Survey launched over the reopening of Oswestry railway
People living in the Oswestry area are being urged to get involved in the bid to reopen the Cambrian Heritage Railways line from the town to the mainline in Gobowen.
The heritage railway was successful in winning money from the Government's Restoring Your Railway - Ideas Fund.
This is being used to explore the feasibility and benefits of restoring passenger services on the line between Oswestry and Gobowen.
This would connect Oswestry with the mainline station at Gobowen, with a stop at Park Hall Halt for the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital a journey that would take about 10 minutes.
Once known as a major railway town with a regional engineering depot, Oswestry was cut off from the mainline in the 1960s when the infamous Beeching axe fell on rail transport.
Volunteers have been attempting to restore the railway for decades and earlier this year reopened the stretch of line between the old railway station in the town centre and Weston Wharf a journey of between a mile and two miles.
As part of the feasibility study local businesses and residents are being asked to complete a survey, which includes asking for support for the reopening of the railway.
It has been developed by consultants – Stantec and AllanRail – to explore the current travel behaviour of local residents, problems encountered when making journeys, and views on options for future transport improvements, including restoring the railway between Oswestry and Gobowen.
A spokesman for the railway said: "We are seeking to obtain a full understanding of local travel behaviour and any problems associated with these journeys. The survey asks about local journeys first and thereafter about long-distance journeys. "
The survey is available here.
