In the letter, co-signed by Dawn Butler, MP for Brent East, and London Assembly member Krupesh Hirani, Mr Butt said that the line is a “vital part of economic infrastructure, with one in six jobs in London within a 12-minute walk of a station”.
The A465 between Hirwaun and Cefn Coed in Merthyr is shut completely next weekend between 20:00 BST on Friday and 06:00 on Monday, making the mountain road closur "feel like just another thing to deal with".The council has reassured parents and carers that arrangements have been made with their Home to School Transport team when children return to classrooms in September.
Engineers say the work is due to finish at the end of October but warned the road closure could last until Christmas if there are delays."We must start this work soon, not later in the year, to make the most of daylight hours and drier weather," said the council."The further into the year the work starts, the longer it will take to complete due to declining weather and daylight hours.
"If this work isn't started soon it will result in a future emergency closure and for much longer than the project length."The council said the 2022 summer blaze damaged a significant area of the mountainside, including fencing, wire and plastic netting
It said emergency work initially allowed the road to open with temporary traffic lights – directing vehicles away from the high risk areas, but now engineers insist they need to close a 375-metre (1,230ft) section to do the work.
Engineers added the road has limited width and contractors need to use specialist access equipment to secure the rock face, install new netting and anchor blocks, some of which weigh 50,000kg.The lawyer said what happened to her client is a "terrible and inexcusable – and calculated – wrong".
During the protests last summer, Mr Khalil said he was leading negotiations with university administrators on behalf of the student protesters.They had set up a huge tent encampment on the university lawn in protest against the Gaza war.
Some students also seized control of an academic building for several hours before police entered the campus to arrest them. Mr Khalil was not in that group.He later told the BBC he had been temporarily suspended by the university, where he is a graduate student at the School of International and Public Affairs.