THE Plaid Cymru quaint and typically rather unrealistic, romantic idea to return us to the days of the dispute between David Davies, the Marquess of Bute and the Vale's Railway Companies deserves some respect but providing a Supermarket with its own Railway Station at Penarth Dock is in my view a " Bridge too Far" even though these days out of town supermarkets seem to need all the help they can get! (Penarth Times November 20).

A potential waste of public money would occur should a fanciful plan to reopen Penarth Dock Station come to fruition. This somewhat simplistic approach takes no account of the Welsh Government's planned new South Wales Metroline- Tram system of which Penarth and the adjacent International Sports Village are very much an integral part.

A far more constructive approach would be to extend the existing Cogan platforms eastward towards Cardiff by means of a pedestrian subway or footbridge facilitating the scope for a Rail- Metro Tram direct interchange from the Barry line to the Penarth line at the junction. The existing junction structure could then be further enhanced by means of the addition of covered footbridge access to the more densely populated Riverview Development. Improved pedestrian links to Pontywerin Bridge may also be provided at this point ultimately giving reasonable access to the Sports Village, its proposed Metro Tram Station and ultimately the whole of Cardiff Bay. This is an even more densely populated area in far greater need of its own railway station and tram stop than a supermarket car park.

The passenger usage of Cogan Station is actually 50 per cent less than that of Penarth Town Station and passenger numbers of both would be improved considerably by the River View solution which would simultaneously reduce road traffic and provide improved public transport links to Cardiff Bay for the benefit of the majority of Penarth residents.

Philip Rapier

Penarth Town councillor

St Augustines