Station reopens after 48 years (From Western Telegraph)
Get involved: send your pictures, video, news and views by texting WT NEWS to 80360, or email
us
Station reopens after 48 years
9:53am Monday 14th May 2012 in News
Goodwick Station is reopening today (Monday) after 48 years out of action.
This morning, the first train stopped at Fishguard and Goodwick station since 1964.
From today the station will cater for seven trains a day into and out of Fishguard Harbour.
The site, owned by Pembrokeshire County Council, is in the centre of Goodwick and accessed conveniently by car, bus, bicycle or foot.
A victim of the Beeching rail cuts in the early 1960s, the station fell into disrepair until it was purchased by the Council three years ago so that it could be safeguarded for future transport-related use.
A short time afterwards a petition, together with a number of public meetings involving the North Pembrokeshire Transport Forum, brought the area’s poor transport services to the attention of the Welsh Government.
Last year in response the Welsh Government announced that it would fund five extra trains in addition to the two already running in and out of Fishguard Harbour.
Representations were then made locally calling for the re-opening of the station.
This resulted in a number of bodies - including the Welsh Government, Pembrokeshire County Council, Network Rail and train operator Arriva Trains Wales and SWWITCH (the South West Wales Integrated Transport Consortium) - identifying the necessary funding for the reconstruction of the station through the Regional Transport Plan programme.
Councillor Jamie Adams called it a “red letter day” for the local community.
He said improvements to rail services west of Swansea were not only a priority for Pembrokeshire but for the South West region as a whole.
“The re-opening of the station is a positive step for the communities of Fishguard and Goodwick and will help attract passengers to the new enhanced rail services” he added.
A plaque commemorating the station’s opening will be unveiled by County Council Chairman, Councillor David Pugh, at a ceremony this afternoon.
