South Wales Metro System - ambitious plans detailed

[editor]

There's some mighty ambitious ideas in here, but still no plans to link up the Coryton line to turn it into an inner city circle line.

Suggested light rail link to the Bay.

The first steps in building a metro system for Cardiff and the rest of South Wales will begin with making £18m worth of improvements to transport links between Cardiff Bay and the city centre.

The Welsh Government confirmed plans for a South Wales Metro system in October promising “potentially transformational” improvements to bus and rail links for the region. It said £62m would be spent on the scheme over the next three years.

Cardiff council said the entire network aims to be built by 2030 at cost of £4bn.

The Metro will aim to improve access to Cardiff from the Merthyr, Rhymney, Gwent, Rhondda and Neath valleys.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/south-wales-metro-system-first-6718872

 

[Tankus]

Those green routes are already bus routes aren't they ?

The Rhoose bus link to Cardiff central is a joke , I've never seen more than 3people on it ,and it costs 0ver £400 k pa to run ...Its got leather seats though ...nice !!!!
The geezers driving the mini bus link between Rhoose and Rhoose international station (lol) get through a lot of newspapers...!

What is needed is a dual carriageway to Culverhouse and a train spur directly into the airport .....If fracking does take off in Dyffryn and Bonvilston , the 50 lorry's per day per well per frack ,are going to be mental....

 

[editor]

Poor old Monmouth. Still one of the very few (only?) county towns without a railway line.

 

[davesgcr]

Very ambitious - still we will have an outing I hope for the 1st few electric trains to the Valleys in , or around 2018. Will buy the first round ...

 

[William of Walworth]

Poor old Monmouth. Still one of the very few (only?) county towns without a railway line.

Dorchester's another one ...

 

[editor]

Dorchester's another one ...

You sure about that?!

Dorchester South railway station is one of two railway stations serving the town of Dorchester in Dorset, England. The station is located on the London Waterloo–Weymouth main line.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorchester_South

 

[William of Walworth]

editor : Not very sure any more no

 

[el-ahrairah]

does it connect to the croydon tramlink?

 

[Tankus]

Tardis in the first class toilet , take a shit and be elsewhere else when at the same time when you hit the flush ...

Never do it in stations.

 

[ddraig]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-26671806
£12 million scheme to improve access at 5 stations in Wales

Stations at Machynlleth in Powys, Chirk near Wrexham, Ystrad Mynach in Caerphilly county, and Llandaff and Radyr in Cardiff will all benefit.

The cash will be used to create step and obstacle-free routes to platforms and station entrances through new footbridges, lifts and ramps.

 

[editor]

Caerphilly certainly needs a few bob spent on it. British Rai/Network Rail/whoeverthefuck has destroyed so many attractive stations in the Valleys and replaced them with hideous bus shelters.

 

[davesgcr]

Caerphilly certainly needs a few bob spent on it. British Rai/Network Rail/whoeverthefuck has destroyed so many attractive stations in the Valleys and replaced them with hideous bus shelters.

No one now could defend the destruction of so many "heritage" buildings in the 1960's and 1970's - but times were dire , and cost cutting unfortunately was endemic. People do not realise how close the Valleys network came to almost total annihilation by the late 1970's - even the "flagship" Treherbet line nearly succumbed to a road scheme north of Pontypridd. Thank goodness John Davies turned up as Regional Manager and started the turn around. In the Railtrack era , the so - called "vandal resistant" shelters were tried out on the Valleys group - with predicatable results. The local "yoof" regarded them as a challenge .......

 

[8ball]

What you need is a monorail.

 

[ddraig]

Pontypridd station improvements
animated video, complete with piano

 

[editor]

Pontypridd station improvements
animated video, complete with piano

That's a mighty swishy animation.
Those trackless platforms bother me though.

Nice user comment:

Is there any contingency for trains to actually stop at the station, or just to sail through leaving a remarkably calm set of people on the platform? And it looked like one of those trains was actually on time, which is a bit far fetched... even for a CGI Pontypridd wonderland.

 

[ddraig]

didn't spot that

 

[davesgcr]

That's a mighty swishy animation.
Those trackless platforms bother me though.

Nice user comment:

The non stop trains are an innovative Quakers Yard to Dingle Road 15 min frequency express service , non stopping Ponty and Cardiff , in line with customer feedback ......

 

[Tankus]

good news for the 5 people that use it

Commencing on 17 August, the shuttle service between Cardiff, Cardiff Bay, and Barry and Cardiff International Airport will run on an amended timetable, with services running every 20 minutes in the summer, and every 30 in the winter.
Cllr Lis Burnett, cabinet member for transportation, said: “Following on from New Adventure Travel’s success with the popular 303/304 service I would like to wish them the best of luck with this new venture. Having the infrastructure in place, such as the express service and the Rhoose Railway station shuttle bus, will encourage more airlines to invest in and help the airport to grow. This can only be a good thing for the Vale of Glamorgan and Wales.”

Behold ....an airport that sits in almost splendid isolation from direct urban transport links

now theres tidy for you

 

[editor]

How the hell did Concorde ever take off from there!

 

[fractionMan]

Cardiff is a bloody nightmare to get to on public transport.

 

[editor]

Cardiff is a bloody nightmare to get to on public transport.

Eh? There's trains galore to Cardiff! Or do you mean the airport?

 

[ddraig]

yup, i've mostly given up on it since they changed the routes

 

[fractionMan]

Eh? There's trains galore to Cardiff! Or do you mean the airport?

Sorry, I meant the airport. It was so bad last time I don't think I'd do it again. Shocking in fact.

 

[Tankus]

2 an hour from Cardiff central to Rhoose village then catch a bus to take you around the other side of the airport where the entrance is .... Forget it after 10pm

 

[2hats]

How the hell did Concorde ever take off from there!

Virtually unladen, much like the current BA fleet that pop in and out of there for maintenance? All the passengers and that crap you take on your hols adds up (eg a 747-4xx on delivery/repositioning, almost empty, from Heathrow can fly non-stop to Sydney).

 

[editor]

They need to get a proper rail service to that airport, innit?

 

[2hats]

They need to get a proper rail service to that airport, innit?

Makes me think of Rome-Ciampino where it never appears to have occurred to anyone to extend the Metro A line just another 5km to the airport (and the local train line stops on the wrong side of the airport).

 

[Tankus]

They need to get a proper rail service to that airport, innit?

and road .......spur to the M4 ..... dual carriageway ...the j33 /A4232 is often a mess at peak .....and with the 10,000 odd new houses going in on 'diffs west side , soon even more so ...

 

[1927]

Virtually unladen, much like the current BA fleet that pop in and out of there for maintenance? All the passengers and that crap you take on your hols adds up (eg a 747-4xx on delivery/repositioning, almost empty, from Heathrow can fly non-stop to Sydney).

You mean virtually unladen apart from a full compliment of crew and passengers!

 

[ddraig]

Queen st station progressing
pic i took from the road yesterday