Madam,

When the Cambrian railway system was built it was designed to bring people into the Cambrian Coast area. Excursion trains can bring up to three to four hundred people to the coastal resorts. When visiting, the excursionists spend money in cafes, shops and tourist facilities so bringing in a boost the local economy.

Since the 150th anniversary special in October 2017 no excursion trains have traversed the Cambrian network and as far as I know none are planned.

I ask that our political representatives and business people say to Network Rail that the Cambrian Lines must be opened to any kind of traffic on offer and the system has to be redesigned to allow this. Whilst any locomotive can haul a train to Shrewsbury only those Network Rail Class 97 locomotives that are fitted with the necessary equipment can work a train forward. To get around this restriction, West Coast Railways (who operated the Cambrian steam trains), fitted the necessary equipment on two of its Class 37 diesel locomotives to facilitate trains to the Cambrian Coast and yet they have never been used.

The time has come to bring back the British Rail days when on some summer Sundays up to three excursions came to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli as many readers will remember. Whilst welcoming re-opening railway routes, before, any money is spent on the Aberystwyth to Carmarthen line, money must be made available to facilitate the opening up of the Cambrian system so that it is used to its fullest extent and not barred to excursion trains or even, at a time of global warming and climate change, freight trains.

Yours etc, Chris Magner, Dunval Road, Bridgnorth, Shropshire.

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