Ceredigion council backs Cambrian line freight idea
Arriva Trains Wales carriage No freight is currently carried on the Cambrian line
A disused railway station could be reopened for freight services for mid Wales under plans being considered by Ceredigion council.
The local authority is looking to reopen Bow Street station outside Aberystwyth.
A full council meeting has backed the idea of using the Cambrian Rail line for transporting goods.
Network Rail has said there could be a 30% increase in the use of railways to transport goods over the next decade.
Ceredigion council said freight services on the Cambrian line could also reduce heavy traffic from lorries on the A44 and the A487.
According to Councillor Mark Strong, who proposed the motion, no goods are transported on the railway into mid Wales despite the necessary infrastructure being available.
Councillor Alun Williams was one of those who proposed reinstating Bow Street Station as a transportation hub to relieve traffic in the area.
He said “There is now cross-party agreement that Ceredigion requires a fully integrated transport infrastructure that includes a railway service for both freight and passengers in order for the county to thrive economically.”
Opening a goods yard from Bow Street won’t make a scrap of difference to road haulage in Ceredigion. Might get a bit of light goods on it, but that’s about all.
I used to travel on that line quite a lot and most of it is single-track, which would mean the passenger trains to Shrewsbury (and Birmingham, if they still go there) would be held for ages. And even if the freight trains took trucks off the trans-Cambrian roads, what do they think would collect it from the freight depot? Have they thought of the roads round Aberystwyth?
IndigoJo:
even if the freight trains took trucks off the trans-Cambrian roads, what do they think would collect it from the freight depot? Have they thought of the roads round Aberystwyth?
The idea is more a case of adding more long haul rail freight capacity while the road transport industry is left with the local distribution sector.All using Chinese investment in which the Chinese UK rail freight investors take the returns on long haul freight movements instead of UK road transport operators.Which leaves the obvious question why would UK politicians be so keen to support such a shift.
The way I see it that means the UK road transport industry loses out to the Chinese backed Rail freight industry.The question then being who’s side are the politicians on and why.
The scheme is a none starter. The Chinese or anyone else would be mad to invest money on that rail line. Half the bridges would need strengthening for a start.
I just can’t imagine how it would work. I used to deliver to Bow Street, there’s a Builder Center there. But apart from that it’s in the middle of nowhere so I can’t imagine what type of freight would go there and where it would go to from there.
Dave the Renegade:
The scheme is a none starter. The Chinese or anyone else would be mad to invest money on that rail line. Half the bridges would need strengthening for a start.
That’s the reason they can’t take freight up the line to Pwllheli. Locomotives are banned from at least one of the bridges.
I’ve still got my licence for horse and cart! I’ve just won the new contract out of cargills on Trafford park, so now I’ve dropped the cart on straight land with the trailer brakes on and wound the legs down too now we’ve hitched the horse UPTO the barge for the MANCHESTER ship canal to nip to Liverplop on MURKYDIVE but the poor nag needs feeding three times a trip! unfortunately some buffoon submerged his nag and forgot his Eskimo roll, so had to divert onto the BRIDGEWATER canal! Jesus you should of heard Sally traffic, went into meltdown as all the scousers won’t be getting any food till Xmas, as there’s a shortage of good nags who’ve not done their DCPC it doesn’t bear thinking about
Harry Monk:
I just can’t imagine how it would work. I used to deliver to Bow Street, there’s a Builder Center there. But apart from that it’s in the middle of nowhere so I can’t imagine what type of freight would go there and where it would go to from there.
Having just looked on an old OS map it would appear that the builders’ merchants is on the site of the old goods yard. The original access, having looked at Google Maps, may have been behind the back of the Welsh Black pub and it’s far too narrow for anything bigger than a transit van. Quite apart from anything else I can’t imagine the site being big enough,it’s restricted by the main road, pub and a stream on three of the four sides. I can’t envisage the locals jumping for joy at the thought of a freight hub on their doorsteps; at the moment they’d only have to put up with deliveries to the builders merchants but for the hub to work effectively it’d have to be open for longer hours.
As Harry says the actual amount of freight would be limited. There would have to be space for storage and trans-shipping; the idea is good in principle but I think they’ve picked the wrong site. I would have thought that Machynlleth would be a better bet; quite apart from anything else there is a traction maintenance depot there which would enable a shunter to be based on site, also the main signal box for the line. The old goods yard is already an industrial estate.
Harry Monk:
I just can’t imagine how it would work. I used to deliver to Bow Street, there’s a Builder Center there. But apart from that it’s in the middle of nowhere so I can’t imagine what type of freight would go there and where it would go to from there.
I vaguely recall you had an “interesting” moment in Clarach - apologies if it wasn’t you.
They would be better off re doing the line from Aberystwyth to Carmarthen. At the moment you have to go via Shrewsbury then down south and back across (I think via Bristol). That would bring easier transport through the spine of Wales and create jobs.
kjw21:
I vaguely recall you had an “interesting” moment in Clarach - apologies if it wasn’t you.
They would be better off re doing the line from Aberystwyth to Carmarthen. At the moment you have to go via Shrewsbury then down south and back across (I think via Bristol). That would bring easier transport through the spine of Wales and create jobs.
Unlikely to happen despite public pressure for it. Read up on the history of the line and you’ll see that it fell victim to flooding at the northern end even before Beeching. Too many level crossings, the river bridge at Carmarthen would have to be rebuilt and the original trackbed between Carmarthen and Abergwili is now under the bypass. It was never a particular success even in its heyday, steep gradients and curves made it a very slow journey.
A better proposition would be to re-connect Carmarthen and Llandeilo to enable trains to run to Shrewsbury over the under-used Heart of Wales line. Still prohibitively costly though and the engineering problems of the bridge and bypass would still be there, plus it’d need considerable work to keep the River Towy in check.
Any freight going onto the railways in Mid Wales is a none starter. There isn’t the demand for it, and it would cost mega money to upgrade the track and replace bridges.
I’ve just won the new contract out of cargills on Trafford park, so now I’ve dropped the cart 
on straight land with the trailer brakes on 
and wound the legs down too 
now we’ve hitched the horse UPTO the barge for the MANCHESTER ship canal 
to nip to Liverplop on MURKYDIVE