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Transport in Wales is heavily influenced by the country's geography . Wales is predominantly hilly or mountainous, and the main settlements lie on the coasts of North and South Wales, while Mid Wales is lightly populated. The main transport corridors are east-west routes, many continuing eastwards into England.〔http://new.wales.gov.uk/deet/publications/transport/wts/wtstrategy/wtsfe.pdf?lang=en One Wales: Connecting the Nation, The Wales Transport Strategy, Welsh Assembly Government, April 2008〕 ==Railways== Wales' railway network developed in conjunction with that of the rest of the United Kingdom during the nineteenth century. The North Wales Coast Line and South Wales Main Line sought to profit from traffic between London and Ireland. Numerous railways were built to export coal and iron from South Wales and slate from North Wales. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, tourism was booming and railways served resorts such as Llandudno, Barry Island and locations along the Cambrian Coast Line. The network was rationalised during the twentieth century (particularly by the Beeching axe), with mainly east-west routes retained. As a result, the rail network within Wales is no longer contiguous. Devolution led to the formation of a single franchise for Wales in 2003. This franchise, which includes some railway lines in England for completeness, is currently operated by Arriva Trains Wales. As rail usage has grown during the past decades, several freight lines have seen rail services reintroduced, including the Cardiff City Line, the Vale of Glamorgan Line, and the Ebbw Valley Railway. As of 2008, there are 923 miles of mainline railways in Wales.〔According to the "Wales Route Utilisation Strategy – Draft for Consultation" published by Network Rail in 2008, there are 678 miles (1091 km) of railways in Wales, not counting the "heritage" lines.〕 Arriva Trains Wales operate all mainline services wholly within Wales. These range from rural lines such as the Welsh Marches Line to the Cardiff commuter lines, and long distance routes between North and South Wales, via Chester, Wrexham and Shrewsbury. They also operate services from Wales to Manchester, Crewe, Birmingham, and Gloucester. Services to London are operated by First Great Western (from South Wales) and Virgin Trains (from North Wales). First Great Western also operate services from Cardiff to Portsmouth via Bristol, Bath and Southampton, and CrossCountry (part of Deutsche Bahn AG) operate services from Cardiff to Nottingham. The bulk of rail transport in Wales today is concentrated in the south with Cardiff Central, Cardiff Queen Street, Newport, Swansea and Bridgend being the busiest stations.〔(Station Usage. ''Office of Rail Regulation''. )〕 Most passengers travel on east-west routes.〔 In 2005/06, there were approximately 20.1 million rail passenger journeys beginning or ending in Wales, including 13 million starting and ending in Wales. Cardiff was the destination for almost 40 per cent of these journeys.〔 In the north, the bulk of rail travel is concentrated around Wrexham General, Wrexham Central and Llandudno Junction to Chester section. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Transport in Wales」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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