Having looked at some of the strengths and weaknesses of transport policy for Wales things now turn to geography.
In today’s piece:
- Where do weak points and gaps exist in the Welsh transport network?
- Is Wales poorly connected to the rest of Great Britain and Ireland? If so, what connections could be prioritised for improvement?
- What other international links ought to be prioritised for improvement (with one eye on independence)?
After another break, the run-in (starting August 21st) will consist of the final five articles looking at specific transport modes including road transport policies, where new railway stations should/could be built, what railways could/should be reopened, where bus rapid transit could work, other policy changes with independence, international comparisons etc. I’ll save that for then.
This one is more general, focusing on transport corridors with a national or regional impact and it’ll all inform those final five articles.
That’s not because transport at local level is less important, it’s more because I’ll be here all day if I had to include it. There could be some bits and pieces I’ve missed out too.
Brace yourselves for a lot of maps.
I could’ve covered the map below with arrows, lines and dots.
For the sake of argument, here’s a selection of GB and Irish regions which you can’t reach overland on public transport, by air or by sea from Wales in a reasonable time (i.e. under 3 hours) or require multiple changes to do so.
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Connections between the north and NW England are decent (Borderlands Line aside). There’s also access to/from the West Coast Mainline to Scotland and more cross-country rail services to/from Manchester.
Given relative demand, regular public transport between Cardiff and Bristol isn’t as good as it could be. There’s been a lot of talk about possible sea links between the south, SW England and Cornwall which never seem to get off the ground (Part IX).
Given the strategic international importance of the London airports and services via the Channel Tunnel, direct (or minimal transfer) connections aren’t great from Wales either; similarly the Oxford-Cambridge-East Anglia corridor.
