Madam,

The idea of recreating the Aberystwyth to Carmarthen train line is clearly ridiculous.

The line couldn’t make money in the late 1950s when there was actually track there, when there was less car ownership and milk went by rail. And before pensioners had free bus passes.

The idea that anyone is going to spend billions of pounds on this, in a time of cuts and austerity, is laughable.

A tunnel under Pen Dinas would be £750m (and imagine the protests!).

It is never going to happen. Never. That people are still talking about it reveals two aspects of mid Wales in the 21st century.

Firstly, it shows the massive self-delusion. There is a huge sense of entitlement here about the level of services we should have, such that people genuinely think they deserve billions of pounds spending on them for something that would bring tiny economic benefits.

Secondly, it shows how politics works. Any sane politician, looking at this rail idea, would say “This is ridiculous - if we had billions to spend on transport we’d improve the roads! Get out!”

But since our MPs and AMs can’t really do much, they have to be seen to be doing something. They know voters like this sort of thing, even though they know it has no prospect of happening and, indeed, shouldn’t happen.

Our economy needs investment and diversification.

We cannot rely on England to keep funding the public sector economy of mid Wales.

But expensive, impractical and unhelpful campaigns aren’t the way to do it.

We need jobs, not vanity projects.

Yours etc

Tony Jones

Blaenplwyf

Aberystwyth.