3:23pm Thursday 13th March 2008
By Jane Helmich - Council reporter
PEOPLE using the Ebbw Valley railway line may be deterred from visiting Newport because of the lengthy bus journey into the city centre, claims a politician.
It does not take the most direct route from Rogerstone.
Instead, the regular service includes a stop at the Celtic Springs business and industrial areas of the city.
Council bosses, who want to encourage workers to leave their cars, claim this adds just five minutes to the journey time.
But Councillor Matthew Evans said the timetabled trip of around 40 minutes was too long.
He added that figures for the service show that hardly anyone wanted to get off at Celtic Springs.
Many journeys have no passengers at all for the stop, said Councillor Evans.
"We want to encourage people to get off at Rogerstone and come into the city centre. The most direct route would be along Risca Road and straight into town.
"If it is going to take 40 minutes, people might just stay on the train and go to Cardiff."
Councillor Ken Critchley, cabinet member for engineering and transport, said nearly 9,000 people worked at Celtic Springs and the numbers were forecast to increase to more than 12,000 by 2011.
"For an additional five minutes on the running time it seemed a sensible idea to provide the link and hopefully reduce congestion on/around junction 28.
"Clearly it is beneficial to make the best use of the service provided by including this major employment area on the route thus providing access to well paid employment opportunities for people living in the Ebbw Valley area served by the new rail line."
Councillor Critchley added the rail link service diversion to Celtic Springs was being trialled for six months.
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