Brand new rail services are set to be launched on one of South Wales key lines, almost doubling the number of travel options.
(Permalink) Aberbeeg Crosskeys Doubling Ebbw Vale Llanhilleth Newbridge Newport

Network Rail and Transport for Wales are urging passengers to plan ahead during a 19-day temporary closure of the line in May and June.
(Permalink) Ebbw Vale

Network Rail has this morning reopened the Ebbw Vale line again to passenger trains after a nine-day closure.
(Permalink) Ebbw Vale Llanhilleth

Passengers along the Ebbw Vale line will benefit from more rail services in the future as Network Rail starts work to transform the line between Newport and Ebbw Vale.
(Permalink) Ebbw Vale Newport

For more that 200 years the town of Ebbw Vale, situated in an isolated valley in south Wales, owed its existence to the heavy industries of coal and iron that emerged there in the late 18th Century. But by the late 1990s a collapse of the international steel market led to eventual closure in 2002.
Photographer Joseph Murphy was on hand to document the last men to work at the plant, and to mark the 15th anniversary of its closure has spent the past year asking them to recall their time at the steelworks.
(Permalink) Ebbw Vale

About £600m is to be spent on a new metro for south east Wales within five years, BBC Wales understands.
It is likely to be a mix of light rail, trams, improved trains and faster buses by 2020 in Cardiff and the valleys.
It is in addition to planned rail electrification and will run as a 'not-for-dividend' part of the next all-Wales rail franchise from 2018.
The economy minister will task rail and business experts to finalise plans before work starts in 2017.
Edwina Hart envisages a partnership with private developers but operating for the minimum profit, with money being reinvested in the network, BBC Wales understands.
The Welsh government has already committed £77m to a first phase, which includes a new station for Ebbw Vale.
(Permalink) Ebbw Vale

The first train is pulling into the newly reopened Ebbw Vale town train station on Sunday.
The station, which will serve the town centre, is part of an £11.5m project funded by the Welsh government.
Delivered by Network Rail, it features a new station building, 150m platform to fit up to six carriages, a car park, a waiting shelter and bicycle storage.
The 07:38 BST Cardiff Central to Ebbw Vale Town was the first train to arrive at 08:41 BST. [From John Thorn]
(Permalink) Ebbw Vale Network Rail

It is all aboard this weekend as the first train pulls into a new £3.5m rail station at Pye Corner in Newport.
Joint funded by the UK and Welsh governments, the station is located on the Ebbw Vale to Cardiff line in the Bassaleg area of Newport.
(Permalink) Ebbw Vale

The first passenger train service between the Ebbw valley and Cardiff for 46 years has started, after a two-month delay because of engineering issues.
(Permalink) Ebbw Vale

The Scottish Regions' Annual Rail Event

"Rail Developments in Wales and Scotland" by John Davies

Tuesday 21 November 2006, 1730 for 1800

8th Board Room, Atkins, 200 Broomielaw, Glasgow, G1 4RU.



John Davies was formerly BR Manager for Wales, and his subsequent experience as a consultant makes him uniquely placed to compare developments post-devolution in Wales and Scotland.



Lacking the rail powers now enjoyed by the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly has nevertheless been able to take advantage of the emergence of a Wales and Borders passenger franchise to deliver improvements including a national concessionary fares scheme, reopening of the Barry-Bridgend freight line and now the proposed reopening of the mothballed route to Ebbw Vale.



Wales and Scotland share issues of peripherality, inadequate infrastructure and opportunities for greater rail-bus integration, but in both countries there is greater optimism about rail development than in their common neighbour.



Note: No Booking is required for this event.
(Permalink) Ebbw Vale