Carmarthen and Aberystwyth

[whole diary]

[MarkRanger]

Some more background that may help those who are not convinced by the guided bus hype.The text below was provided by our group CAST.IRON - the people who opposed the Cambridge busway - to the local media in response to a recent question about busways:

We still do not believe there is any tangible evidence of the ^success^ of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway scheme in terms of it being a proven, better alternative than coordinated train and bus services appropriate to any given area. The constant stream of passenger number statistics doesn^t tell us anything because it doesn^t analyse journeys not made on the guided sections. The statistics cover Peterborough to Trumpington but between Cambridge station and Milton road, and north of St Ives, the buses are the same as any other.
 
In short, we don^t accept that the guideway is what is driving the passenger numbers; and we believe much wider benefits would have come with reinstatement of the railway.
 
The problem with the Cambridgeshire scheme is that it obliterated a viable rail route on an alignment that makes geographical sense as a railway, not as a bus route; for buses to derive benefits from the segregation of the guideway they have to travel well over a mile along congested streets in the wrong direction. Meanwhile a route that could be part of the local, regional, national and international rail network is lost.
 
The minimum journey time from Cambridge station to St Ives on the busway is 42 minutes subject to congestion in Cambridge. The same route by railway would have been less than 20 minutes.
 
CAST.IRON does not have a particular view on the viability of guided busways elsewhere although we did do some detailed work on the construction side of things and showed that the volume and mass of material required (for the guideways) is many times greater than for a railway with a much lower potential for maximum passengers carried. This is one of the reasons why there have been such serious construction and maintenance problems on the Cambridgeshire scheme.
 
We believe guided busways generally offer poor value for money compared with integrated rail and bus schemes. Unfortunately for Cambridgeshire, the only money on the table was for an exclusive busway.

==

Note that last comment about money - there was a lot of government ringfencing going on to get what they wanted - a substantial busway

More background info at www.castiron.org.uk

[grahame]

There were two others I wondered about ... Corby and Sinfin.

Sinfin, it turns out, falls outside your "30 year" request as it re-opened in 1976.   There were two stations on the branch, one only with access to factories, and the other primarily for factories although with a public footpath access available.

The line reopened on 4 October 1976 for passengers as Derby City Council's attempt to copy the new Cross City Line in Birmingham. The service was poorly used because of the time of the last train and because it was served by only four trains per day

I'm going to suggest that the original Corby was a success initially, and that Sinfin was a special case.  In neither case do I have access to the forecasts made at the time they re-opened; did Corby fail not through lack of passengers but through lack of a long term funding strategy?

Following up on an old post (but on a thread / topic that's been very much live), I came across extra comment on the Sinfin branch:
http://www.railchronology.free-online.co.uk/Sinfin%20branch.htm

On Corby, the closure of the initial 'trial' even with good numbers because of - it seems - the lack of a longer term solution in those days has provided us on the TransWilts with a warning example that even with passengers standing 6 days out of 7, we need(ed) to have an eye forward to 2017.  I am clearly relieved by the 23.3.2015 announcements, though there remains a need to ensure continued good ridership, local support, and to have a benign and co-operative on things to ensure nothing becomes disconnected in the even of delays / upheavals, as so nearly happened when the West Coast Franchise got "pulled" and everything else was put on hold ...

[grahame]

From the Daily Post - an answer to a question  upthread:

Reopening Caernarfon to Bangor train line 'would be cheaper than ^100m bypass'

[grahame]

From the Cambrian News

PLANS to reopen the Aberystwyth-Carmarthen railway line have been cast into doubt following the vote to leave the EU^» (European Union - about), according to Assembly Member Elin Jones.

As a more general comment, I wonder how many other schemes will be set back (or stated to be set back)  because of the vote.

[ChrisB]

Hmm......were there any *physical* plan or just still on the wishlist? Had Grip3 been done?

[John R]

At the very earliest stage of the wish list.  I'd describe them more as dreams than plans at this stage.

[ChrisB]

so not really delayed at all....

[IndustryInsider]

At the very earliest stage of the wish list.  I'd describe them more as dreams than plans at this stage.

And I will eat my hat if they ever get beyond the 'dream' stage, whatever the financial state of the nation!

[Rhydgaled]

And I will eat my hat if they ever get beyond the 'dream' stage, whatever the financial state of the nation!

I think you mean 'if it ever gets built'. They've already had a scoping study done and obtained a grant of £2500 from Aberystwyth Town Council to get footage of the line from the air, which sounds to me like it is slightly beyond the dream stage.

[IndustryInsider]

Yes, I would agree with you there.  Alter the word 'dream' to 'GRIP^▸ (Guide to Railway Investment Projects) 3'