News

The signal box with three members of staff but no trains

10 Aug 2026 4 minute read

Former Neath Riverside Railway Station & signalbox in 2006. Photo Steven Morgan, geograph.org. uk Wikimedia Commons

Martin Shipton

Three members of staff are employed to run a rail signalbox – even though no trains run on the redundant line it serves.

A post by Phil Jones on the Neath Town Talk Facebook page states: “I can’t decide if this is the best job in the world or the most boring and uninspiring job in the world.

“The afternoon shift turned up at 2pm today to relieve the morning shift, at the signal box alongside the footbridge crossing over towards Neath College. I live back to back with the railway line and I am not aware of any trains using this track this year.

“Looking at the rusty tracks and the trees and bushes growing on the track it looks like it hasn’t seen a train for longer than that.

“Since Aberthaw power station shut down, no coal is carried on this line any more but the signal men/women remain in place every day.

“Best job or worst job I can’t decide.”

A spokesperson for Network Rail, the state-owned company that owns Britain’s rail infrastructure, told us: “Network Rail is in the process of temporarily closing the Neath and Brecon line through the ‘Short-Term Network Change’ process.

“The line had initially been maintained as operational to support potential future requirements from the Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE). However, following GCRE’s announcement last year that its expansion ambitions had been paused until at least 2030, we have begun the temporary closure process.

“The staff consultation has now been completed and we are awaiting confirmation of the date the temporary closure will take effect.

“The three signallers currently associated with the line will be redeployed elsewhere within the business, providing additional resilience to our wider operational teams.”

Aberthaw power station officially closed on March 31 2020.

The GCRE project has faced difficulty in attracting private sector investment to take it forward.

In July 2026 Nation.Cymru reported how a transport campaigner, Dr John McTeague, had called on the Auditor General to investigate what he says is a doomed proposal to establish an international rail testing centre in Wales that has cost the Welsh Government tens of million of pounds.

Dr McTeague sent every Senedd Member a copy of his appeal against Audit Wales’ decision to put any inquiry on hold pending a decision by the new Welsh Government.

In his appeal, Dr McTeague accused former Transport Minister Ken Skates of being responsible for wasting £50m of public money on the project at Onllwyn, on the border of Neath Port Talbot and Powys.

Audit Wales wrote to Dr McTeague stating: “We have no immediate plans to examine the GCRE project in more detail ourselves in advance of any decisions taken by the new administration. The Senedd’s previous Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee took an interest in the GCRE project’s progress and expenditure. In its legacy report, the Committee noted that, following the Senedd elections, the new administration would need to make decisions about the future of the project and recommended that its successor committee keep under review and monitor issues relating to the Welsh Government’s financial support.”

Review

In his response, Dr McTeague stated: “Could the Auditor General please review your decision. An investigation should be carried out for the following reasons.

“The level of project funding that has been wasted, currently at £48m soon to rise to £50m million, is far in excess of any of the previous projects subjected to investigations by the Auditor General (eg Circuit of Wales £14.9m, TVR [sports car project] £12.35m, Gilestone Farm £4.25m.)

“The Minister responsible for Transport, Ken Skates, introduced GCRE in July 2017 as a replacement for the failed Circuit of Wales project.

“GCRE was introduced in haste and was based on the French Railennium Centre opened in July 2017 after funding by the French Government of £475m supplied in 2011.

“It was not introduced in response to an industry-led demand and was introduced as a political necessity to avoid the backlash from the Circuit of Wales project failure.”

Mr Skates, now the leader of Welsh Labour, did not respond when we asked him to respond to Dr McTeague’s comments.

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