Bow St Station Study

[Gareth Marston]

Welsh Government to fund £30k study into re opening Bow St station (Ceredigion)

http://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/news/i/49381/

CAMPAIGNERS have welcomed a “potentially very important step” towards opening a new train station in Bow Street after the Welsh Government confirmed funding for a feasibility study.

The funding was confirmed by the Transport Minister, Edwina Hart AM, last week, in response to a question in the Assembly from AM Elin Jones.

The work will build on previous proposals for a new railway station - on campaign that has been ongoing for several years - and park-and-ride facilities at the southern end of the village....

Read the full story in Wednesday's Cambrian News.

Well I think we know what the result is already firstly NR will come out with a cost in £ millions making any BCR figure unfavourable, and secondly arriving trains at Aberystwyth already have such a short turnaround time that outbound passengers crowd the doors waiting to get on. You couldn't fit another stop between Dovey Junction and Aber in You would need infrastructure work either the loop at Borth or a second platform at Aberystwyth reinstated and this then impacts on the rest of the Cambrian mainline.

Do we need to look at the line as a whole and other station re opening proposals ie Carno or other places such ad Abermule or Hanwood? Instead of individual projects?

 

[The Planner]

You have already answered your own question, the line was upgraded with the current stations in mind and to allow the higher frequency, it isn't going to work with extra stations on it.

 

[Gareth Marston]

You have already answered your own question, the line was upgraded with the current stations in mind and to allow the higher frequency, it isn't going to work with extra stations on it.

As was abundantly clear in the range of options NR gave WG in 2008, do we really need to give a consultancy agency 30k to tell us what we already know. WG to funded the cheapest and least flexible option of those put in front of it.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

One suspects the base load traffic would be very local commuting / leisure travel into Aber in any case - with a very high level of "free riding" unless Aber had barrier checks to prevent this.

Operationally - not really on with the present timetable.

I always thought Bow St had a decent enough bus service in any case - I suspect the continual pressure on car parking in the town has much to do with this.

 

[Gareth Marston]

One suspects the base load traffic would be very local commuting / leisure travel into Aber in any case - with a very high level of "free riding" unless Aber had barrier checks to prevent this.

Operationally - not really on with the present timetable.

I always thought Bow St had a decent enough bus service in any case - I suspect the continual pressure on car parking in the town has much to do with this.

Hard enough as it is for the conductors to collect the Borth to Aberystwyth fares in full.
There's two buses an hour into Aberystwyth from Bow St. Lloyd's X28 Machynlleth to Aberystwyth is hourly as is the 512 Mid Wales Aberystwyth to Ynyslas service. shows the perennial problem of getting car users to travel by bus outside of high density urban areas.

 

[transmanche]

There's two buses an hour into Aberystwyth from Bow St. Lloyd's X28 Machynlleth to Aberystwyth is hourly as is the 512 Mid Wales Aberystwyth to Ynyslas service. shows the perennial problem of getting car users to travel by bus outside of high density urban areas.

I see the campaigners are pushing for a Park & Ride facility as part of a re-opening. But it still doesn't sound like a logistically feasible proposition at present.

 

[Gareth Marston]

A source in WG has told me it had a surprisingly good Weitag review a couple of years ago (WG cost benefit process) and they anticipate time savings from level crossing closures to help square the Aber turnaround problem.

 

[The Planner]

4 or 5 minutes of savings to cover a stop from LC closures? How many are they closing?

 

[Gareth Marston]

4 or 5 minutes of savings to cover a stop from LC closures? How many are they closing?

The ones that have been closed between Talerddig and Shrewsbury have given a good yield as the line speed is 80 and higher in some parts. However the only ones I know there planning on doing are some user worked farm crossings between Carno and a Talerddig and one close to Borth station where the trains are braking or accelerating from the station stop anyway.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

A source in WG has told me it had a surprisingly good Weitag review a couple of years ago (WG cost benefit process) and they anticipate time savings from level crossing closures to help square the Aber turnaround problem.

Out of interest, how does closing a level crossing speed a train up? I can see how it speeds road traffic up, but why would it make a difference to the trains?

 

[Gareth Marston]

Out of interest, how does closing a level crossing speed a train up? I can see how it speeds road traffic up, but why would it make a difference to the trains?

Forden had a 40 mph limit on it , it's now line speed so no slowing down and then having to accelerate. However the no brainer ones like that have been done, the line speeds west of Talerddig are lower anyway there's not so much yield or as I posted above there at locations where the trains are already accelerating/decelerating anyway.