Four New Stations proposed for Wales

[RichardHC]

(This news came out a couple of weeks ago but I have not been able to post it sooner as the Forum has been offline.)

Four new railway stations could open in Wales by 2024 if the UK government agrees to a request by the Welsh Transport Minister, Ken Skates.

All of equal priority, the stations would be:
Deeside Parkway, on the Borderlands Line in North Wales
Carno, on the Cambrian Mainline in Mid Wales
St Clears on the Great Western Mainline in West Wales
Ely Mill on the City Line in Cardiff, in South Wales

Mr. Skates said they would improve rail connectivity and "supercharge" post Covid-19 recovery.

The UK government said the bids would be independently assessed so the most beneficial were funded.

In a letter to UK Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, Mr Skates called on him to invest in the Wales and Borders rail network through the UK government's ‘Restoring Your Railways’ fund.

The Deeside Parkway and Ely Mill stations will be key components of their respective Metro developments with major contributions to improved urban connectivity, employment/economic growth and reduced car use. The new stations in Carno and St Clears would support strong employment and sustainable economic growth through improved regional connectivity. They share extensive support within rural communities with limited public transport opportunities, who have historically been overlooked, particularly since the closure of previous stations in these communities and of Laura Ashley’s famous factory in Carno.

The Transport Minister also invited the Transport Secretary to discuss further priorities for rail investment, including new stations at Greenfield and Magor. He put forward suggestions for the New Ideas Fund, such as the restoration of passenger services on the line between Gaerwen and Amlwch on Anglesey and an expressed interest in using the Accelerating Existing Proposals fund to restore the line and services to Abertillery in South Wales. He also took the opportunity to reiterate the case strongly for plans which included the Aberystwyth – Carmarthen and Bangor – Caernarfon re-openings.

Due to the large number of expected bids and the relatively small funding pot, it is very unlikely that all four station projects will get backing. However, Wales has secured backing from the previous two new station funds, for Bow Street Station in Ceredigion and Pye Corner in Newport.

The ‘Restoring Your Railways’ fund will finance up to 75% of the capital cost of new or previously closed stations. However, the Welsh Government is seeking funding for the four projects in full, with backing outside of the new station fund to address under investment in rail infrastructure in Wales.

The winning station bids will be revealed innnnnnnn the autumn, with opening to passengers in March, 2024.

[s.w.johnson]

There is a discussion about this on RMWeb which, as usual, has degraded into a chat on other topics, mostly reopening lines. The usual candidates have emerged such as Carmarthen to Aberystwyth, a line which never paid in the halcyon years before WW1 so how would it pay now with road competition.

[Rhobat Bryn]

By being faster than road travel. The roads between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth are not that great.

[s.w.johnson]

In that case improve the roads. Railways tend to be just for passengers these days, roads are used by all classes of traffic.

[Rhobat Bryn]

Improve the roads and increase global warming.

[andrewnummelin]

By being faster than road travel. The roads between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth are not that great.

Could something like this offer the best of both worlds?
https://www.thebulletin.be/new-trambus- ... ls-airport
https://www.delijn.be/nl/mobiliteitsvis ... rport.html

[s.w.johnson]

The problem in rural areas is that if you remove cars and lorries, productivity in terms of what people can output nosedives because they take ages to get from A to B by bike or walking. This is non-productive time. Also how do you get products such as farm goods to market. With economies that are already fragile, this would be very damaging. Young people will want to travel to socialise otherwise there will be even more rural depopulation. The probable solution will be electric and hydrogen fuelled vehicles. Trains have a place but in areas with little population, spending on railways is not a good investment.

[Rhobat Bryn]

Could something like this offer the best of both worlds?
https://www.thebulletin.be/new-trambus- ... ls-airport
https://www.delijn.be/nl/mobiliteitsvis ... rport.html

This strikes me as being an urban transport solution rather than one for cross-country travel.

[andrewnummelin]

Could something like this offer the best of both worlds?
https://www.thebulletin.be/new-trambus- ... ls-airport
https://www.delijn.be/nl/mobiliteitsvis ... rport.html

This strikes me as being an urban transport solution rather than one for cross-country travel.

This might get round one of the problems of reinstating services on lines that have had odd bits built on.

[RichardMaund]

Four new railway stations could open in Wales by 2024 if the UK government agrees to a request by the Welsh Transport Minister, Ken Skates.

All of equal priority, the stations would be:
Deeside Parkway, on the Borderlands Line in North Wales
Carno, on the Cambrian Mainline in Mid Wales
St Clears on the Great Western Mainline in West Wales
Ely Mill on the City Line in Cardiff, in South Wales

Mr. Skates said they would improve rail connectivity and "supercharge" post Covid-19 recovery.

Four years on, is there any sign of progress on any of these from the Welsh government?