THE reopening of the Aberystwyth to Carmarthen railway line would cost significantly less than first thought, a new study has claimed.

West Wales Rail Campaign group Traws Link Cymru has published a report with new research into the reopening of the Aberystwyth to Carmarthen railway.

The report, entitled ‘A Strategic Rail Corridor for west Wales’ comes two years after the Welsh Government published their own feasibility study, citing no major obstacles to reopening and that the new railway would cost approximately £775m.

The 2018 feasibility study broadly confirmed the findings of the initial scoping study of 2015, notably that 97 percent of the original trackbed was clear and that reopening was a realistic prospect.

Traws Link Cymru’s further analysis of the study highlighted significant oversights by Mott Macdonald, who produced the original report. 

TLC Chairman Adrian Kendon says: “There are important omissions in the report, which, for example, failed to consider the condition of the three tunnels on the former route and which also underestimated catchment area populations.

“Our further work on the study reveals that once the enlarged catchment area around the proposed stations is taken to account, the cost-benefit ratio improves, and with modern construction methods, the cost of reopening the Aberystwyth to Carmarthen railway could be reduced to around £620 million, a figure 20 per cent less than suggested in the Mott Macdonald report.

“We will now disseminate our report to Senedd and Westminster politicians. The bilingual report will also be made available to download from our new website, which we hope to launch later this autumn.”

The report also reiterates the social, economic, and cultural case for reopening the railway.