System National Rail Termini Gloucester
Newport Owner Network Rail | Status Operational Stations 6 (14 disused) | |
Type Suburban rail, Heavy rail Locale South East Wales, Severn Estuary, Monmouthshire, Gloucestershire Rolling stocks British Rail Class 43 (HST), British Rail Class 57 | ||
The Gloucester–Newport line is a railway line that runs along the bank of the River Severn in the United Kingdom between Gloucester and Newport.
Contents
Originally part of the South Wales Railway on the main route from London before the construction of the Severn Tunnel; today it is an important link between the West Midlands and South Wales.
Route
The places served by the route are:
Local passenger services are currently provided by Arriva Trains Wales, with an approximately hourly service in each direction on the Cheltenham Spa to Maesteg service. These are supplemented by CrossCountry services between Cardiff Central and Nottingham, which serve Gloucester and Newport, serving either Lydney or Chepstow then fast to Newport for example. The intermediate stations are omitted except during the early morning and late evening.
Though Caldicot and Severn Tunnel Junction stations are only 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) apart, Caldicot's centrality kept it open in 1964 when other small stations were closed under The Reshaping of British Railways. Severn Tunnel Junction serves the village of Rogiet and is where this line merges with the South Wales Main Line through the Severn Tunnel, so it is also a stop on the Cardiff Central-Bristol Temple Meads-Portsmouth Harbour service.
In 1977 the Parliamentary Select Committee on Nationalised Industries recommended considering electrification of more of Britain's rail network, and by 1979 BR presented a range of options to do so by 2000. Options included electrifying numerous former Great Western routes including the Gloucester to Newport line. Under the 1979–90 Conservative governments that succeeded the 1976–79 Labour government the proposal was not implemented.