Full steam ahead for new station

The Llangollen Railway Trust will use the Welsh Government, rural communities funding for the new station at Corwen, the new end of the Dee Valley line. It will create an island platform at the Corwen Central station site where a volunteer work force, aided by contractors, has re-engineered the disused railway embankment to accommodate a new rail terminal.

The 160-metre long platform will allow an eight-coach passenger train to be accommodated on one side and a smaller six coach train on the other, to maximise passenger numbers travelling on the Llangollen Railway.

It will be close to the town’s car park and bus interchange and Corwen town centre.

There will also be facilities for steam trains to be serviced and engines to ‘run round’ the carriages in the traditional manner, at the end of a ten mile journey from Llangollen.

Project Leader, Richard Dixon-Gough, said, “The availability of this funding from the Welsh Government ensures that work on the site can continue throughout the summer to provide a completed platform around which a loop line will be laid. This will allow for the eventual connection through to the current railhead at the Dwyrain Corwen East temporary platform and ease access from and to trains which currently terminate here.”

Chairman of Llangollen Railway Trust, Peter Lund, added, “The Welsh Government’s financial support for this project is most welcome as a boost to the challenge which the project represents. Together with other resources which Llangollen Railway must supply, the end is in sight for the completion of the rebuilding of the railway through the area of outstanding natural beauty that is the Dee Valley. As with other towns which have benefitted from being reconnected to a heritage railway, we expect the return of train services to the centre of Corwen to have a big tourism impact on the fortunes of this historic centre for North Wales and an increase in the passenger numbers using the train services.”

The Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths said: "This is good news for the company, the local economy and for Wales’ thriving tourism industry.

“This is also a good example of how the Welsh Government Rural Communities – Rural Development Programme is delivering real improvements for local communities right across Wales. We recently announced we are fully committing the remaining £223m under the

programme so more communities have the opportunity to benefit from similar projects.”