experiences.

They seemed to have no grasp of the issues facing the rail network one person said he commuted from Bristol to Cardiff and was annoyed that he had to stand all the time but said the upgrade was a waste of money! Ofcourse electric trains will have increased capacity anyway i've turned this thread all negative, I hope this investment will finally turn around the economy in South Wales or atleast stop the decline there have been many false dawns like the objective 1 EU funding lets hope this works!

Superb news, congratulations to all involved. Hope this morphs into a full blown South East Wales Metro now, and acts as a lightning rod for the Cardiff City Region as a whole.

Delighted that the Maesteg line (and indeed the Ebbw Vale and Vale of Glamorgan lines) have also been included. Coupled with the news of a spur to Heathrow so we don't have to go to Paddington to get to Heathrow now, this has been a great couple of days for our infrastructure

Link to the Radio Wales phone-in, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0079g44, starts just after 3 minutes

It looks like the coalition will be selling Anglesea to fund these electrifications from that map!

Seems fair, I'd accept it

As Jantra has pointed out it has taken a Conservative UK government to start the delivery of rail upgrade and I was pleasantly surprised to see Ebbw Vale, VOG and Maesteg lines included. So this is a reason to be cheerful and slightly optimistic in an otherwise gloomy summer. Will be more re-assured when construction actually commences.

Will the Conservatives get any political kudos. No. People do not notice who ordered the infrastructure they will only get credit if the economy improves substantially and as this bit of infrastructure will not commence until 2014/2015 it will not have any affect on the economy prior to the next election. It might benefit the next government.

Why are a number of people negative? Could be they see substantial public investment and increased fares while rail companies walk off with the profits with little risk? Perhaps some people remember that the old cash starved British Rail in some ways provided a better services eg faster trains to London and eight or twelve carriage trains on the valley lines. Whatever I will wager that this £9Bn will have more long term effect than the £9Bn spent down on Hackney Marsh.