New train in Wales

[April 2011] For as long as anyone remembers, Fishguard’s train service has been virtually non-existent. One daytime return train meets the midday Irish Ferry. Another in the small hours meets the night ferry. Do you know anyone from Pembrokeshire who’s willingly taken the 1:50am train from Fishguard? It reaches Swansea at 3:25, with half an hour to wait for the 3:57 to … well you get the point.

The campaign for a proper rail service for north Pembrokeshire has run for years. After endless delays and disappointments, suddenly it’s all change: from September 2011, Fishguard will have five extra trains both ways to Carmarthen, where we’ll change for Swansea, Cardiff, London, Manchester, the world … And Fishguard is suddenly just a day trip away for a million and a half people in south-east Wales. They have many good reasons to visit north Pembrokeshire, and it’s getting much easier.

In three years the trial service will be reviewed. We wouldn’t want to lose it. So now it’s up to us – families, students, retired, visitors, workers, holidaymakers, festival-goers: use the new service, and make sure it delivers what we need. We’re here to encourage involvement, and to support the brilliant campaigning of the North Pembrokeshire Transport Forum. Happily their work continues.

Fishguard Trains is an independent website run by an informal group of local rail users. We’ll support use of the new service, report its news, good and bad, give everyone a voice in its development. The new service will only be as good as the connections it creates. At first, that’s in the hands of Arriva, Pembrokeshire CC and WAG, so we’ll be watching closely what they do. But they can only deliver the service. It can’t reach its potential without active public involvement – that’s your job.