Money running out for vital rail line extension
NETWORK Rail has already spent nearly three-quarters of the budget for a rail capacity improvement, although many of the biggest tasks are still outstanding, it has emerged.
The Ebbw Vale Frequency Enhancement Scheme involves installing a second track along seven miles of the branch line which reopened to passengers 10 years ago tomorrow.
Without the additional track, only one train per hour can link Ebbw Vale to Cardiff and overcrowding is already a problem – with demand likely to increase further.
In 2016 the Welsh Government said the scheme’s budget was £38m and Network Rail said it expected to complete the work in 2017. The first six miles of additional track were laid in 2015 and 2016.
The Welsh Government has now disclosed that Network Rail has already spent £28m of the scheme’s budget. Outstanding tasks include construction of new station platforms with pedestrian access and lighting at Newbridge and Llanhilleth, signalling adaptations and joining the new and existing tracks. Network Rail said two bridges may need reconstruction, depending on government decisions.
The Welsh Government’s draft budget for the next two financial years includes funding to complete the scheme, but it does not yet know the full cost or when the extra capacity will enable introduction of a second Ebbw Vale train per hour.
Alison Thompson, Network Rail’s director of route sponsorship, said: “The Ebbw Vale line is a vital transport link for many people, connecting them for work and for leisure. The unprecedented growth in passenger numbers since the line reopened in 2008 has led to a capacity issue, particularly for passengers travelling at the busiest times.
“An option has been identified that will cater for two trains per hour between Ebbw Vale and Cardiff and support further infrastructure enhancements, enabling even more trains to run in the future. The designs for this option are currently being reviewed by Welsh Government, who are funding this enhancement.”
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “Building on the success of our investment to reopen the Ebbw line and the recent extension to Ebbw Town, our ambition remains to increase the frequency of services on the Ebbw line to at least two trains per hour, with the additional service calling at Newport.
“Our current focus is to work with Network Rail to identify a cost-effective approach to increase frequency.”
The 2008 reopening, Ebbw Vale Town extension and capacity enhancement scheme are all funded by the Welsh Government in the absence of funding from the UK Government, which retains responsibility for Welsh rail infrastructure.
The additional second track featured in the original scheme to reopen the disused railway. However, the original 1999 passenger forecasts were updated in 2002 using a different method, based on estimating how many car trips would divert to the railway – despite low car-ownership in Blaenau Gwent.
With the new forecasts being roughly half the 1999 ones, the seven miles of second track were dropped to save costs – although critics warned the work would be cheaper to do while the railway was disused than later. Passenger numbers on Ebbw Vale trains quickly proved that the discarded 1999 forecasts were accurate.
More passenger demand is likely after disruptive long-term roadworks on the A465 Heads of the Valleys road finish next year. The faster and more predictable road journey could make Ebbw Vale, which has free parking at two stations, an even more attractive alternative to Abergavenny station, where the NCP car park quickly fills up and a monthly season ticket to Cardiff costs more than twice as much as from Ebbw Vale.
Further demand could result from the abolition of the Severn Crossings tolls by next year.
Jean Fry-Thomas, director of Ebbw Vale estate agent Bidmead Cook, said the promised abolition had started a ripple effect, with Bristol workers buying homes in Monmouthshire and Newport, with local buyers pushed further out. The effect reached as far north as Ebbw Vale.
“Our houses are flying out. We can’t get enough property,” she said.
Ms Fry-Thomas said she could not understand why the Welsh Government funded only the minimum of rail infrastructure for the 2008 reopening.
“It was supposed to regenerate the area. Did they not think, ‘If this works and it’s an overwhelming success, we’re going to need more carriages’? It’s only one train every hour. Why can’t they put a train on every half an hour?”
She also said trains from Ebbw Vale to Newport were needed.
“At the moment, if you want to go to London you’ve got to take the train to Cardiff, which is the wrong direction. No doubt it costs you more to go from Cardiff than from Newport.”