RAIL TESTING CENTRE AT ONLLWYN GETS GREEN LIGHT
Published at 16:00 on Tuesday 3rd August 2021
Tags: Onllwyn, Testing Centre, Rail Excellence, Onllwyn Washery, Welsh Government
The current washery at Onllwyn will close later this year, before the site is redeveloped into the new Welsh Rail Testing Centre Eric Wiseman
The previously reported plans for a new railway testing facility in South Wales have become a step closer to reality.
Members of Neath Port Talbot Council have given the Government planning permission to develop a £150 million Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) at the head of the Dulais and Tawe Valleys.
The facility is to be created on a 1,000 hectare area of land that was previously the Nant Helen opencast mine and Onllwyn coal washery, the latter of which remains rail connected from Swansea Burrows, but will close later this year. Most of the land lies within the County of Powys, but part of the site is within the Neath Port Talbot district. The latter council voted unanimously in favour of the plans on 27th July.
The development will provide the UK with a facility equivalent to the Siemens test centre that has been developed on the former RAF site at Wildenrath, near Dusseldorf in Germany. Two separate circuits will allow continuous mileage runs to be undertaken at speed, more accurately representing the actual operation for new trains, than the long-established end-to-end test track at Old Dalby.
As well as testing of trains, the site will be equipped with a 'test station' to allow technology and infrastructure for station environments to be created and tested in a realistic environment.
The plans have been developed by the Welsh Government, which is contributing £50 million to the scheme, with Westminster providing another £50 million. It is expected that the remaining funds will come from private investors.
Welsh Government representative Simon Jones said "Innovation takes time and is really expensive in the railway industry and we think there's a great position here for the GCRE to be able to help the rail industry and its supply chain innovate new ways to be able to drive costs out in order to be able to respond to the post-Covid situation."
The scheme is expected to create 150 jobs, with hundreds more in the supply chain.
More than 660 letters were sent to residents in and around Onllwyn and Seven Sisters notifying them about the plans for the rail centre in March. Four people objected to the scheme, citing reasons such as noise, traffic and visual impacts created by the test track. The Welsh Government has set "noise limits" for the project and believe they will "protect the amenity of the area".
