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IT’S the biggest contract ever awarded in Wales.

KeolisAmey will run the next Wales & Borders rail franchise and design and build the next phase of the South Wales Metro.

And after the initial flurry of announcements in the wake of the contract announcement, information about the the firm’s plans are still continuing to emerge – including details of its proposed new city stations.

KeolisAmey, a joint venture between French transport giant Keolis and Spanish infrastructure asset management firm Amey, will take on the new 15-year franchise, currently held by German-owned Arriva Trains Wales, on October 14.

However, work on electrification of the core Valley Lines, which is now being referred to as Central Metro – covering the Rhymney, Aberdare, Merthyr, Treherbert and Coryton lines – is not expected to start until late 2019 at the earliest with completion by 2023.

With the cost of new rolling stock, rail operating subsidies and rail investments, the franchise has a value of around £5bn.

KeolisAmey has committed £194m to improving existing stations across the franchise.

And within that it has also committed to delivering five new stations, all on the Central Metro network, at a cost of around £30m.

Transport for Wales said it was too early to estimate when each of the new stations would be completed, but that they all fall within a 2022 to 2027 window.

Each station project will have to secure the relevant planning consents.

Four of the stations will be in Cardiff at Crwys Road, Gabalfa, Loudoun Square and The Flourish (opposite the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay).

Out of Cardiff, the existing station at the Treforest Industrial Estate will be moved further south to be closer to the Coleg y Cymoedd campus and new HQ for the Department for Work and Pensions in South Wales which is scheduled to open in 2021 at Nantgarw.

The new station will see a bridge built over the River Taff.

The proposed station at Crwys Road will be a new stop on the Rhymney Line, where new “trimode” trains will be used.

In a highly populated area, close to the university, it could prove to be one of the busiest stations outside of Queen Street and Cardiff Central on Central Metro.

The trimodes trains, which will be built by Swiss train maker Stadler, will be able to switch between battery, diesel and electric modes.

They will operate in battery and electric modes on the Rhymney and Coryton Lines and switch to diesel mode for the Vale of Glamorgan Line.

At present the Coryton line will continue to have just two services an hour after electrification.

The other four stations will be used by new tram-trains.

The Flourish, opposite the Wales Mil-