GOVERNMENT officials will meet the founder of a company that wants to create a railway service between St Helier, Corbière and the Airport to “discuss his ideas”.
Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan said he was “aware” of the proposal from Jersey Western Railway founder Alex Sparrow and was “meeting at his request”.
However, St Brelade Constable Mike Jackson said that while it is a “nice idea”, he believed the proposals were “unrealistic” due to the costs.
In an interview with the JEP published in Monday’s paper, Mr Sparrow outlined his hopes for a “safe, consistent, reliable and sustainable” railway service that would utilise around 30 electrically-operated locomotives, with a terminus at Trenton Square at the International
Finance Centre.
He estimated that the project would cost around £101m and said he was “in communication with specialist locomotive and project management companies in the UK to source the appropriate funding”.
He also revealed he would be meeting the Infrastructure Department next month “to discuss the project and gauge their interest”.
In a statement, Mr Jehan said: “We are aware of Mr Sparrow’s proposal, which is in the public domain, and are meeting at his request to discuss his ideas.
“This is not an infrastructure proposal, but the Minister is always willing to meet with Islanders and listen to ideas.”
Speaking to the JEP yesterday, St Brelade Constable Mike Jackson also said that Mr Sparrow had “been in touch”.
“It’s a nice idea but unfortunately unrealistic,” he continued, highlighting the potential costs involved and pointing out that the Island already had a “pretty efficient bus service”.
“One would need to have confidence in a proposed business case,” he added, although he noted that “personally I would love to see it”.
Have your say…
Islanders interested in the project can visit the jerseywesternrailway.co.uk website, where they can also complete a questionnaire
