The Rhondda Tunnel Society has applied for planning permission to expose the buried tunnel entrance at Blaencwm at the head of the Rhondda Fawr Valley.
Slightly less than two miles long, the tunnel was opened in 1890 to transport Rhondda coal to the ports of Swansea Bay for export.
In 1968, it had to be closed when distortion was found at a point deep inside the tunnel until funds for repairs could be found. Instead, the whole line was closed, and by 1980, both the railway cuttings at each end had been filled in, leaving little trace of the tunnel’s existence. According to the Rhondda Tunnel Society, access is currently difficult through the vertical air shafts at either end of the tunnel, but the Society is allowed to make regular visits to record air quality – which it says is always good – and the tunnel itself has survived almost 60 years of neglect in remarkably good condition.
The planning application seeks to expose the entrance at Blaencwm for all to see, by partly re-excavating the railway cutting, although access to the tunnel itself will have to be restricted until it has been repaired, and the approach cutting will be lengthened to lessen the cycle path gradient. In exposing the entrance, the material that has to be dug out will be moved to the adjacent site of the former Glenrhondda Colliery, which the Society now owns. There it will be landscaped as the first stage of creating a future country park, which will offer a visitors’ centre and other attractions.
Part of the funding to expose the tunnel has already been pledged, but the society said it will need to raise the balance, which it will do through a variety of fundraising initiatives. Once work is under way at Blaencwm, it will aim to expose the other entrance at Blaengwynfi in the Afan Valley. This is a more expensive undertaking, because the tunnel is deeper there. With access at both ends, vehicles and machinery will have easy access to enable repairs and renovations.
Rhondda Tunnel Society chair, Stephen Mackey, said: “This is a hugely exciting step in the process of completely reopening the Rhondda tunnel. As Europe’s longest walking and cycling tunnel, it will undoubtedly bring economic, tourism and cultural benefits to the immediate area and region as a whole. Visitors will undoubtably come from far and wide to visit the tunnel, both as a great attraction in its own right, but also because it will be a strategic link between the growing set of other visitor attractions, such as Zip World Tower, Wildfox Resort, Bike Park Wales, and more general world-class mountain biking and other outdoor adventure experiences. There is no reason why the Valleys of South Wales cannot become as popular a tourist destination as Snowdonia or the Peak District.”