MSs to discuss petition calling for reopening of railway lines across Wales
MSs will discuss a petition calling for the reopening of railway lines in Wales, on Monday (10 June) in the Senedd.
The petition was submitted by Gwynedd councillor Elfed Wyn ap Elwyn after it collected a total of 12,936 signatures.
Last year Mr ap Elwyn, a married dad-of-two, from Trawsfynydd, and Plaid Cymru councillor for Bowydd and Rhiw, Blaenau Ffestiniog, walked 206 miles from Bangor to Cardiff as part of the Traws Link Cymru (TLC) campaign to restore and build new railways.
Milestone
Mike Walker, chair of TLC, which is campaigning to reopen the Aberystwyth to Carmarthen and Bangor to Caernarfon and Afon Wen railway lines, said: “The debate in the Senedd Petitions Committee on June 10 is an important milestone in the railway campaign.
“This will be the first time that the reinstatement of these former rail links has been discussed in a formal session involving members of the Senedd and is in response to the fact that almost 13,000 people signed the petition calling for these lines to be restored.”
The petition calls for:
- A Scoping and Feasibility study for the Bangor to Afon Wen Line
- Commitment to spend any funding for the railways from Westminster on reinstating the railway lines.
- Develop a blueprint of the rail route between Bangor and Cardiff on the proposed route.
- Look at other routes within Wales that would be beneficial on a national and local level to reopen.
Beneficial
Councillor ap Elwyn said: “If we are looking to develop the infrastructure in Wales, and to use a greener method of travel, reinstating and reopening this railway would be a step in the right direction and would be beneficial for all the communities situated along the railway, as well as for Wales as a nation.”
The Aberystwyth to Carmarthen line was closed to passengers in February 1965 as part of Dr Beeching’s cull of “unprofitable services”. Bangor to Afon Wen was also axed as part of the Beeching cuts, closing in December 1964.
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The Scots Gvt reopened yet another rail line last week. A lesson for us ?
Some simple wins by starting on re opening lines in existance but not in current service….
Llangefni to the main line at Bodorgan ?
Several options around Swansea / Llanelli?
Extending up to Hirwaen ?
Link on Borders line @ Gobowen to Oswestry ?
Good idea. But could the mid Eales havr dome investment in rail? While the Valleys and south have done well we are losing services!
This could be easily achieved if the Crown Estate was devolved to Wales (as it is in Scotland and Northern Ireland). Wales could very much use the one billion annual revenue that goes to King and Westminster.
Try as I might, I see no realistic justification, beyond flag waving, for the proposal to reinstate the Aberystwyth – Caerfyrddin line. The two population centres at each end are scarcely buzzing metropolises …. except when compared to the countryside across which trains would have to meander between the two. While Afon Wen – Caernarfon – Bangor is a ‘no-brainer’ (whether the WHR between Dinas (Llanwnda) and Caernarfon is ‘gauntleted’ or a new route engineered, when it comes to reconnecting the three disparate compoments of the Welsh rail network, a recent suggestion to reopen the old Mid-Wales route from (a… Read more »
Linking Caerfyrddin – Aberystwyth and Bangor – Afon Wen is about much more than the populations in those particular places. It’s about creating a figure of eight rail network around Wales which will boost the entire system.
And of course linking the communities in between the terminus stations.
I’d ask you to consider several factors here: A substantial investment of public funds is controversial enough when a scheme’s prospects stack up. Can you honestly say route serving one halfway significant intermediate village, whilst missing several more populous locations and which is in any event inconvenient to access at either end is preferable to one which dovetails far better into and reinforces the existing badly attenuated network? It’s also about getting funding in a climate made more challenging by the current economic conditions. If being done to serve as near zero intermediate population as makes no odds, whilst leaving… Read more »
There. Are. Three. Universities. Along. The. Route. Three! Still the idiots in charge severed the direct link between Oxbridge, so prestigious and sui generis these two universities are, they even share their own portmanteau, but seemingly not so to share a railway link. It’s always depressing coming back from a civilised country on the continent to this hole run by parasites, spivs and imbeciles.
Reopening Aberystwyth to Caerfyrddin isn’t just about connecting the two population centres. It about connecting the entire region to the ports at Fishguard and Milford Haven, to Swansea and Cardiff and providing a alternative route to London which, for now, remains the economic capital meaning access is critical for attracting inward investment into the region. It also connects up multiple university centres which could be developed as Wales’s “golden triangle”. And there’s the potential for developing Lampeter into a new city perhaps kickstarted with a government hub and global science and research campus. Investment in transport infrastructure isn’t only about today,… Read more »
The fact that there is no rail connection entirely within Wales between south and north Wales is scandalous and ludicrous. The decision of the UK government (recommended by Dr Beeching) to severe the line between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth in 1965 was both grossly insulting and disparaging to our country. It was ostensibly to stop this railway line from making a loss. It was also completely unimaginative for even a 10 year old child could have deduced that doing away with the line would eliminate the loss. The sooner it is reinstated the better.
The lack of a vaguely comprehensive national rail network IS appalling, I agree, but in all honesty, why reinstate what wasn’tup to the job when it closed nearly 60 years ago? Freight had been deserting the railways since many demobbed troops put the driving skills learned during that conflict to good effect, buying WD Surplus lorries to set up small haulage concerns, post WWI and the bottom fell out of passenger numbers once powerful and reliable diesel engined buses hit the roads, from the 1930s onwards. For many purposes, these were far more convenient and faster options than infrequent services… Read more »
Another way to address that anomaly is to move the border eastwards to encompass the entire line. Perhaps someone could propose that taxpayer value-for-money alternative to Whitehall.
Beeching wrote the report.
Macalpine made the cuts
Marples. MacAlpine saved Flying Scotsman
Whatever is agreed now, old lines should still be safeguarded for future reopening.
Amen to that.
Actually, I rather liked your suggested border policy, although someone would have to check whether that old chestnut about Welshmen after dusk approaching Chester holds water or not!!
Would folk in the Forest of Dean pay any more mind to being governed from Cardiff than from London?