Surely the solution to this would be to add a junction at Callaghan square so that the street-running section can run towards Queen Street and Cardiff Bay, which would also allow an increased capacity at Central as it means there are two routes for Valley lines services to run along (the existing flyover from Queen Street and the on-street tracks)
That would be really difficult (probably putting a ramp in the middle of Callaghan Square to an elevated junction) and wouldn't really help. Trains via the Bay would still have to reverse, and if they avoided the Bay it would be better to stay on the existing tracks than to negotiate a flat junction and a street section.
I agree something like this should have been done
Yes. If there is capacity at Queen Street then surely the through platforms at Central can cope anyway. The Junction to the West of Central near Canton and the Junction to the North of Queen Street must be the limit. But by sending some trains (tram-trains) down to the Bay the junction to the South of Queen Street becomes a pinch point as well.
Unless you detest and loathe Platform 8 like I do
Yes, which is why the current (funded) plans involve an upgrade to Cardiff West Junction so that it can handle more train movements.
That makes sense. I suppose it is why some of the TAM line services will go through Central and along the City line (through Ninian Park staton) back to Radyr. So that makes the Cardiff West junction becomes the limit.
I never get the numbers right, but it is 6, 7 and 8?Unless you detest and loathe Platform 8 like I do
”Central” and “South” rather contradict each other
Platforms A and B would make sense.
I think you misunderstand - all of the TAM services using platforms 4-8 use tram-trains. Are you suggesting they go somewhere else??
I actually think that the whole area south of the station including Callaghan Square should be renamed South Central.”Central” and “South” rather contradict each other
I would imagine 9 and 10, though there might be a reference to Cardiff Central “Low Level”
They would still have to use Queen Street (and the junctions either end of it) which are the real bottlnecks. It would also be a single lead back onto the main line at Central.
Need Newport road bridge north of queen street widened
Yes, that's always seemed the key bottleneck to me. It could be combined with either operational changes or grade seperation to remove conflicts between the two routes from the valleys and the bay vs Cardiff Central route south of Queen Street.
Could achieve that by four tracking the Queen Street section and having TAM lines + Cogan heading for Central and the other branch heading for the Bay. But instead Tram trains from TAM are going to the bay. With my Crayons I would put in flyovers North of Queen Street to combine but then segregate the bay and a fly over West of Central. Now we need a flyover to get the tram trains from Callaghan Square into the Cardiff West mix as well.
That is very true. I think Queen Street itself will become far more flexible/versatile once the work there is complete.
I think this has been answered elsewhere before so apologies, but are those works required for any of the 4tph services, or just the full load across the three valleys lines (12tph from the Pontypridd direction)?
They're needed to increase the service to much beyond its present pattern - at the moment each of the TAM lines has 2tph to Central, and there's also the 2tph Pontypridd-Cardiff Bay service. I believe that the Pontypridd service will eventually be extended to Treherbert once they have enough 398s in service. But to get the extra 2tph to Merthyr and Aberdare it's necessary to send those trains to Cardiff Bay, and at the moment there's not enough capacity through Queen St to do that.
Apologies if this has already been answered but is queen st getting OLE as part of these updates? Ive noticed the gantries being installed north and south of the station, along with the new signals for when the southern loop to platform 4/5 is extended.
I was told by an engineer who worked on the HV side of CVL that, apparently, another reason for them not connecting (electrically) to GWEP's stuff was something to do with the fault current. According to them (and I have no idea if he was telling the truth, wrong, or possibly pulling my leg), GWEP is massively overbuilt and uses a higher fault current rating or something, so having that disconnect allows them to avoid having to build to that level of fault current.
They've changed their minds again. Read that the plan now is all the Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare services will do as they do now and loop round the city either via Cathays or city line so both routes get 4tph to Cardiff Central. Meanwhile Treherbert gets 4tph to Cardiff Bay
Running the Merthyr-Aberdare loop service at 4tph in each direction isn't presently feasible as the City Line can't cope with more than 2tph in each direction - it'll have to wait for the Cardiff West Junction upgrade. It would be possible to use the 2tph slots that are currently used to terminate Treherbert trains at Central to terminate Merthyr or Aberdare trains and send them back via Cathays, but I suspect the good people of the Rhondda (not to mention their MP, who is a cabinet minister) would object to losing their service to Central.
However, this article is based on a Strategic Outline Case document for Cardiff Crossrail Phase 2, which was completed in February 2025 and is likely to be based on TfW's thinking during the autumn of 2024. Quite a lot has happened since then, so whether this plan is still live is questionable in my view.
Regardless of anything else I cant imagine Treherbert losing all direct Cardiff Central services is feasible anyway. As you alude to in your reply to the other bit. Just politically would not work if nothing else!