What's needed for the Aberystwyth-Shrewsbury line

The railways have always been a really interesting topic to me, I’m not sure why but there’s something about the railways that raises my heart. As a councillor, I’ve been working hard on it, including putting a questionnaire through the majority of letter boxes in North Ward last spring!

In 2018, there will be a new franchise for Wales – choosing a new company to run our railways, setting them conditions and responsibilities. Last time, in 2003, the Department for Transport in Westminster decided to give a “no-growth” franchise to Arriva – that is, there was no finance from government to add more services or carriages. The result was the lack  of seats on the trains that we see all the time. Within the last couple of days, it was announced that the Welsh Government wil now be responsible for the franchise.

The Cambrian Lines Steering Group is holding a consultation about what stakeholders would like to see for the future of Cambrian lines services. These will feed into a presentation that the group will do to the Welsh Government. The closing date is 30th November. So I put a motion before the town council for us to respond. The motion is below, as well as some additional comments that I’ve made.

Motion:

The Town Council should respond to the consultation asking for:

·         Full hourly service, for consistency and to improve the popular services which are offered to Aberystwyth residents on the railway. There will be more services in May – but we still need an hourly service throughout the day.

·         Better connections to north Wales (via Barmouth or via Wrexham) – at present, it’s necessary to wait for about an hour in Shrewsbury or Dyfi Junction. It’s heartbreaking when the train from Aberystwyth arrives into Shrewsbury as the train to North Wales departs!

·         Re-open the railways from Aberystwyth to Carmarthen and Porthmadog to Bangor to improve connections and allow travelling between south-, central- and north- West Wales, as well as connecting 4 university towns. Large parts of Wales lost their railways in the Beeching era, and rebuilding these railways (for higher speeds of course) would spark economic development, and with that stem the outflow of young people from West Wales and help our communities and the Welsh language to survive. They are already rebuilding railways in Western Ireland.

·         Re-open Bow Street and Carno stations to open up the countryside and bring shoppers and commuters into Aberystwyth.

·         Transport goods on the railway, particularly to/from Aberystwyth. This will mean less heavy lorries on the main roads into Aberystwyth, which are unsuitable for this kind of traffic, and therefore the roads will be significantly safer for everyone.

·         Better connections between the buses and the trains

·         More 4-car trains. Many trains are incredibly full, and I’ve had to stand from Birmingham to Newtown in the past.

·         New loops at Borth, Caersws, Westbury and Sutton Bridge Junction, to help restore the timetable when delays occur, and also to prepare for a possible half-hourly service in the long term, when the number of passengers has increased further. There were two platforms in Borth and Caersws in the 1960s, and the Westbury lwp was still in place until the re-signalling in the 1980s. By now the line’s been re-signalled again, and it’s high time to rebuild Westbury loop. A loop at Sutton Bridge Junction would help the flows on the Marches line as well as on the Cambrian.

·         Extended canopy above the platform in Abersytwyth station, to keep passengers out of the rain. Since ERTMS was introduced, the trains stop further away from the town and therefore the canopy does not even shelter 2 carriages by now. The wetness spreads along the whole platform when it rains, causing problems to people who have difficulty in walking. I’ve spoken to Network Rail officers, and they confirmend that extending the canopy is a long term objective for them (but they refused to do it as part of their program to renovate the station in 2014-15, which is a shame).

·         By the end of the franchise, new trains will have to be searched for, which fulfil the same responsibilities as the present ones i.e. corridor connections, 90mph+, toilets, enough space for large items of luggage. Class 158 trains will not last forever unfortunately, and it’s important to ensure that the next trains are suitable for the Cambrian lines.

Fortunately, the motion was passed. So the town council has set out its’ stall; now let’s see what comes from Cardiff Bay.