Madam,

Recently you have published some letters regarding the reopening of the railway line from Aberystwyth to Carmarthen at the not inconsiderable estimated cost of £775m at 2017 prices.

May I express my support for the argument put forward by Tony Jones that it is time to stop wasting money on feasibility reports into this project.

The recently published report costing £300,000 admits that it is only a preliminary study and that a great deal more investigation would be necessary before any scheme could proceed.

It admits that there are many problems to be overcome such as: building a new, 1km tunnel just south of Aberystwyth; though three tunnels and several bridges on the old route survive their condition has not yet been ascertained; crossing the peat bog of Cors Caron not only because of the nature of the subsoil but because it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest; current policy is to not create any new level crossings - there are 147 crossings of roads, rivers, footpaths and cycleways to be negotiated; the line runs through areas of relatively low population density so there will not be great passenger demand at the five proposed intermediate stations; closing the A484 road link bridge in Carmarthen; sorting out the last 15 miles of the route into Carmarthen which are currently owned and operated by the Gwili Railway Preservation Company.

I wonder how enthusiastic Carmarthen is about this proposal.

Though only three per cent of the original track has been built upon, much of it is not in public ownership.

Some Compulsory Purchase Orders were used to establish the Ystwyth Millennium cycle/footpath. It is only possible to cycle to Trawscoed before being diverted onto a public highway.

When I was a lad, some 60 or more years ago, there was much talk of overhead monorails as the transport of the future. If this line is to be built, should not the latest technology be employed? In view of possible fossil fuel problems (current proposals are based on diesel-powered trains), should not this line be electrified from the start to take advantage of whatever is the most environmentally friendly source of power supplied to the national grid by the time it might be operational?

Might not the proposed investment be better spent on our current rail link to Shrewsbury? I would like to see it bringing in goods at night after the passenger service has stopped.

I think there is a smaller version of the containers used for shipping that can be carried on a rail wagon and transferred to a road vehicle at the depot/station. The area where the oil tanks used to stand near Plascrug has just been cleared and could be used as the transfer point.

Yours etc,

David Kirby, Cae Melyn, Aberystwyth.

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