I am pleased the Coalition Government has realised its mistake in cancelling the electrification of the Paddington – Wales line running through Swindon, which was first announced by Labour Transport Minister Andrew Adonis in 2009.
However, we shouldn’t get too excited as the Government says it won’t even start this work until 2014, despite huge fare increases announced for Swindon commuters this year and next year. There is no timescale, no budget and no indication of how much Swindon commuters will have to pay on top of the current high fares to London.
Local Tory MPs must hold their Transport ministers to account – this line could be being built now if their Government hadn’t cancelled Labour’s original plans when they came to power.