Press Release - Welsh Integrated Transport Scheme to incorporate Great Little Trains of Wales

Press Release - Welsh Integrated Transport Scheme to incorporate Great Little Trains of Wales


The latest round of announcements regarding the new Welsh Integrated Transport Scheme (WITS) has been agreed with all parties at a unique meeting in Tywyn this week and further details of its integration have been announced today.

The Great Little Trains of Wales (GLTW) are a collection of steam heritage railways, known around the world as first-class tourist attractions for visitors to Wales. Following today’s announcement these attractions will now become part of the renewed transport scheme for Wales.

It is envisaged that the heritage railways will now offer an integrated transport solution, as explained by GLTW Chairman and general manager of the Talyllyn Railway, Chris Price.

“Being part of WITS is something we were all very keen on, getting from A to B in Wales is of paramount importance. Sometimes people will also need to get to C. Getting from A to B via C requires the missing piece of the puzzle – D,” explained Mr Price.

The process of integration commences this week before the heritage railways begin their 2015 tourist season. Harmonisation of the lines will require their gauges – the distance between the rails – to be identical, as explained by Iain McLean, Chairman of the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway.

“Currently our trains cannot run on the other railways – should we wish to run our locos on the Fairbourne Miniature Railway, for example, we would have to have the same track gauge. The work to make this possible begins right away now we are at WITS end.” Mr McLean said this week.

The WITS panel has chosen to harmonise the lines at 2ft gauge, though concerns were voiced in the WITS meeting that this gauge favoured more the Welshpool and Talyllyn Railways rather than the Fairbourne Railway which would need to add 11 and ¾ inches to its track.

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“11 and ¾ inches is very big”, Murray Dods of the Fairbourne Miniature Railway argued.

“We don’t want to argue between 3 inches and 11 and ¾ inches. The Talyllyn Railway will need to reduce its gauge by 3 inches which is also very big.” Chris Price replied.

The WITS harmonisation plans include a pooling of resources between the railways and transfer of assets will begin shortly after trackwork on harmonising gauges is completed.

The meeting discussed the need for fairness with several member railways keen on taking on resources from other railways.

“We need to ensure the best stock is used on the best railways. I look forward to welcoming ‘The Earl’ and ‘Countess’ to the Talyllyn Railway once gauge work is complete. We have also arranged transport of ‘Sir Haydn’ to the Welshpool line as a reasonable fair swap.” Mr Price concluded.