Reader Comments:

Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.

• John Gilbert, Cradley, Herefordshire, England

  Mr Claydon's comment does indeed "seem fair" prima faciae, except that the Devolution Settlement for Wales does NOT, I now find out, include allowing them to fund Infrastructure projects - even now, after "all the extra powers they voted themselves recently." As I say above, the disparity between Scotland's treatment at devolution and that accorded to Wales would be laughable were it not so ridiculously unbalanced. I, too, had hoped that Cardiff would now have the option to electrify independently from Cardiff to Swansea if desired, but no, it is still not possible unless Mr Hammond gives permission - and it would seem clear that he still views this as an electrification at the fag end of a route from London rather than between Wales's two largest cities. Which is typical of the sneering attitude so many of we English have towards our celtic neighbours. And 'Rhydgaled' above sets out the real likely traffic between those two cities much more persuasively than Mr Hammond.

• Rhydgaled, Cardigan

  It is just the DfT pushing their daft bi-mode train. They made up some really silly reasons for not wiring to Swansea.
  
  1. There's only 1 train per hour that could go electric. WRONG! The Cardiff to Swansea stopping service (currently only 1 train every 2 hours but crying out for a doubling in frequency) could also switch to electric operation, and if the Maesteg branch of the ValleyLines network was electrified by the Welsh Assembly these trains would run over part of the Cardiff - Swansea line too. There is also the 'sparks effect' (electrification resulting in an increase in passenger numbers) to consider, which may make extending the hourly London to Cardiff train through to Swansea as well.
  
  2. There wouldn't be any journey time savings due to the route. DAFT! While you can't really do anything to increase the top speed between Cardiff and Swansea due to the twistyness of the route, the time savings you get with electric trains are normally due to improved acceleration, therefore the electric trains would probably be able knock a minute or two off at least. Even if they can't knock any time off, the focus on journey time improvements are missing the point entirely. The reasons I want to see more electrification are reduced carbon emissions and weight (resulting in less track wear) and improved reliability, all of which also reduce the cost of running the service. You throw all that away with a bi-mode train (and actually increase carbon emissions over the off-wire sections due to new diesel trains having more powerful and thirsty engines than our current diesel trains do).
  
  While the Welsh Assembly (WAG) do not have devolved spending on rail infrastructure (and therefore do not get a chunk of additional monies allocated to them for the purpose) they can (and plan to, in the form of Wrexham - Chester and Swansea - Llanelli re-doublings) divert money they have been given for other capital investment into rail. That means, while it should really DfT money that pays for electrification in Wales, WAG can pay for electrification if they choose. I personally think that, because DfT are short on cash, they should electrify Swindon to Cheltenham Spa and leave Cardiff to Swansea, the ValleyLines and Cheltenham Spa to Cardiff to WAG. WAG should immediately cancel the 16 miles of extra lane for the Heads Of The Valleys road which would save enough money (£600m) to pay for all that electrification AND a fleet of brand-new Electrostar trains to work the ValleyLines and the Cardiff to Swansea and Cardiff to Cheltenham Spa stopping services.
  
  Having DfT wire the Cheltenham - Swindon route, and WAG Cheltenham to Swansea and increasing the number of Intercity 125s that will be retained will entirely eliminate the need for the new nonsensical and environmentally perverse bi-mode trains, by using Intercity 225s with a loco-swap at Swansea for Carmarthen and Pembroke Dock services (incidentally, Pembroke Dock and Tenby services will be ceased otherwise, as the new trains from Japan won't fit through the tunnel), making the existing Voyager trains bi-mode and hauling the new electric trains with diesel locomotives on the other un-wired routes.

• Robin Coleman, Auckland, New Zealand

  "English taxpayers", dont the Welsh pay tax!

• Chris, Portsmouth

  Its not about politics, its about the DfT's desperate attempts to justify their bi-modal train - electrify to Swansea and you can have a much larger fleet of straight-electric trains, offsetting the cost of moving all that extra weight of fuel and diesel engines between London and Wales and saving significant sums in maintenance; that alone would pay for electrification. The DfT though have decided that its bi-modal IEP all the way, irrespective that *everyone* in the industry thinks its a mistake, and shaping their electrification strategy around it. For crying out loud, even the full-electric sets have a small diesel engine just like...oh hang on, no other equivalent train in the world!

• John Gilbert, Cradley, Herefordshire, England

  It is very bad that, whereas Scotland has the powers independently to electrify its lines, e.g. those between its two largest cities, Wales is denied the same independent powers by the scandalous disparity between the Devolution Settlement with that nation as compared with that with Scotland. Why is there this disparity I wonder; the two nations are equal in status and should therefore have the same devolved government. I fear, as an Englishman incidentally, that the question has been looked at from a London perspective, that is," Electrify from London into the 'Celtic fringe' and then stop because Swansea is so much further into the wilderness!" i.e. beyond London. Whereas the Welsh perspective is that Cardiff and Swansea are their two largest cities. And they would indeed go ahead with electrification in Wales - or even from the Severn Tunnel border, pace Mr William above - if they had been given the powers to do so by Westminster, which, it has to be said, is dominated by England!

• Claydon William, Norwich, Norfolk

  As English taxpayers will no doubt be funding electrification as far as Cardiff, perhaps the good taxpayers of Wales can stump up the funds for the Cardiff-Swansea section. Seems fair to me.
  
  Now that the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff has all those extra powers they voted themselves recently, perhaps they can charge for prescriptions or higher education a little more to bridge the funding gap on Cardiff-Swansea.
  
  To all those 'angry' councillors in west wales, politics is all about making tough choices with limited resources; you've made you're choices, and you now want English taxpayers to make up the difference.