A £250m project to build the world’s first integrated testing facility for trains and rail infrastructure has taken another significant step forward with the acquisition of a huge former opencast mine.
The Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE), a Welsh Government project which is being delivered via an at arm’s length special purpose vehicle company of the same name, will see two - inner and outer - circular testing tracks built on the site of the former Nant Helen opencast site and Onllwyn washery in the Dulais Valley.
After securing planning consent GCRE has now acquired the 700 hectare site - which is equivalent to the size of Gatwick Airport or Gibraltar, from Celtic Energy. The value of the land acquisition deal has not been disclosed.
