From the
Hereford Times:
An overground metro could be the answer to Hereford^s congestion problems, according to one campaigner.
As the debate over Hereford^s bypass rattles on, Ledbury-based transport expert Gareth Calan Davies claims a light rail metro system would solve Hereford^s traffic problems.
The former West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive employee, who has published a booklet on the idea, believes an overground system much like the service operating in the West Midlands could be built along existing railway lines and would provide a cheaper, more energy efficient way of getting in and out of the city centre whether or not the bypass is built.
His suggestion has been supported by Pre Metro Operations, the company behind the light rail service between Stourbridge^s Junction and Town stations.
Company director Philip Evans said the alternative transport scheme would be ^eminently suitable^ for Hereford. He said: ^The great advantage that Hereford has is the existence of land already in public ownership that could be used as a transport corridor. The system could link the south to both the historical city and the new development area, and also be extended to other locations such as the railway station and hospital.^
Gareth^s booklet, The Edgar Street Grid-Locked, even features a map with a proposed route for the overground rail.
In it, the metro cars would run north along the existing Great Western Way, which is currently used by Herefordshire Council as a walk and cycleway, following Hunderton Bridge over the River Wye before joining the old railway siding that once served the Bulmers cider works.
It would then curve eastwards onto the working railway line, passing close to the site of the Edgar Street retail development.
^With the attractiveness of a clean, efficient, handy transport alternative to the car, a tram route could carry a significant number of people,^ said Gareth. ^It is recognised that a light rail transit system is but one ingredient in a new city-wide transport system. But it is a start and it is a dynamic and exciting start which deserves an adequate and detailed airing.^
In a rough estimate he believes a metro system would cost in the region of ^22 million, compared with the ^130m western bypass plan currently favoured by the council.
