Mid Wales and Shropshire Rail User Group SARPA has urged the Welsh Government to back a campaign to keep direct train services between Aberystwyth and Birmingham.

SARPA says it received credible info­rmation before Christmas that there had been a working group in operation since early summer 2015 between the Department for Transport and Welsh Government discussing a remapping exercise of the services for the replacement Wales and Border franchise.

Among the options being looked at was terminating the current services from Mid and North Wales that run to Birmingham Inter­national at Shrewsbury.

SARPA secretary Albert Hall said: “We wrote to the Welsh Government on the matter, looking for assurances that vital through trains to Birmingham would not be withdrawn.

“When they replied we got no such assurances, but a promise of a consultation exercise.

“When the franchise consultation document came out, Aberystwyth to Shrewsbury and Shrewsbury to Birmingham services are listed as separate services.

“This is a disaster: three quarters of usage on the Cambrian mainline is cross-border with half of that carrying forward to Birmingham and beyond.

“These proposals, if implemented, would seriously inconvenience a large number of long-distance travellers and affect tourism and the mid Wales economy.

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