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Tories abandon Welsh railway electrification
Mick Whelan exposes the government’s short-term, opportunistic policies that will cause inestimable damage to Wales’ economic development, the environment and compromise job creation
road traffic

THE decision by the Department for Transport to cancel three major rail electrification projects — the Great Western main line in South Wales, the Midland main line and the Lakes Line between Windermere and Oxenholme — was a tragedy for the railway and a tragedy for Wales.

The decision — which I believe was utterly cynical and driven by Tory dogma — to renege on what was, you will remember, a Conservative Party pledge at the last general election, was as perverse and ridiculous as it is indefensible.

Because this country badly needs a modern railway, and a proper infrastructure, fit for the 21st century.

Rail produces 76 per cent fewer carbon dioxide emissions than the equivalent road journey

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