OBSERVING how Transport for Wales has provided additional trains and extra capacity for passengers travelling to major events in Cardiff recently, including the Cardiff Half Marathon and Wales v Denmark, the South Pembrokeshire Rail Action Group (SPRAG) asks: “Why shouldn’t the same principle apply to Tenby?”

The arrangements, developed partly in response to feedback following last year’s events, include additional services and longer trains, with TfW also working with Great Western Railway to provide extra capacity between Swansea and Cardiff.

“Putting on additional trains for major events makes perfect sense,” says the latest SPRAG ‘postcard’ to its supporters. “Transport for Wales knows when thousands of extra passengers are likely to travel, so it plans ahead and provides additional capacity.”

“Tenby has a calendar full of events which create entirely predictable surges in visitors,” the group goes on to argue. “Ironman Wales is perhaps the most obvious example, but there are also major summer weekends, sporting events, festivals and bank holidays when everyone knows well in advance that considerably more people will be travelling into and out of the town.

“The railway is particularly well placed to carry those visitors. Every additional person arriving by train is potentially one fewer car trying to enter Tenby, one fewer vehicle looking for somewhere to park and a little less pressure on already busy local roads.”

They stress this isn’t an argument against providing additional services for Cardiff. Rather, that if additional trains are a sensible way of responding to predictable demand in Cardiff, SPRAG believes it's worth asking whether the same approach could be used more often in places such as Tenby.

Rather than considering: “How many trains normally run on this line?”, certain weekends beg the question: “We know thousands of people are coming. What railway do we need that day?”