Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes

Railway lines in the Welsh valleys

Legend

Hirwaun

Cwm

Abertillery

Llanhilleth

~~Abercynon North~~

Gilfach Fargoed

Abercynon

Energlyn & Churchill Park

Heath Low / High Level

Danescourt

Rogerstone

Cardiff Queen Street

Pye Corner

Fairwater

Newport

Waun-Gron Park

Welsh Marches line

Cardiff Bay

Cardiff Central

Severn Tunnel Junction

River Taff

South Wales Main Line

to Bristol Parkway

Grangetown

Penarth

Eastbrook

Wales

England

border

Cardiff International Airport

Llantwit Major

Bridgend

South Wales Main Line

to Swansea

Maesteg (Ewenny Road)

Maesteg

Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes (Welsh: Llwybrau Lleol y Cymoedd a Chaerdydd) (formerly Valley Lines) is the network of passenger suburban railway services radiating from Cardiff, Wales. It includes lines within the city itself, the Vale of Glamorgan and the South Wales Valleys.^[1]

The services are currently operated by Transport for Wales Rail. In total, it serves 81 stations in six unitary authority areas: 20 in the city of Cardiff, 11 in the Vale of Glamorgan, 25 in Rhondda Cynon Taf, 16 in Caerphilly, 8 in Bridgend and 5 in Merthyr Tydfil.^[2]

Services on these routes are currently provided by a transitional fleet of Class 150 DMUs, Class 231 Diesel–electric multiple units and Class 756 tri-mode multiple units. They are typically end-to-end, in that they run from one branch terminus, through Cardiff Queen Street station, to another branch terminus, e.g. from Pontypridd to Barry Island.

The major hubs of the network are Cardiff Queen Street and Cardiff Central. Other hubs are Pontypridd, Bridgend and Barry.^[3]

History

A stretch of the Vale of Glamorgan Line, on which passenger services were closed under the Beeching Axe, re-opened for passenger service, with services from Cardiff Central to Bridgend, via Barry, Rhoose Cardiff Intl. Airport and Llantwit Major. These services were originally advertised to start in April 2005, but commenced on 12 June 2005.^[4]^[5] Previously services only went as far as Barry.

On 28 March 2020, ownership of the lines between Cardiff and Treherbert, Aberdare, Merthyr Tydfil, Coryton, Rhymney and Cwmbargoed (the "Core Valley Lines") was transferred from Network Rail to Transport for Wales, who leased them to operator AKIL.^[6]

Electrification

On 16 July 2012 the UK Government announced plans to extend the electrification of the network at a cost of £350 million. This was at the same time of the announcement of electrification of the South Wales Main Line from Cardiff to Swansea. This would also see investment in new trains and continued improvements to stations.^[7]

The investment will require new trains and should result in reduced journey times and cheaper maintenance of the network. Work was expected to start between 2014 and 2019, but has since been pushed back to between 2019 and 2024.^[8]

Lines

The colours used below are from the official network map (see External links). Stations in bold are major interchanges for the network.^[2]

Cardiff Bay Line	City Line	Coryton Line	Vale of Glamorgan Line
Cardiff Queen St. Cardiff Bay	Cardiff Queen St. Cardiff Central Ninian Park Waun-Gron Park Fairwater Danescourt Radyr	Cardiff Central Cardiff Queen St. Heath Low Level Ty Glas Birchgrove Rhiwbina Whitchurch Coryton	Cardiff Central Grangetown Dingle Road Penarth Cogan Eastbrook Dinas Powys Cadoxton Barry Docks Barry Barry Island Rhoose Cardiff Int. Airport Llantwit Major Bridgend

Merthyr Line	Merthyr Line	Rhondda Line	Rhymney Line
Cardiff Central Cardiff Queen St. Cathays Llandaf Radyr Taffs Well Treforest Estate Treforest Pontypridd Abercynon Quakers Yard Merthyr Vale Troed-y-rhiw Pentre-bach Merthyr Tydfil	Cardiff Central Cardiff Queen St. Cathays Llandaf Radyr Taffs Well Treforest Estate Treforest Pontypridd Abercynon Penrhiwceiber Mountain Ash Fernhill Cwmbach Aberdare	Cardiff Central Cardiff Queen St. Cathays Llandaf Radyr Taffs Well Treforest Estate Treforest Pontypridd Trehafod Porth Dinas Rhondda Tonypandy Llwynypia Ystrad Rhondda Ton Pentre Treorchy Ynyswen Treherbert	Cardiff Central Cardiff Queen St. Heath High Level Llanishen Lisvane & Thornhill Caerphilly Aber Energlyn and Churchill Park Llanbradach Ystrad Mynach Hengoed Pengam Gilfach Fargoed Bargoed Brithdir Tir-Phil Pontlottyn Rhymney

Routes

Generally trains run from one line to another, joining at Cardiff Central eliminating the need for changing trains there. However they may not run for the whole length of the line.^[9]

Before the June 2024 train timetable changes, Services had run between:

Bridgend/Barry Island and Merthyr Tydfil/Aberdare - incorporating the Vale of Glamorgan and Merthyr/Aberdare Lines
Penarth and Rhymney/Bargoed - incorporating the Vale of Glamorgan and Rhymney Lines
Radyr and Coryton - incorporating the City and Coryton Lines
Cardiff Central and Treherbert - incorporating the Rhondda Line only
Cardiff Queen Street and Cardiff Bay - incorporating the Butetown Branch Line only

After the June 2024 train timetable changes, Services now run between:^[10]

Bridgend/Barry Island and Rhymney/Bargoed - incorporating the Vale of Glamorgan and Rhymney Lines
Penarth and Coryton/Caerphilly - incorporating the Vale of Glamorgan and Rhymney/Coryton Lines
Cardiff Central and Merthyr Tydfil/Aberdare - incorporating the City and Merthyr/Aberdare Lines (trains from Aberdare to Cardiff now travel after Radyr via the City Line, and after Cardiff Central then go on to Cardiff Queen St and proceed to Merthyr Tydfil; trains from Merthyr Tydfil continue on to Aberdare after Cardiff Central)^[10]
Cardiff Central and Treherbert - incorporating the Rhondda Line only
Cardiff Queen Street/Pontypridd and Cardiff Bay - incorporating the Butetown Branch Line only

Surrounding lines

The following lines also serve Cardiff and the South Wales Valleys but are not considered part of the network by Transport for Wales and use more "mainline" rolling stock (currently Class 197 units).^[11]^[12]

█ Maesteg - Cheltenham	█ Ebbw Valley Railway
Cheltenham Spa Gloucester Lydney Chepstow Caldicot Severn Tunnel Junction Newport Cardiff Central Pontyclun Llanharan Pencoed Bridgend Wildmill Sarn Tondu Garth Maesteg (Ewenny Road) Maesteg	Cardiff Central (and/or Newport) Pye Corner Rogerstone Risca and Pontymister Crosskeys Newbridge Llanhilleth Ebbw Vale Parkway Ebbw Vale Town

References

^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ ^a ^b "Showcontent". Archived from the original on 25 May 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
^ Cardiff Central and Queen Street are where all services pass through, and Cardiff Central is the main interchange to the national network. Pontypridd and Barry are the two stations with the largest passenger numbers outside of Cardiff and they are only served by this network. See respective Wikipedia pages.
^ "Vale of Glamorgen". Railfuture.
^ "Airport rail link 'open in 2005'". BBC News. 4 May 2004. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
^ "Core Valley Lines Infrastructure Manager". Transport for Wales. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
^ "Rail electrification to Swansea and south Wales valleys welcomed". BBC News Wales. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
^ "Cardiff And Valleys Station Upgrades". Network Rail. 16 May 2018. Archived from the original on 17 May 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
^ "Search & Buy Train Tickets with Arriva Trains Wales for travel in Wales and UK".
^ ^a ^b "South Wales Metro June 2024 timetable change | Transport for Wales". tfw.wales. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
^ "Brand new trains on the Maesteg Line". 19 February 2024.
^ Pritchard, Robert (June 2024). "Ebbw Vale launch for 197s". Rolling Stock News. Today's Railways UK. No. 268. p. 61.