‘Use it or lose it’ Newport AM on Ebbw valley line bus link (From South Wales Argus)
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‘Use it or lose it’ Newport AM on Ebbw valley line bus link
11:00am Tuesday 17th July 2012 in News
By David Deans, Reporter
BUS LINK: AM Rosemary Butler and Wales transport minister Carl Sargeant yesterday
A NEWPORT AM yesterday called on people to use or lose a bus link connecting the Ebbw valley line with Newport city centre.
Rosemary Butler, Newport West AM, teamed up with transport minister Carl Sargeant to take an afternoon journey from Rogerstone Railway Station to Newport railway station on the bus link.
They were the only two on the service yesterday, along with two Welsh Government officials and an Argus reporter.
There have been longstanding calls for a permanent passenger train service from Ebbw Vale to Newport – and the Argus has campaigned for more than a decade to bring it to fruition.
“It’s not been as well used as we would have hoped,”
said Ms Butler, who got on the bus with Mr Sargeant.
“We need to show the people further up what opportunities there are in Newport,”
she said. “My message to people now is use it or lose it.” Ms Butler said she didn’t think that the service had been well publicised – although it was understood that a marketing campaign is in the offing.
Mr Sargeant said the Welsh Government is trying to understand the demand for such a permanent railway service to Ebbw Vale and had invested in the service to provide evidence. “We have to demonstrate that it’s good value for money.”
He said the Welsh Government could look at a train shuttle if the need could be demonstrated following a successful pilot.
Comments(8)
JE Charles
says...
12:17pm Tue 17 Jul 12
Howie'
says...
2:57pm Tue 17 Jul 12
said Ms Butler, who got on the bus with Mr Sargeant.
No kidding Sherlock! You were told that before you started the service.
As Owain Vaughan says 'This whole exercise is just a smokescreen to justify not providing a decent through rail service'.
The next statement will be 'Well no one uses the bus to/ from Newport so no one will use the train'.
Why don't they use the same criteria for the link to Newport as they used for the business case to justify reopening the line to Ebbw Vale? Which grossly underestimated the amount of people who would use the service.
chelsea fatboy
says...
4:02pm Tue 17 Jul 12
pinpong
says...
4:55pm Tue 17 Jul 12
Wasnt this one of the things that Rosie promised during the election to fight for. She hjas let us down again.
RPRisca
says...
5:34pm Tue 17 Jul 12
Perhaps a shuttle train service might help but all this needs to be sorted before electrification comes along or it never will be!
gingertom
says...
6:47pm Tue 17 Jul 12
This article is nothing but a diversion tactic, they are delaying the inevitable and at the end of the day this line should have been sorted out the same time as the cardiff line.
PontyPeter
says...
10:10am Wed 18 Jul 12
You don't gauge demand for a through train service by using a bus connection. You are measuring two different demands here. While a train shuttle is an interesting idea, it will be no more successful than the bus. Who will want to change trains at Rogerstone?
No. The only option is a through service from Ebbw Vale to Newport which continues onwards to form a service to Bristol. This needs further doubling of the track towards Ebbw Vale. The line also needs to be extended to Ebbw Vale Town before electrification is introduced.
Demand for the original service was vastly underestimated by the planners. They will, no doubt, be making the same mistake here
Consideration also needs to be given to an Ebbw Vale-Newport-Cardiff route. This ran successfully for a few days earlier this year when engineering work blocked the direct link at Ebbw Junction. Trains successfully reversed at Newport.
Owain Vaughan says...
11:35am Tue 17 Jul 12
The idea of a train shuttle is intriguing though. Is this the first sign of some common sense?