Welsh Secretary provides platform to discuss West Wales Parkway
Alun Cairns visits Swansea to champion a new railway station at Felindre
Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns will meet Assembly Members, local councillors and members of the Swansea Business Forum today to formally open discussions on UK Government plans for a ‘West Wales Parkway’ railway station at the former Felindre steelworks site north of Swansea.
The idea of a new parkway-style station serving west Wales was in the Top 20 requests made by rail users during a recent consultation on the future of the Great Western franchise.
Now an independent study carried out by one of the UK’s leading transport experts has concluded that a new station would deliver major journey time savings for passengers travelling from west Wales to Cardiff of up to a quarter of an hour each way, by cutting the need to travel through the centre of Swansea.
The report by Professor Stuart Cole, Emeritus Professor of Transport at the University of South Wales indicates that the station would reduce congestion on the M4 and major roads by encouraging more commuters to travel by rail. The station would also provide improved connectivity in and out of Swansea and between communities across south west Wales including Llanelli, Ammanford and Gorseinon while protecting existing services to Swansea and Neath.
Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns said:
A new station for this region will be west Wales’ ticket to greater opportunity, through faster journey times and greater connectivity with other modes of public transport which will provide an attractive offer to investors and save commuters time on their journeys.
The Swansea Bay City Region is important to both the Welsh and UK economy and it’s by working together with the Welsh Government and local partners that we can maximise its potential. I look forward to hearing the views of those local business and authority leaders to hear how we can best deliver on their ambitious plans for the future.