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RAIL BOOM BOOST FOR POSSET LINE
18:00 - 31 July 2008
The Portishead rail line's prospects of success have been boosted after
passenger numbers on newly-reopened lines in Scotland and Wales dwarfed
projected figures.
He said: "In the past few years, we have been told that it is difficult to predict the number of Portishead and Gordano Valley residents that would use the railway.
"In Prime Minister's Question Time recently, Norman Baker MP asked Gordon Brown why the Department for Transport had ruled out reopening lines in England when the reopened railway between Stirling and Alloa currently had passenger figures three times greater than the projected figure for 2011."
He added that four months after the Ebbw Vale line in South Wales was reopened, more than 200,000 journeys had been made, against a projected figure of 150,000 for the whole of the first year.
The demand was four times greater than projected.
The South Wales Argus reported: "This fairly conclusively shows that the demand for rail transport in Wales is much higher than the models used to predict it suggest.
"It shows that there is a huge potential to move people off roads and onto railways.
"In the past few months, we have all been given further incentives to make the shift to public transport by ever-increasing fuel prices.
"It should now be apparent to everyone that high fuel prices are here to stay and many would like to make the change, if only there was a viable public transport network for them to shift onto.
"Cardiff is booming and, as a result, people want to move there to be close to jobs.
"The key is to spread that wealth by making Cardiff an easier place to commute to, which means much-improved rail transport as buses aren't fast enough.
"It also means that money earned in Cardiff will spread more effectively up into the Valleys communities within reach of Cardiff, thus making them more economically vibrant and more pleasant places to live."
Mr Matthews said: "The article is about the Cardiff area but would equally apply to Portishead and its relationship with Bristol."
He said he will be sending the figures to Halcrow, the consultants who have recently completed a positive study on the viability of the Portishead line.
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