Rhondda Tunnel Society unveil New Information Board

Members of the Rhondda Tunnel Society have unveiled an information board on the Blaengwynfi side of the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway Tunnel as part of their project to re-open the tunnel for cyclists and pedestrians.

members of the Rond the tunnel Society were in blank wivey today to unveil an information board outlining the next steps of their project to reopen the old Ronda and Swansea Bay railway tunnel leading from blank H home to blank wivey the sun is shining in more ways than one on this project I know that uh there’s been talk of this happening for many uh many many years and there’s good reason for that cuz it needs to happen it’s really important for this community it’s really important uh for blind on the other side of the tunnel it’s really important that those two communities are once again joined together but the bigger picture of what this means for the area I think will only become fully apparent when we open it and we will open it because in terms of Tourism uh in terms of active travel uh in terms of employment and in terms of General rejuvination you you you cannot underestimate what this tunnel is going to do and and I got to know about it a couple of years ago uh and I and I stepped into uh this incredible Society where people have been working so hard voluntarily for the last 10 years doing all the hard work behind the scenes to try and get this project uh uh going and and and I’ve kind of I guess U maybe injected a bit of celebrity Sparkle and tried to just make sure that the right people are talking to the right people cuz it it it is only red tape and a little bit of money that’s standing in the way of of us getting this off the ground and the more people we get uh to understand the economic benefits which outweigh the costs 10 20 50 100 fold uh then the more chance there is that this is going to be a reality and and I and I’ve pledged to the society that I will do everything I can uh to make sure that this is no longer a pipe dream uh this is a tunnel uh that will reopen and you will probably uh heard the the the wonderful stories that uh in Years Gone by there of course there was one major um outlet for the steam that used to come out from the tunnel from the steam terms that used to go and the The Legend had it that there was a dragon living in the tunnel and uh it’s been locked up uh for the last uh 70 or so years so our job is uh to release that Dragon so with your help the help of the society and some Goodwill and the help of of people in in government local and national uh I’m I’m convinced that we will make this project uh a reality and you will once again be able to walk from here to Blind uh as you were many years ago so um I it’s my pleasure to to be here and do this and and as I said we’ve had support from all sides this isn’t a political thing uh this is a project which is um admired and supported by all parties uh both um nationally and and regionally so I I’m really delighted uh that joining us today to to to join me in the unveiling we have David Reese and we have Steven kenck if you’d like to join me uh just up here uh and I think um the the the caliber of um of the project is indicated by the fact that that that that these guys have have given up their Saturday to join us today so um if it’s all right um I don’t know who I’m going to give the jointly if you would snip snip the scissors and just before you did so and there’s there’s two things to do if you snip the scissors pull the first thing off and then you pull the plastic thing off underneath you go for it you can manage that and a big cheer when that second one is re revealed okay ready pull off the plastic [Applause] yay thank you very much so did you want to say anything at all all want to say I think is we’ve been obvious P us in a while back and we key to see this work because the ability to actually communicate between blind gum and blind gy as it was many years ago is going to be fantastic opportunities whether you walk it whether you cycle it or whether you like us might want to have some electrical vehicles take could cost it’s it’s going to be a great asset both sides and the valley up here and the valley the other side really will benefit from it it’s a huge opportunity for us so let’s get ahead with it let’s make sure it works whether it’s that picture or that picture that’s what we want and uh those I see some cyclist here so those who are cyclist when it’s open be the first on to go I Echo everything that Davis just said uh I’ve had the fortune of actually being dangled down into the tunnel and it is an amazing piece of engineering uh it is a thing of beauty and it’s also a thing of huge opportunity I genuinely believe that if we can get that Tunnel open it can Kickstart so many other opportunities in terms of tourism in terms of regeneration and in terms of really putting uh this part of the world on the map so I’d like to also thank the team I feel like we’ve been working on this for a long time we’ve had our ups and downs uh but we are absolutely committed to it and uh we’re going to give it our very best shot to make this happen as quickly as possible and this is absolutely beautiful as well it really does set out the vision uh for what we all want to see so congratulations as well on on getting this up and running Brant thank you very much everyone brilliant so um thank you both for coming along today and thank you for your your continued support and working behind the scenes thank you all to to Hammond for putting up uh the sign and to neport uh tobert Council for who’ve actually paid for it so thank you to those people thank you to you for coming you know the support of the community is is vital to us and and and you know we’re not just steam Runing ahead on this it is a collaboration and you’re very much part of that we want this to enhance this community uh and that’s all sing a single L was it it l to we Happ until I think it’s a brilliant idea absolutely brilliant but I want it to be done pretty soon because I want to cycle through it with my friends and my cycling friends and we’re getting older for more information about their project visit ronthe tunnel society. co.uk