Star comment: Welsh rail setting an example
The focus of attention in regard to Shropshire's rail links has tended to be on the east of late, with the long-running campaign to restore a direct service between Shrewsbury and London.
But, to quote Kipling, east is east, and west is west – and now there is some good news from that direction.
Here there has been a separate campaign for an hourly service along the Cambrian Line between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth.
And now the Welsh Assembly has confirmed an hourly peak time service will start next year. Currently there is a two hour wait between trains.
This will not just benefit Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury, but also Welshpool and Newtown on the route. There is a further dose of cheer as there are also going to be extra journeys arranged for the Heart of Wales line between Llandovery and Gowerton/Swansea and between Llandrindod Wells and Shrewsbury/Crewe.
It all represents a welcome investment in the public transport network in Mid Wales, a place where, if you do not have a car, getting about is problematic to say the least. It is also an opportunity. It gives people the chance to get to jobs and services which they would not otherwise be able to access. Students, the young, the old, commuters . . . all now have new options.
Those extra options also spread to Shropshire. An hourly service increases the attraction of Shrewsbury as a destination for a day trip to take advantage of its shops, or to see its splendours. It works the other way round too. In the summer, a day trip by train to the coast would make a pleasant change and, heaven knows, after its recent troubles storm-lashed Aberystwyth could do with an extra shot in the arm.
Putting on extra trains is, though, only one element in an equation. For these services to flourish the travellers need to have a good experience, at the right price. If they like it, these trains will not only meet a current demand but create a new demand.
What is being done is a commendable exercise in vision and leadership, and a vote of confidence in the railway. It makes it all the more mysterious that it has taken such a battle to get Shropshire plugged in to a direct link to London on the eastern route.
These extra services are a very encouraging sign that running a railways business and providing a railway service are not incompatible aims.
