CLASH OVER DISUSED RAILWAY LINE’S FUTURE

Rival groups seek revival of train services or switch to traffic-free cycle and walking route:

AGROUP hoping to reopen a former railway has hit back at claims the area would be better served by a dedicated traffic-free cycling and walking path.

The Anglesey Central Railway connected Amlwch with the North Wales coast line at Gaerwen until the last freight services rolled along in 1993.

But despite being unused for almost 20 years, 2012 saw the granting of a licence by Network Rail to a local group to begin the arduous task of clearing the overgrown line spanning almost 18 miles.

Since then, the Lein Amlwch group has cleared several miles of track, and continues to harbour ambitions of once again re-opening the line to passengers for the first time since 1964.

But over recent months, a rival group has re-upped its efforts to see the former route used as a cycle and cycling track instead.

Gethyn Mon Hughes, who’s backing the Lon Las Môn campaign, says using the former line would allow walkers or cyclists to travel from Malltraeth on the south coast to Amlwch on the north

coast without coming into contact with any vehicles.

He also called into question the business plan, claiming several sections of the railway have been left “to decay.”

He said: “This would open the way for events such as a metric marathons and fun runs which could be run safely along the route and would bring hundreds if not thousands of people into the deprived areas of Anglesey.”

But the Lein Amlwch group, which has been at the forefront of a campaign to re-open the railway since the Beeching Axe in 1964, says the tourist potential of re-opening the railway would be “huge” while also claiming support from various bodies including the Welsh Government and Anglesey Council.

In a statement, the group described claims regarding alternative uses of the rail corridor between Gaerwen Junction and Amlwch represented “disinformation and malfeasance.”

Several local councillors remain adamant a railway would be the best option, with Llangefni being one of 12 towns and cities under consideration by the Welsh Government for a new railway station.