Worries over electrification of the Valleys Lines
Welsh Government plans to build a motorway across the Gwent Levels could quash any hope of electrification of the Valleys Lines.
That’s the view of environmental coalition, the Campaign Against the Levels Motorway (CALM). Recent controversy [1] over who pays for electrification of the Valleys Lines could mean that the Welsh Government ends up being faced with a choice between footing the £400 million electrification bill [2] and building a motorway.
CALM Spokesperson Gareth Clubb said:
“If UK Government Ministers are to be believed, the Welsh Government has agreed to pay for electrification of the Valleys Line. But at the same time, Edwina Hart is pushing ahead with plans to build a hugely expensive, environmentally destructive motorway through the Gwent Levels.
“The Welsh Government hasn’t got a bottomless pot of money for transport projects. At some point it’s going to have to make a choice. So will it choose a motorway of questionable benefit for the few, or better public transport for hundreds of thousands of people in the valleys?
“There is another option that the Welsh Government needs to consider. It can invest in electrification of the Valleys and make improvements to the M4 corridor. But it can only afford to do that if it adopts Professor Stuart Cole’s Blue Route, which can be delivered sooner and at a fraction of the cost. The Welsh Government’s preferred choice of a new stretch of M4 spells the death knell for electrification of the Valleys Lines.”
NOTES
1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-26902724
2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-26620650
3. For a copy of Professor Cole’s Blue Route go to http://www.foe.co.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/m4-blue-route-45610.pdf
That’s the view of environmental coalition, the Campaign Against the Levels Motorway (CALM). Recent controversy [1] over who pays for electrification of the Valleys Lines could mean that the Welsh Government ends up being faced with a choice between footing the £400 million electrification bill [2] and building a motorway.
CALM Spokesperson Gareth Clubb said:
“If UK Government Ministers are to be believed, the Welsh Government has agreed to pay for electrification of the Valleys Line. But at the same time, Edwina Hart is pushing ahead with plans to build a hugely expensive, environmentally destructive motorway through the Gwent Levels.
“The Welsh Government hasn’t got a bottomless pot of money for transport projects. At some point it’s going to have to make a choice. So will it choose a motorway of questionable benefit for the few, or better public transport for hundreds of thousands of people in the valleys?
“There is another option that the Welsh Government needs to consider. It can invest in electrification of the Valleys and make improvements to the M4 corridor. But it can only afford to do that if it adopts Professor Stuart Cole’s Blue Route, which can be delivered sooner and at a fraction of the cost. The Welsh Government’s preferred choice of a new stretch of M4 spells the death knell for electrification of the Valleys Lines.”
NOTES
1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-26902724
2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-26620650
3. For a copy of Professor Cole’s Blue Route go to http://www.foe.co.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/m4-blue-route-45610.pdf
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