Originally Posted by
macdo
God, this thread is like a twenty year groundhog day, even down to some of the same characters bickering over why CWL is/is not a business failure. Always has been (apart from tentative green shoots in the mid 2000's) and when I went through there last year and saw the fossilised tumbleweed blowing through the terminal, and always will be. If it wasn't for BAMC it would have been a housing estate years ago, which is hopefully its eventual fate rather than digging up green field around Cardiff. You've got 2 massive aviation sites within spitting distance and not enough business for one of them The dead hand of WG is all over this and I have little doubt it will stagger on for a bit longer as they try to convince the population of Wales that it is a national status symbol and has to have more money (the invisible kind) thrown at it.
Ugh, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it!
LOL, somewhat of a contradiction citing two massive aviation sites while suggesting without sufficient business for either of them, perhaps a description of two massive real estate sites might have been more apt given your overall summarisation.
There is an airfield in Swindon with a Honda car plant built upon it, there is an airfield in Ellesmere Port with a Vauxhall/Opel car plant, there is an airfield in Sunderland with a Nissan car plant, there is an airfield in Derby with a Toyota car plant, there is an airfield in Hethel with a Lotus car plant, there is an airfield in Gaydon with Jaguar/Land Rover & Aston Martin car plants, Dyson have taken over Hullavington airfield for their electric cars so it was interesting to learn that Aston Martin are/were moving in to St Athan to develop a business plant there, St Athan would be ideal for non-aviation related industry with it having been perhaps the largest of ex RAF bases but without a size of runway to match and located within the country of government incentives for developing businesses.
CWL could do something to improve upon it's public transport links, by the way what the hell is happening with Cardiff Central bus station, that was one of the few perfect city rail/bus interchanges, on/off a bus and/or train within a couple of minutes walk of each other, what the hell are they doing to it?
But trains to/from the airport, CWL have designated Rhoose station as their airport rail station, Rhoose station was closed for umpteen years, is little more that an open-air platform or two on the coast, exposed to the Severn estuary, with just one train and one airport shuttle bus per hour, is located 2.2 miles from the airport and according to a route planner 6 minutes away
By comparison just 3.6 miles and 7 minutes away from the airport is Barry rail station with, not one but,three trains per hour, an average of one train per 20 minutes, with building(s) to take shelter from the elements and convenient to local services such as food & beverage outlets, why the hell are CWL focusing upon a village rail service rather than a far better town rail service?