NEW TRAIN PLAN ON TRACK
ALONG-CLOSED Welsh rail route could be reopened with lightweight ultra cheap trains running on it, under plans being pushed forward by the Department for Transport in London.
The route between Aberystwyth and Carmarthen was closed under the infamous Dr Beeching cuts in the 1960s.
The Times reported that a £4m trial is to start next year using the cheap trains, which are powered by truck engines and are made at half the cost of an existing carriage.
Rail industry insiders argue the trains could run on rural, lossmaking lines because they are cheap to run and don’t damage tracks in the way conventional carriages do.
It could see up to 5,000 miles of track, taken out in the Beeching cuts, reopened. However, one of Wales’ leading public transport experts said the cost of reopening the route could be prohibitive – and a successful bus service between the towns takes an estimated 350,000 passengers a year.
The Times reported the lightweight trains are built from steel, aluminium and carbon fibre composites.
The “very light rail” project is funded by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), an industry-led body, and the Department for Transport.
Lghtweight glass and smaller seats will reduce the weight further, with the whole train weighing about 28 tonnes when fully loaded with passengers, compared with 50 tonnes for a typical carriage. Each one will have a target price of about £500,000, half that of a normal diesel train.
The consortium running the project includes Transport Design Inter- national and Unipart Rail, alongside the University of Warwick.
Nick Mallinson, of the Warwick Manufacturing Group, said: “Lots of lines that Beeching closed could benefit from this. A lot of councils are saying that they want to reopen them. This is about trying to provide extra feeder lines into existing rail stations.”
In December 2015, a report for the Welsh Government by consultants AECOM suggested the cost of reopening the Aberystwyth to Carmarthen line would be between £500m and £750m.
Transport expert Professor Stuart Cole said the cost of reinstating the line was one of the obstacles.
Prof Cole, a special adviser to the Welsh Government, said the bus service, which has a low subsidy and high passenger numbers, makes the prospect of reopening the Aberystwyth to Carmarthen line another hurdle.