We very much welcome the Department for Transport’s announcement on 1 March 2011 on the electrification of the Great Western Main Line to Cardiff via Bristol Parkway, and to Bath and Bristol Temple Meads. 

We look forward to the faster journey times between Bristol and London, the brand new fleet of Inter City Express (IEP) trains and the lower carbon emissions and fuel and maintenance cost savings they will bring. 

The scope of the electrification in the announcement raises a number of issues.

Our main concerns centre upon the electrification and the continuation of inter-city services to Weston-super-Mare and the need to maintain and electrify cross-Bristol local services which reflect passenger flows.

The West of England Partnership has written to Phillip Hammond, Secretary of State for Transport, on these issues.

and received a full reply from the Department for Transport in May 2011