Is Your Journey Really Necessary?

In Nice Work If You Can Get There I recounted the sad tale of the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway Tunnel. The line through the mountain connected Blaencwm, north of Treherbert, to Blaengwynfi, high above the Afan Valley, and thence to Port Talbot. It was closed in the mid-1960s as part of the Beeching review of the British rail network. As Kerry Hamilton and Stephen Potter pointed out in their book Losing Track (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985), the cost of maintaining the tunnel was a key factor in its closure – even though it shouldn't have been a consideration. Suddenly, however, the Rhondda Tunnel is firmly back on the map. There's an ambitious proposal to reopen it to walkers and cyclists, and add it to the network of cycle paths which criss-cross the Valleys. Last night, a meeting was held in Treorchy to discuss the scheme. I'd planned to go over, but the weather forecast talked in ominous tones of snow moving in throughout the day. As it's difficult enough to g...

'Autumn woes' was the headline on BBC Wales' summary table of the home nation's dismal performance in the Autumn Rugby Tests since 2009 (eleven defeats and a draw.) 'Autumn woes' could also sum up the experience of passengers on the South Wales Valleys Lines over the past couple of weeks. As I told you in Wet Wednesday , Martin H. and I were fortunate enough to catch a delayed train home from Abercynon last week. Had it actually been on time , we'd certainly have missed it. On 5 November, my friend Alexis reported that the train from Cardiff to Aberdare was running approximately twenty minutes late. Arriva Trains Wales had come up with arguably the best excuse to date – the delay had been caused (this time) by a fireworks display. Back in the days of British Rail, the late running and cancellation of trains was a standing joke, and a great source of comic material. Reginald Perrin used to arrive at Sunshine Desserts eleven minutes late every morning. Driven ...