Plaid were in coalition with Labour for one session (2007-11), and provided the minister for the economy and transport (Ieuan Wyn Jones, MS for Anglesey).
Whilst not currently in a formal coalition, Plaid do seem to have a fair degree of influence over the present Labour Government (who have only half the seats in the Welsh Parliament).
Nicknamed Von Ieuan's Express and Ieuan Air
Caernarfon "Airport" is at the end of a long unclassified road off the A499 and is only really suitable for light aircraft and helicopters. Of course, if you built a link road to the new Caernarfon by-pass, lengthened the runways and built a passenger terminal you could have Snowdonia International Airport.......
Are there any figures for Welsh rail revenue? I wouldn't be surprised to find out that's dropped more than £3 million pa since covid.
When the service originally started, as it was 3 MKIIs and a MKIII buffet the brake force rule did indeed apply. When it was converted to a full MKIII rake with DVT that no longer applied (as the rules don't apply to MKIIIs), so it could run at line speed.
Named after Gerald of Wales (Gerallt o Gymro), who documented Welsh life during his travels in the 1190s, on commission to Henry II and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
And your source for this is?
There was also the logistical issue of needing to do a run round at Chester to go via Wrexham in the MKII era. With the MKIIIs came a DVT, thus making it much easier to run via Wrexham.
Didn't ITV Wales do a similar trip, Car V Train V Plane Cardiff to Bangor?
Which would have coincided with a Labour Westminster Government but 1 year. And it's run for ten years since.
Many thanks for this. Can always rely on you to clarify matters.
The ironic thing with the south-north road is that the very section where you could go fast (70mph), The Welsh Government have decided to now reduce the A470 from M4 J32 to just north of Pontypridd to 50mph in order to reduce ‘air pollution’. It is a darn good job that Porthmadog got its by-pass as with Lee Waters & Julie James calling the shots, no new roads are being built in Wales due to ‘The Climate Emergency’. (Wales is going to save the planet - never mind that cars are gradually going electric). Hence, the village of Llanbedr by-pass was scrapped and the locals have to put up with ‘A’ road traffic passing their cottages.
Oh, indeed. Though you can do rail trails on the cheap with volunteer labour and a limited construction spec: I understand the Wye Valley Greenway (7km from Chepstow-ish to Tintern) was done for tuppence hapenny, though I can't find the exact price, and lots of US rail trails are basically the old trackbed with a basic graded surface. Securing the land is the hard bit, and making the structures safe the expensive bit.
And one of the reasons why there was a big push on Wrexham Chester redoubling.
Well, there's the £1bn road being built between Dowlais and Hirwaun, making the A465 a dual carriageway all the way from Abergavenny to Neath.
So much for caring about the environment. Now £1 billion invested in the rail network would go a long way.
That was already committed when the Welsh Government decided they were going to save the planet by not building new roads. The A465 Heads of the Valleys road when not dualled had an appalling accident rate. Building new roads saves lives and usually removes traffic from near human habitation. Would anyone seriously want the ‘new' A48 from the end of the M4 to Carmarthen not to have been built? Just try the old road to see how things were. Anyway, we digress from the main topic. The Welsh Government are to be applauded for their efforts to improve the railways in Wales.
The travel time point is interesting & it mirrors my experience of the Cornwall/London subsidised route. I’m close enough to Newquay at that end but far enough from whichever London airport it is this week, such that it makes little sense for me to get a train and then fly vs just getting the train all the way (especially when Heathrow was the chosen airport, why would I get on the heathrow express and fly vs just getting on GWR). And the train doesn’t have security screening or a luggage limit. It’s only an hour in the air but all the rest really adds up. The combined air + train fare also costs more.
I do know I have been there but we are talking small aircraft are we not?
The problem with those looking at problems of Carmarthen - Aber is they can't see beyond the old route, that was built for freight, and farming a new one will be passenger focused so can routed differently and with modern machinery and trains they will not be as restricted by geography, it can head closer to the coast towards Aberaeron and New Quay and head inland to Lampeter on to Carmarthen, this it caters for the tourist market from the Midlands and South Wales. And all Mid and West Wales would benefit from better links to Swansea. The buses have always been extremely slow and uncomfortable, but are getting busier.