Madam,

Your correspondent Nigel Bird (letter, last week) is to be thanked for drawing attention to the Scoping Report on the re-opening of the Aberystwyth to Carmathen railway.

It is a most interesting read.

Just getting the line out of Aberystwyth is daunting.

The old railway crossed the river near the football ground and went up what is now Felin y Môr.

The line would now need new bridges to get over the road and river, and the report suggests tunnelling under Penparcau and Pendinas.

Can you imagine the disruption of building these bridges and tunnels within the town?

Mr Bird quotes the report as saying this could be done for £100m but the report also says “with so many uncertainties regarding the potential route it is difficult to produce an estimate to construct a new railway with any degree of accuracy”.

Another interesting paragraph reads “there are still many individual residential and commercial properties built on the line itself where there are limited options to divert without creating major engineering challenges to build a new formation, and compulsory purchase may be the ‘optimal’ option taking a number of criteria into consideration. Even where development is not on the line itself”.

Does anyone remember the fuss about the compulsory purchases to build the new Tesco store?

Let’s say the line does get out of Aberystwyth, and the house in Rhydyfelin is knocked down, and the cycle path gets a train line on it.

At Llanfarian, where the original line was washed away, the old bridge has gone, the old station is now the community centre, and the land has been built on.

The report says “There are a number of possible options, however all involve the construction of embankments, cuttings and possibly several bridges”.

Sounds expensive.

The report highlights that some of the route is now the Gwili Steam Railway, which would take a “particularly challenging” solution, possibly involving a new two-mile tunnel.

And don’t forget the areas of Special Scientific interest that would be built on.

Like many people, I would love to see more freight on the railways. But the report says that freight would not play a major role in this line.

I am aware that many people are very positive about railways. I would like to see more railways. But let us not forget why this line closed in 1964.

There weren’t enough passengers to justify repairing the track at Llanfarian.

And that was in the days before mass car ownership and bus passes for pensioners.

If there wasn’t the justification for a small, uncomplicated repair in the glory days of rail, there is no way it is going to happen now.

A tunnel under Penparcau!

Transport infrastructure in mid-Wales is woeful. I cannot think where the nearest decent road is.

Without better roads, mid Wales will remain dependent on public sector spending.

But I think £350,000 to £400,000 for a more detailed report on this railway line would be money badly spent.

The Scoping Report mentioned by Mr Bird is quite sufficient.

Yours etc,

Tony Jones,

Blaenplwyf, Aberystwyth.