I refer to your lead article and Comment column in the Penarth Times of August 21 (Train station could make tracks in the latest transportation plans) on the scheme to move the Penarth Town railway station et al.

As a Penarth resident and a regular user of the railway service, I do not subscribe to this idea and would like to make the following comments on the thoughts put forward by Councillor Burnett.

1. The clearance for the proposed overhead electrification, catenary/pantograph current collection system is unlikely to be an issue as the gantries would be spaced either side of the Stanwell Road bridge.

2. The need for a car park in the town is not questioned, but I would contend that the cutting through which the line runs between the two bridges(Stanwell Road and Victoria) is already a candidate for a robust concrete structure supporting a sizeable car park, placing the railway in a tunnel as recently installed just south of Bargoed railway station.

3. Councillor Burnett's statement that the aim of elecrification is to provide a "turn up and go" service worries me in that the present diesel service provides just that, as throughout the day other than two gaps at 0902 and 1647, trains run on a 15 minute interval. Electric trains are unlikely to better that!

4. Creating a car park on the existing Railway station footprint would provide a linear and limited layout

5. Significantly, demolition and reuse of this area would preclude for ever any future prospect of extending the Penarth branch to Lower Penarth, Cosmeston, Lavernock and Swanbridge. With the huge amount of housing now planned by the Council in its' LDP, real consideration to this must in my view be given, as the existing B 4267 road serving these locations will not cope with the tremendous increase in vehicular traffic this will bring.

So please leave our Railway station where it is and let us hope that the funding for electrification can be sorted by the politicians in Westminster and Cardiff, first of all!!

David G Mathew

Via email