The Enterprise and Learning Committee of the National Assembly met on Wednesday July 11th to discuss the Petition for the Re-opening of Carno Station – referred to them last week by the Petitions Committee. Carno Station Action Group had submitted further written evidence to the committee, including a Cost Benefit Analysis, and members of the committee commented favourably on the quality of the case that had been put before them.
After some discussion, members of the committee decided that the way forward was to visit Carno to see the station site for themselves and to hold a hearing in the village on the re-opening proposal. Representatives of Network Rail, Arriva Trains Wales and the Wales Assembly Government Rail Team are to be invited, together with the petitioners, to assist the commitee in its deliberations.
The Action Group is calling for the existing passing loop at Talerddig to be relocated at Carno as part of the infrastructure improvements for the hourly service, so that trains can stop at the new station without adding to existing journey times. Members of the committee recognised that a decision needs to be taken on passing loop locations quite soon and therefore decided to schedule their Carno visit during the summer recess.