North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has called on the Welsh Government to ensure that the recent demolition of the railway bridge across the A5114 in Llangefni is used an opportunity to rebuild it and enable the reinstatement of the rail line from Gaerwen to Llangefni.
On October 14th the railway bridge was demolished after a lorry became stuck under it 3 days previously, and made the structure unsafe.
Speaking in the Assembly Chamber this week, Mr Isherwood said the incident should be used as an opportunity for development and to reopen the rail line, something he originally called for in 2014.
He said:
“In 2012, Network Rail estimated the cost of reinstating the Amlwch rail line at more than £25 million. In consequence, in December 2014, I asked the First Minister to consider supporting reopening the stretch from Gaerwen to Llangefni as a heritage connection, and, of course, this bridge would be critical. I said the precedent had been established in Llangollen with the link to Corwen, not only as a heritage connection, but also as an economic and social connection for people at both ends of the line. And the First Minister replied that it was something that the Welsh Government would be keen to investigate and work on. So, what has happened since December 2014 and the First Minister's statement in reply to my question on this then?”
The Leader of the House, Julie James AM, standing in for the First Minister, replied: “It's a Network Rail asset and we have been putting some pressure on Network Rail to do something about it, and, as I outlined to Rhun ap Iorwerth, we're very happy for officials to work on any scheme that looks like it will bring the line back into beneficial use and do the historic investigation that he mentioned in order to see what can be done. We're also wanting to be in a position to attract funding for new stations if it becomes available, and so we've started, as I said, work on developing business cases for possible investment, and that does include the Llangefni station as one of those possibilities.”
Mr Isherwood added: “The removal of the damaged bridge should be used as an opportunity and I therefore hope that the typically reactive response from this Welsh Government will not prevent it from now taking a proactive approach to reinstating this rail line”.