Sea and river Barges?

 Once known as Coasters!

Moving around Europe will small but essential loads is the work of the Sea barges that can work the the English Channel, the River Rhine and the Humber and many other rivers to to the Black sea and beyond into the Ukraine and Russia! 

They need certain conditions at sea, but on rivers they remain in their own league and so far there is no replacement for them?

But the coaster has seen its demise, with better Port facilities and ferries taking vehicle loads to and from islands and remote places along the coasts of the U.K. and Europe, despite being smaller that General cargo, they were bigger than a sea barge, but were limited to deep rivers and not canals?

Next Generation Electric!

 Better transport Requirements?

This new generation of electric vehicles brings with it great promises of better things and yet Tesla is still having driverless collisions and fatalities?

But design and electrical improvements with docking stations are becoming more popular in England and Wales, but for some what we have and is to come is still not enough and one would have to agree that every petrol station should have a docking facility!

Trucks and buses are now very much to be seen across the country and more are on the way with hydrogen gas and electric on a par with each other in mixed fleets, even rail is starting to adapt to the option of gas powered trains alongside battery ones.

Truckers n Trucking.

The current life-Line?

Road transport remains the essential way of moving goods around the place, between the rails and the sea ports! We may joke about white van man or woman, but much of what is being sold on-line at this time is coming through these poorly paid self-employed workers?

Throughout each country there are a host of distribution centres, some handle dry goods, electricals, while others are supermarket factories that turn out their branded products? There are also many regional medical and pharmaceutical centres that process or store essential medication and equipment!

At this time our motorways and roads are busy with the fleets of trucks that usually travel at night but now all the time. With the introduction of more electric vehicles, one supposes that in the next few years the familiar will be withdrawn and maybe even road trains might become more popular, currently one occasionally might see a funfair convoy of truck and mobile home and the Dutch truckers use split trailers?

Transport for Wales!

Teething Problems?

The take over of the Arriva contract does not seem to have solved much for rail in Wales, and neither has the weather? Flooding and landslides with the recent and more expected heavy rains will cause more problems, on top of lack of new stocks and bad management?

Wales has always had the backend of British Rail and now into privatization little has changed!

Cheaper fares in competition with the bus services will make for a cleaner faster journeys between the big cities of the capital Cardiff and Swansea. 

But the valleys and further afield will continue to suffer from lack of stock allocation and overcrowding, much is promised by the Welsh government and one has just to wait and see and hope that not all will be disappointed again?

Management and the past removal of track to the major ports of Pembroke and Fishguard for freight was unwise, putting more of a strain on the roads? The lack of vision is another issue to do with the bottlenecks of the M4 between Cardiff and the Servern crossing?