The Dragon and the Leprechaun - Restoring the Rail Links

Campaign aims to restore coastal railway

Jan 9 2008 by Rhodri Clark, Western Mail
Campaign aims to restore Wales’ coastal railway

THEY may be in adjoining counties, but the train ride from Carmarthen to Aberystwythis a marathon that takes more than six hours.
And if you’re crazy enough to take the train from Barmouth to Bangor – 60 miles apart in the same county – you’ll need five hours for the journey via England’s Shrewsbury and Chester. And Wales is not alone.

Residents of western Ireland can sympathise because their rail network focuses on east-west journeys from and to Dublin.
But Ireland has now started rebuilding its “western corridor” railway.
Towns near its western seaboard such as Limerick and Galway will be reconnected in a £50m, 52-mile scheme. Campaigners say reopening another 46 miles would link Sligo to Westport, Galway and Limerick at a total £250m cost for the entire route.

Yesterday there were calls for Wales to examine this Irish solution and to consider restoring two missing railways, from Carmarthen to Aberystwyth and Porthmadog to Bangor. The Irish tracks were retained after the last trains in 1976, but the Welsh tracks were torn up after the last train from Caernarfon to Bangor in 1972. Bridges have also vanished and roads or buildings cover the route in places.
A Welsh reconnection would therefore cost more than the Irish scheme but Gareth Butler, a long-term campaigner for the western link, said costs could be cut with new tram-train technology.

“Rebuilding the old system would perhaps be too complicated and not suit today’s purposes,” said Mr Butler, a road-safety education adviser in Aberystwyth.
“There are trams that can go on railways and roads. They could go around the obstacles where development has occurred on the old rail route.”
He said a railway connecting main western towns could reduce traffic and accidents on rural roads, statistically the most dangerous.

Kirsty Williams, Liberal Democrat transport spokeswoman at the Assembly, said, “Undoubtedly it would be worthwhile the Welsh Assembly Government looking at what Ireland is proposing to do and seeing if there are any lessons for economic development here.
“We need the economy to thrive in all parts of Wales. We’ve restored the Ebbw Vale line and developed links to the Vale of Glamorgan. There’s always the opportunity to undo the damage that was done by Beeching.”
Richard Beeching’s report on reshaping British Railways resulted in many line closures in the 1960s.
Mrs Williams said people without cars on Wales’ western side could suffer isolation.
“It can be difficult to access hospital services and educational opportunities because of lack of transport. We should be looking at ways we can improve communications in that part of Wales.”

Prof Stuart Cole, of the University of Glamorgan, said restoring the tracks to normal rail standards could cost £500m and the service would need operating subsidy because of the low population.
“I don’t see the WAG or the Department for Transport paying for it. The European Commission might pay part of the cost.
“There’s a whole string of potential grants for redevelopment of peripheral areas.” Prof Cole said Ireland’s growth imbalance was mirrored here.
“The economic development is really in the south-east and around Swansea and Wrexham. There’s not much further west, apart from pockets like Newtown and Aberystwyth.”

Restoring the Bangor to Caernarfon railway could be an obvious starting point. Only a few miles of track were needed to link two major towns, and more of the old route was intact than further south. He said improving TrawsCambria bus services was the most realistic solution for the Carmarthen-Bangor corridor.
Even with both missing railways restored the rail journey from Swansea to Bangor could be slower than the service via Shrewsbury, especially if the latter was accelerated after track improvements, he added.