Madam,

You were kind enough to publish a letter of mine on 9 May 2002 regarding a north-to-south railway.

It is still an object of discussion which refuses to go away; the current problem seems to be concerns about the best way to enter Aberystwyth.The answer is that you don’t! A connection is made between Newtown and Aberystwyth on the existing line. So no disruptive and massively expensive earthworks would need to be undertaken there!

Some years ago I was an inpatient in Llandovery Hospital and I could hear the trains running on the so-called Heart of Wales Line. There seemed to be only a few per day so I’m surprised it is still extant; by extending to Carmarthen once more and then building a line between Llandeilo and Lampeter this would allow the Heart of Wales Line to live up to its name.

As an Englishman who has lived in Wales for more than 30 years, I find it strange that the silence of Wales’ MPs toward a comprehensive railway system for their country is deafening. They don’t seem to care that there is a plan for an £11 billion new railway in England in addition (I believe) to the reopening of the Waverley Route (from Edinburgh to Carlisle) which, if I’m correct, would mean the rebuilding of a large viaduct through Harwich - no penny-pinching there!

If, by a miracle, a connection was rebuilt between Aberystwyth and the south coast, then maybe the same could be done from Aberystwyth to the north coast - if Wales’ MPs could find a little loyalty to the nation they represent!

Yours etc

Mr C M Ward

Cwmann

Lampeter.