On Tuesday 8th April, Transport Minister Edwina Hart announced the decision to run peak hourly train services between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury. AberSU Welfare Officer, Laura Dickens, explains below how this win was set in motion.
On Tuesday 8th April, Transport Minister Edwina Hart announced the decision to run peak hourly train services between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury. AberSU Welfare Officer, Laura Dickens, explains below how this win was set in motion.
You may remember The Shrewsbury-Aberystwyth Liaison Committee running a survey on the current train service to Aberystwyth back in October and November. The committee then produced a report of the findings, passing this on to the Transport minister. Having pushed the survey at the union, I then wrote a statement to the minister on the need for improvements to the current train service, highlighting the need for a more frequent service for students to be able to meet their lectures, commute, go on trips and looking at the wider effects on the community.
As a result of the report by the S-ALC, and my letter to the minister, I was invited to serve on the Cambrian Line implementation group, an advisory group to the Transport Minister to gather further evidence of improvements needed to the line; to engage with key stakeholders such as the university, local businesses and the tourism sector, and from this to make recommendations to the minister as to what improvements should be made.
It looked into the cost of the potential improvements, being peak time services initially, the proposed timetable drawn up by Arriva Trains Wales and a time scale for delivery.
The improvements suggested included the implementation of extra morning and evening peak services and better connections to the north coast.
This was collated into a report by the Cambrian Line Implementation Group and presented to the minister in February.
My role on the committee was to represent the views of students across mid wales, and to facilitate the research groups with the fellow members of the committee. The other role was to get the University on-board and to get them to be vocal in the campaign. We met in Wales at Network Rail headquarters in January to collate this information and meet with civil servants.
The key drivers in this campaign have been:
Robert Robinson - Shrewsbury - Aberystwyth liaison committee (S-ALC)
Trevor Roberts - S-ALC
Mansel Williams - S-ALC
Laura Dickens - SU, University, NUS
Rhydian Mason - TRacc
I'm absolutely thrilled that the minister has chosen to increase peak services. This is an incredible win for not just students but everyone who uses the line: businesses, tourism, open days and brings us more up to date with the rest of the UK It's been an honour and a privilege to work with these men and deliver this change.
This is definitely my proudest moment as Welfare Officer.
I'd also like to mention Elin Jones AM and Mark Williams MP who have kept up constant lobbying pressure on this issue and it really shows that it doesn't matter how small your union may be, it can deliver some overwhelming change!