Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes ( cy, Llwybrau Lleol y Cymoedd a Chaerdydd) (formerly Valley Lines) is the
network of passenger suburban railway services radiating from
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. It includes lines within the city itself, the
Vale of Glamorgan
The Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg ), often referred to as The Vale, is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf to the north, and the Bristol ...
and the
South Wales Valleys.
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
The Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg ), often referred to as The Vale, is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf to the north, and the Bristol ...
, 25 in
Rhondda Cynon Taf, 15 in
Caerphilly, 8 in
Bridgend
Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the medieval bridge over the River Og ...
and 5 in
Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Ty ...
.
Services on these routes are provided by
Class 150 DMUs, and
Class 769 bi-mode multiple units in Diesel mode. 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
() ( colloquially: Ponty) is a town and a community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales.
Geography
comprises the electoral wards of , Hawthorn, Pontypridd Town, 'Rhondda', Rhydyfelin Central/Ilan ( Rhydfelen), Trallwng ( Trallwn) and Treforest () ...
to
Barry Island.
The major hubs of the network are and . Other hubs are , and .
History
A stretch of the
Vale of Glamorgan Line
The Vale of Glamorgan Line ( cy, Llinell Bro Morgannwg) is a commuter railway line in Wales, running through the Vale of Glamorgan from Barry to Bridgend, via Rhoose and Llantwit Major.
Route
The Barry branch starts at Cardiff West and r ...
, on which passenger services were closed under the
Beeching Axe
The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...
, re-opened for passenger service, with services from to , via ,
Rhoose Cardiff Intl. Airport and
Llantwit Major. These services were originally advertised to start in April 2005, but commenced on 12 June 2005. 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
Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
to
Transport for Wales, who leased them to operator
AKIL.
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.
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.
Lines
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The colours used below are from the official network map (see
External links
An internal link is a type of hyperlink on a web page to another page or resource, such as an image or document, on the same website or domain name, domain.
Hyperlinks are considered either "external" or "internal" depending on their target or ...
). Stations in bold are major interchanges for the network.
[
]
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. Services run between:
*Bridgend/Barry Island and Merthyr Tydfil/Aberdare - incorporating the Vale of Glamorgan and Merthyr 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
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 170 units).
See also
*South East Wales Metro
The South Wales Metro () is an integrated heavy rail, light rail and bus-based public transport services and systems network in South East Wales around the hub of . The first phase was approved for development in October 2013. Works are current ...
* Rail transport in Cardiff
* List of Valley Lines stations
* List of railway stations in Wales
References
External links
Detailed summary of all the Valley Lines
Arriva Trains Wales
Arriva Trains Wales Network Map
includes Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes Network Map
BBC News: New stations in £155m rail plans
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valleys and Cardiff Local Routes
Railway lines in Wales
Standard gauge railways in Wales
Rail transport in Cardiff