FR Press Release

PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE

The Ffestiniog Railway Company

PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE


The Ffestiniog Railway today announced its plans for opening the remaining
sections of the Welsh Highland Railway to full public service.

The Welsh Highland Railway is a £28m project to reinstate railway
communication between Caernarfon and Porthmadog across the Snowdonia
National Park. It has been reopened in stages, and now runs from Caernarfon
to Rhyd Ddu on the southern slopes of Snowdon. The remaining sections of the
railway from Rhyd Ddu to Porthmadog Harbour have been rebuilt over the last
four years.

The section from Rhyd Ddu to Beddgelert will open on 7th April 2009 to full
public service. This will be extended from Beddgelert to a temporary station
at Hen Hafod (about a mile south of Nantmor) on 21st May, and to Porthmadog
after the summer peak season.

The Ffestiniog Railway is pleased to have been able to bring forward its
proposals to open the railway through the Aberglaslyn pass (described by the
National Trust as the best scenery in Britain), but regrets that the opening
through to Porthmadog has had to be postponed due to delays in letting the
final commissioning contracts. This contract delay has been caused by the
delays in receiving payment from another party for work carried out on their
behalf last year by Ffestiniog Railway on repairing flood damage alongside
the Welsh Highland Railway.

The railway is substantially complete throughout and will be used by test
and special trains in the meantime.

 

Perhaps you should read the Press Release properly before casting any stones.

Meic Batten

 

I really dont see how this makes a 'mockery' of it - they made that offer back in november, when the plan was to run the full service from the beginning of July; they even had a provisional timetable.

Chris

 

Looks like a straightforward cash-flow problem to me, from the press release. I can't for the life of me see why they would postpone opening through to Portmadog, with the potential loss of revenue, just to spite the 1964 group. It's just nonsensical.

 

Er I have read it properly, what do YOU not understand about "and to Porthmadog
after the summer peak season.

 

The press release is more interesting in what it does not say.
I'd be interested to find out which section of the line is causing the opening to be delayed.
We know Porthmadog - Traeth Mawr (loop) has been passed and is ok for passenger trains, if it is primarily the cross town link section that is causing the problem then surely accommodation can be reached with WHHR to allow FR to operate some trains in to the WHHR Porthmadog terminus this summer?

Surely it must be better for the FR to swallow a little of their pride rather than losing a summers worth of revenue?

Just a thought.

 

It means what it says - the final comissioning of the Hen Hafod-Porthmadog section will take longer to complete, so the final opening will happen after the peak season rather than before it as was planned, perhaps with the impending start of ERTMS in mind.

Chris

 

The answer's in para four, which I missed on first reading, too.

 

Regardless as to who may have to swallow a little of their pride, I would have thought that the above would have been a sensible idea, at the very least to allow shuttle trains (regardless of operator).

 

So does that mean in the spirit of good will the FR will be allowing the WHHR to run the Pont Croesor shuttles after all? \/

 

But i dont think that russell will be ready untill August time, the last update on it showed it still was just a set of frames. Plus with Taliesin and Prince out of ticket this year the FR would struggle to run a port Harbour to Beddgelert service with there own locos as on a peak day 4 or even 5 locos are needed for there own service.

 

The line will still be needed for a substantial number of works trains, test trains, and driver training and would need the agreement of HMRI. As nice as it would be i dont think the time and effort on both sides would be justified for an extra mile of top-and-tail running and the resultant inconvenience.

That said, the FR and WHR(P) are currently in discussion about the future so we'll have to see what happens, but given the [obvious] lack of money decisions will, quite sensibly, be based on the financial consequences.

Chris

 

Remember the PYM - TM section has already been passed by HMRI for passenger trains, I'm sure the WHR Ltd P-way gang would love the challange of getting the TM - PC section up to spec if it means WHR Ltd trains can run north of PYM in 2009.

If only we could all work together for the greater good of both FR and WHR Ltd ](*,) [-o<

Oh well, I'll have to keep on dreaming :smt015

Mark

 

BBC article with more detail on the reason for the delay - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/7865626.stm
(it seems they've changed 'after the summer season' to 'until the summer', presumably a misquote)

Chris

 

Can't argue with that.... =D>

Cash flow problem…? So where have the proceeds from the sale of the painting of “zee fallen Madonna viz zee protruding cylinders” by Van Cuneo gone? 8-[

 

The pension fund, at the time of sale that was where the money was going to go.

 

Am i only the second person who doubts Russell will be ready in time (this year)?

 

Sorry and you are?

 

Paul Hitchin, and you?