Re: Winter Work in Wales - Project Costs

The Harbour Station development (which is planned to be completed in 2014) is budgeted to cost about 1.2 million GBP. This is being funded by public donations and a government fund for railway station improvements in roughly equal measures. I am sure that when the UK government set up this fund it did not expect part of it being spent on a narrow gauge tourist railway! But tourism is a major source of income in this part of the UK.

The total cost of rebuilding the Welsh Highland Railway has been approx 28 million GBP. This works out at approximately 1 million GBP per mile of new railway. Again the source of this money is split approximately 50-50 between public fund raising of various forms and government funds (UK, Welsh Government and European Union). Against this it has been estimated that the rebuilt railway will give a net benefit of 14 Million GBP per year to the local economy.

I have used the book "Welsh Highland Renaissance" by Gordon Rushton as the source of the above figures. This large book (350 pages) proveds a comprehensive account of the rebuilding of the WHR.

Don Newing
Derbyshire, UK