Andrew Mourant
With new trains, more services and improved connectivity between Cardiff and the Valley lines, there is no lack of ambition for rail travel in South Wales. ANDREW MOURANT reports
“On a map it looks impressive. But there’s scant detail - no timetable, and no money earmarked. Instead, there is talk of a £1 billion “transport vision” designed to cut congestion, and dire warnings that Cardiff will grind to a halt.”
At last… some good news on a major rail project. South Wales Metro, conceived six years ago, looks to have survived unscathed. When RAIL last examined this scheme in 2016, uncertainty was everywhere. No timetable. No knowing who might take over the franchise from Arriva Trains Wales. And above all, confusion about the effect Brexit might have on funding.
The EU had promised to cover a sizeable chunk of the total £ 738 million bill. Without it, then-First Minister for Wales Carwyn Jones warned that Metro could be doomed. But it seems as if the money is secure, along with £132m promised from the UK government.
The former mining towns at the heads of the Welsh valleys are less than 30 miles away from Cardiff, yet retain a sense of distance and isolation. But if the remedy (or part of it) is better rail connections, then these look to be imminent.
Passenger train services should increase from two to four per hour each way, with clapped-out Pacers being replaced - albeit less quickly than expected.
And electrified services will link Cardiff to Treherbert, Aberdare, Merthyr Tydfil, Coryton and Rhymney.
By 2022, services to Merthyr, Aberdare and Treherbert should be worked by a fleet of 36 three-car ‘Metro-style’ Stadler Citylink sets, using both electricity and battery power. These would also be suitable for tram-train operation along a short branch from Cardiff Queen Street to Cardiff Bay, extended on-street to a new station at The Flourish.
Stadler is also to supply ( by 2023) seven three-car and 17 four-car ‘tri-mode’ Flirt UK units that can use diesel, electricity and battery power. These will work routes from Cardiff to Rhymney, Coryton, Penarth, Barry and Vale of Glamorgan. Electrically powered north of Cardiff, they will run on diesel to the south.
A further 11 four-car Flirt DEMUs will be used on services such as on the Cardiff to Ebbw Vale line.
Plus, before these new sets arrive ( by the end of 2019, if all goes to plan), Metro will have received 12 Class 170s from Greater Anglia and five Class 230s from Vivarail. And Mk 3 sets for the locomotive-hauled services will have Mk 4 replacements from LNER. These will serve the valleys ahead of (and alongside) the Stadler trains.
Besides The Flourish, other stations are planned for Cardiff at Loudoun Square, Crwys Road and Gabalfa, while an extended Coryton line is envisaged that would serve the proposed Velindre hospital.
And if all that isn’t enough, in July Cardiff City Council announced an ambitious scheme for a city Crossrail and circle line.
On a map it looks impressive. But as with Metro three years ago, there’s scant detail - no timetable, and no money earmarked. Instead, there is talk by council leader Huw Thomas of a £1 billion “transport vision” designed to cut congestion, and dire warnings that Cardiff will grind to a halt if partner agencies don’t act together.
Thomas argues that the Welsh capital (population around 360,000) has to cope with a transport network designed to cope with 200,000. Moreover, he adds, 80,000 people commute daily by car. Time for a “serious public conversation about how it can be funded”, he says.
One suggestion is using money that had been earmarked for the 14-mile M4 relief road running south of Newport.
Backed by the Welsh Government, business groups and hauliers, this would have run from Junction 23A at Magor to Junction 29 at Castleton, and featured a new bridge over the River Usk. But it was scrapped in June by Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford, after a public inquiry costing £44m.
Opponents ranged from Associated British Ports, which runs Newport Docks, to environmentalists bent on protecting the Gwent Levels - an area of ancient meadows and marshland. The projected cost had lurched upwards from £1.1bn in 2016 to £1.4bn last year. Cardiff Council had little more to add when
RAIL tried to put some ‘flesh on the bones’ of its Crossrail “vision”. However, according to Caro Wild, cabinet member for strategic planning and transport, a White Paper is due to bring forward more plans in the autumn.
Last year, Transport for Wales ( TfW), the arm’s length organisation created by the Welsh Government, began work in earnest on its mission to bring a more coherent approach to rail and road planning.
Chief Executive James Price knows the politics and practicalities inside out. He’s been responsible for the Welsh Government’s infrastructure delivery since 2007, as director for transport and then as director general and deputy permanent secretary.
TfW’s sphere is operations and implementation, rather than policy-making.
“However, we’re advising Welsh Government to enable it to make decisions,” Price tells
What’s missing is a vision for the region. I would like to see developments connected to the transport network. In that regard, probably we’ve all failed a bit. James Price, Chief Executive, Transport for Wales
In the past, the problem hasn’t been the government’s lack of ambition, it’s normally been around implementing projects. James Price, Chief Executive, Transport for Wales
Although Cardiff Crossrail is being driven by the city council, TfW intends working much more closely with local authorities.
How does Price think the money could be raised? In London, where land alongside Crossrail can be worth a fortune, a levy on property development has been exploited. But replicating that across the Welsh capital has severe limitations, although Price doesn’t dismiss it out of hand.
“In some parts of Cardiff (and in future, most parts), the benefits that residents/ developers will get may well persuade them to contribute to some sort of hypothecated fund,” he says.
“But you can only do that on the back of property prices. It’s certainly not the answer to everything. So beyond that, it’s a mixture of public funding if we want to get people out of the car, clean up the environment and have a more connected economy… all are good reasons for putting in public funding.
“We can put fares up… but if you’re trying to get people into work that’s less well-paid than we’d like it to be, that doesn’t seem to be the socially correct thing to do. In fact, for the Heads of the Valleys area, we’re trying to bring (Metro) fares down, and without increasing prices elsewhere.”
Under TfW’s watch, the Wales and Borders rail franchise, which includes Metro, is being run on a 15-year deal (until 2033) as a joint venture by KeolisAmey.
French public transport operator Keolis and UK infrastructure company Amey also jointly operate Manchester’s light rail metro network (Metrolink) and the Docklands Light Railway. Price calls the arrangement with TfW “a cross” between a traditional Department for Transport franchise and a more tightly controlled concession, as used in London and Liverpool.
“In the past, the problem hasn’t been the government’s lack of ambition, it’s normally been around implementing projects,” he says.
“The difference [with TfW in place] is an ability to make more structured decisions… to recruit a team with specialist skills - a rail and engineering background. With civil servants, one day they can be working on education, and the next on Brexit.”
The widely quoted £ 738m for South Wales Metro is at least three years old. Will TfW manage to keep a grip on costs?
“That’s what we intend sticking to, regardless of inflation,” Price insists.
“We’re being very clear with everyone throughout the organisation that £ 738m is the budget. We’re not going to have anyone
lying or manipulating figures, or pretending they can deliver it for that. We have to have complete honesty.”
TfW is pushing against any mindset whereby contractors might see that figure, rub their hands together, and assume it’s only the starting point.
“I’d say it’s still reasonable to assume we can deliver for £ 738m. We had a review recently, did the sums, got in engineers to give it a challenge looking at the amount we’d allocated for risk.”
The budget includes a £160m contribution from the EU’s regional development fund that TfW says is ring-fenced pending delivery of Metro by December 2022.
That money will help fund various projects such as a new depot at Taff’s Well costing almost £100m. This will house 36 Stadler Citylink Metro vehicles operating on the Taff Vale lines, and around 400 train crew, 35