Call for Rail Investment

A call has been made for more investment in railway capacity on services to and through Carmarthenshire by two Plaid Cymru members of Carmarthenshire county council.

Cllr Alan Speake said, "The level of service west of Swansea is currently very poor. There is frequent overcrowding, and many of the trains are old and past their best. We need some serious new investment in both trains and track so that the overall capacity of the system is increased significantly. The poor quality of the current service deters people from using rail transport at a time when we should be encouraging people to switch from cars to public transport."

The councillors have called for longer trains from Swansea westwards. They have also called for more dualling of the track where there is currently only a single track, so that trains can be run more frequently in both directions.

Cllr Linda Davies Evans said, "My own experience of returning by train to Carmarthen is that there is simply not enough capacity. We need more carriages on the trains so that more people can travel in comfort. I sometimes wonder how they are allowed under Health and Safety legislation to cram so many people in. It's particularly noticeable when there's a major event on - they promise to provide extra capacity, but never seem to do so, and the trains are much more crowded as a result."