Headquarters Cardiff, United Kingdom | ||
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Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes (Welsh: Llwybrau Lleol y Cymoedd a Chaerdydd) (formerly Valley Lines) is the busy 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.
Contents
The services are currently operated by Arriva Trains Wales. 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 Taff, 15 in Caerphilly, 8 in Bridgend and 5 in Merthyr Tydfil.
Services on these routes are provided by Class 142, 143 and 150 DMUs, and 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.
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. It is thought to start between 2014 and 2019.
Reopening of the Vale of Glamorgan Line
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. Previously services only went as far as Barry.
Lines
The colours used below are from the official network map (see External links). Stations in bold are major interchanges for the network.
Routes
Generally some 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:
Surrounding lines
The following lines also serve Cardiff and the South Wales Valleys but are not considered part of the network by Arriva Trains Wales.