Wa l e s
had two, one on each side of the river. The decline of coal traffic, and Dr Beeching’s report, spelled the end for many of those lines. Road links were not good, as they twisted and turned up the valley hillsides with blind corners and errant sheep a constant hazard, so many communities were only connected with each other and with the costal big towns and cities by lengthy bus journeys. However, even in British Rail days, it was realised the cuts had gone too far. The freight line between Radyr and Cardiff Central, the Cardiff City line, was opened for passenger services in 1987. Services to Aberdare commenced in 1988 and to Maesteg in 1992. The Vale of Glamorgan line between Barry and Bridgend opened to passengers in 2005, with the line to Ebbw Vale following in 2008.
South Wales Metro (potential) Aberdare
Merthyr Tydful
Treherbert
Ebbw Vale Town Abergavenny
Ystrad Mynach
Abercynon
Caerphilly Coryton
Pontypridd
Newbridge
Treforest Estate Maesteg
Rogerstone Crwys Road
Bridgend
Cardiff Queen St.
Pontyclun Cardiff Central
DEMU
Metro DMU
Rhoose
Pontypool & New Inn
Heath
Radyr Cathays
Swansea Carmarthen West Wales
Hereford Shrewsbury North Wales
Rhymney
Penarth
Cwmbran Pye Corner Gloucester
Cardiff Parkway
Newport
Chepstow
Loundoun Square
Barry Island
Cardiff Bay
Tri Mode
New stations
Ten years in the making Plans for a South Wales Metro, connecting Cardiff, Newport and the valleys, were first formulated in 2011 and were adopted as Welsh Government policy in 2015. A fleet of new tram-trains would be ordered to run on-street through parts of Cardiff, connecting the valley line from Rhymney, Caerphilly and Coryton through to Penarth, Barry and
Cardiff’s international airport at Rhoose. Other lines will be electrified and services will be run by a mixture of electric, diesel and bi-mode multiple units. The first stage is to have a good service level on the Core Valley Lines.
“At that stage, Network Rail planned to electrify the valley lines,” James Price, TfW chief executive, told Inside Track. “We planned for a minimum service pattern of four trains an hour, going up to 12 trains an hour in certain places. All the evidence says that, at that point, most people don’t use
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Building Britain’s Railways - MajorJuly projects 2021