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The Welsh Government should support calls for the reopening of Nelson’s railway line to passengers, Plaid Cymru’s deputy leader has said.

Delyth Jewell, who represents the South Wales East region has, alongside party colleagues Peredur Owen Griffiths and Lindsay Whittle, called on the UK Government to carry out a feasibility study into the proposals.

The line, which is still used by freight trains, runs between Ystrad Mynach Railway Station and Merthyr Tydfil, passing through Nelson, Trelewis, Bedlinog.

The former Nelson and Llancaiach Railway Station, which was on Tawel Fan, opened in 1912 but closed in 1964 as part of the Beeching Cuts.

Despite transport being a devolved matter, the power to reopen railway lines lies with the Westminster government, rather than the Welsh Government.

Speaking in the Senedd, Ms Jewell said: “It’s frustrating how dependent we are on Westminster’s whims to get things done. The shadow of Beeching looms large over our valleys. There are so many stations that were closed in the 1960s through those disastrous cuts.”

Discussing the reopening of the line through Nelson, Ms Jewell, who has a constituency office in the village, continued: “This would not only benefit Nelson – plans exist for a link connecting the Rhymney valley line with the Taff line, thus connecting across the valleys – and reopening the line connecting Nelson to Abercynon would surely be an obvious way of doing this.

” The old line and track still exist in Nelson. Lots of people living locally would love to see the line reopen.

“Plaid Cymru believes this a project the Welsh Government should support.”