A WELSH Government Minister has said the reopening of the Aberystwyth to Carmarthen railway line is achievable, ahead of a feasibility study into the move.

It was reported in the Cambrian News last month that the Welsh Government had earmarked £300,000 of funding for a full feasibility study into the reopening of the railway line after an initial scoping study found 97 per cent of the original track bed was undeveloped.

And now the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure, Ken Skates AM, has announced that he will call on the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales to consider the results of the feasibility study in order to incorporate it into a future national transport finance plan.

NICW is a new body which was established following an agreement between Plaid Cymru and the Labour-led Welsh Government, and it is responsible for the funding and implementation of public sector infrastructure projects in Wales.

Mr Skates said: “I think that this project would be an appropriate proposal for the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales to take a look at once it is up and running, and I intend asking the commission to do just that.

“However, in the meantime, we are commissioning a feasibility study, as I say, to build on the existing evidence, and I can outline what that study will incorporate.”

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