Councillors back call for more rail funding to help Wales get back on the right track

CALL for more rail investment in west Wales including the reopening of a valleys line received unanimous backing from Carmarthenshire councillors.

- RICHARD YOULE

Cllr Alun Lenny

They found common ground in a motion which claimed Wales wasn't getting its rightful share of rail funding and expressed concerns that the south east and north of the country were snaffling most of what was coming.

It reiterated previous calls for a new station at Whitland, the reopening of the Amman Valley line, and said only the devolution of railways would enable Wales to get its share of funding via major schemes such as HS2. The motion said the £445 million of rail investment pledged for Wales over 10 years by Chancellor Rachel Reeves was a fraction of what it should get via the England-only HS2.

Cllr Alun Lenny, who submitted the motion with his Plaid cabinet colleague Cllr Glynog Davies, said rail was "desperately underfunded" in west Wales with trains "too often cancelled" and Wales having the highest train cancellation rates in the UK.

Cllr Davies recalled Brynamman having two Amman Valley line stations in the past - one for the line to Llanelli, the other for the line to Swansea - before everything closed in 1964. Reopening the Amman Valley line, he said, would provide an option to driving along narrow village roads. "Our governments have to consider this seriously," he said.

Labour councillor Kevin Madge said the Westminster government was providing "record" capital funding and that more rail investment was happening.