TRAINS now stop at a Monmouthshire train station on Sunday mornings after an action group persuaded a rail company it was worth collecting passengers there.
Passengers will be picked up at Severn Tunnel Junction on its way to Cardiff at 9.08am, 10.08am and 11.11am. Before the changes, no Cardiff-bound trains stopped at Severn Tunnel Junction, Caldicot or Chepstow stations before 11.20am.
First Great Western decided to make the change after meeting last year with representatives from STAG (Severn Tunnel Action Group) and MAGOR (Magor Action Group On Rail), Newport East MP Jessica Morden, and Monmouthshire councillors Bryan Jones and David Dovey. Cllr Jones is the cabinet member for operations, while Cllr Dovey is the chairman of the council’s transport strategy group.
STAG’s chairman, David Flint, said: “It is something we have tried for for a long, long time and thanks to Jessica Morden, who got involved, and the county councillors we were able to convince First Great Western.
“It is another pleasing thing in trying to get Severn Tunnel Junction up to the level it deserves.”
According to the Office of Rail Regulation, since 2005-6, passengers’ use of Severn Tunnel Junction grew by 80 per cent.
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