Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes

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, 15 in Caerphilly, 8 in Bridgend and 5 in Merthyr Tydfil.^[2]

Services on these routes are provided by Class 150 DMUs and Class 231 Diesel–electric 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]

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]

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]

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

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] 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

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).^{[citation needed]}

• South East Wales Metro
• Rail transport in Cardiff
• List of Valley Lines stations
• List of railway stations in Wales

• Route map – Transport for Wales
• Arriva Trains Wales
• Descriptions of the Valley Lines – Deryck Lewis, archived in 2005