Welcome to the Tafia Express

This from Owain Glyn Dour...

According to the BBC...

A north-south rail service that takes in Wrexham will begin in May, the assembly government has said.

A second Arriva Trains Wales "express" service will run once a day between Holyhead and Cardiff and back.The service will stop at Wrexham in both directions, unlike the first service started in December 2008.

But Wrexham council leader Aled Roberts said that, while welcome, the new service will mean the loss of a direct service to Birmingham from the area.

The new service, costing £620,000 to run until December when a different locomotive will be used, will run Monday to Friday and take four hours and 17 minutes.

The evening train is timetabled to leave Cardiff at 1818 GMT, stopping at Newport, Abergavenny, Hereford, Shrewsbury, Gobowen, Ruabon, Wrexham, Chester, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Junction, and Bangor to arrive at Holyhead at 2234 GMT.

So a popular local service from Wrexham to Birmingham is being sacrificed to provide paths for a £620k vanity train linking North and South Wales.

As disgruntled Birmingham bound passengers have pointed out, there are already frequent daily trains running north and south via Wrexham. Unfortunatley these exisiting services don't offer first class accomodation which apparently our new rulling class can no longer live without.

Happily the new Tafia Express will offer first class and catering facilities; all for a paltry subsidy of just £4,750 a day!

Despite going all round the houses and taking over four hours to travel between Cardiff and Holyhead there is likely to be at least one regular user of the Tafia Express.

Step forward Deputy First Minister and holder of the transport portfolio, Ieuan Wyn Jones, who today announced the new service, which provides a direct rail link between his Yns Mon constituency and Cardiff office.

Trebles all round and one for yourself boyo.