Chairman Gareth Marston said: “There is an almost universal acknowledgment that a direct train service to London from Mid Wales is not so much a desirable but an essential requirement.

“Arriva have quite rightly identified that a significant percentage of existing passengers on the weekday 5.30am and 7.30am trains from Aberystwyth are travelling onward toward London and the South East and Birmingham New St is almost universally hated as a change point and will become worse with cross-country passengers forced into changing there and impending rebuilding work.

“We understand this proposal will need two extra (Class 158) diesel units which though are already in franchise are unavailable at the moment.

“This is coincidentally the number of units needed to make a two-hourly interval Crewe to Aberystwyth service and therefore hourly between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury – a longstanding aspiration,” Mr Marston added.

“Many of our members feel quite strongly that through services to Crewe would provide not only better connections to London via the Trent Valley than via the West Midlands but also open up many connectional opportunities across a wide area currently constrained by long waits at Shrewsbury and further changes en route. In addition this would enable a resolving of the problems faced connecting Aberystwyth to its hinterland north of the Dyfi estuary.”

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