Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes
Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes 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.
The services are currently operated by Transport for 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 and. Other hubs are, and.
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.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 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.Lines
The colours used below are from the official network map. Stations in bold are major interchanges for the network.| Butetown Branch 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. | Cardiff Central Cardiff Queen St. | Cardiff Central Cardiff Queen St. Cathays Llandaf Radyr Taffs Well Trehafod Porth Dinas Rhondda Tonypandy Llwynypia Ystrad Rhondda Ton Pentre Treorchy Ynyswen Treherbert | 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 |
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
| █ 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 Maesteg | Cardiff Central Pye Corner Rogerstone Risca and Pontymister Crosskeys Newbridge Llanhilleth Ebbw Vale Parkway Ebbw Vale Town |