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It is shown with 4tph Mon-Sat (2tph to Cardiff Bay, 2tph terminating at Central) and journey times are unchanged. The spacing is pretty good, with trains at alternating 14 and 16 minute intervals. Trains to the Bay take 1 hour (vs 1hr 6 mins to Central). Sunday remains as 2tph to Central.
It is shown with 4tph Mon-Sat (2tph to Cardiff Bay, 2tph terminating at Central) and journey times are unchanged. The spacing is pretty good, with trains at alternating 14 and 16 minute intervals. Trains to the Bay take 1 hour (vs 1hr 6 mins to Central). Sunday remains as 2tph to Central.
A brief piece in Modern Railways' September issue drew my attention to the release of the April TfW board minutes which mention that part of the delay to 398 introduction was caused by electrification concerns around the Intersection Bridge just south of Queen St. Quoting the minutes:
A new issue arose with Intersection bridge between Cardiff Central and Queen Street. As a contingency, testing
confirms that operations can proceed temporarily without powered OLE on the Bay Line by extending Class 398
battery usage.
Class 398 entry into service has progressed significantly. The Board were reminded that Class 398 introduction
enables fleet cascade, with the Class 756s moving to the Rhymney line.
Modern Railways asked what the issue was, and it turned out to be precautionary checks to ensure that the CVL electrification was sufficiently isolated from the main line electrification below. This led to a delay in the Bay wires being used for 398 testing, as various people noticed.
A brief piece in Modern Railways' September issue drew my attention to the release of the April TfW board minutes which mention that part of the delay to 398 introduction was caused by electrification concerns around the Intersection Bridge just south of Queen St. Quoting the minutes:
Modern Railways asked what the issue was, and it turned out to be precautionary checks to ensure that the CVL electrification was sufficiently isolated from the main line electrification below. This led to a delay in the Bay wires being used for 398 testing, as various people noticed.
My understanding was that this was supposedly the reason for the delay in energising the OHL on the Cardiff Bay line rather than introducing 398s. Having said which that didn't entirely make sense as there's a HV cable rather than overhead on the Bay line at the Intersection Bridge and indeed all the way from Butetown stop northwards of course.
Here’s the technical explanation from Modern Railways, quoting an unnamed TfW spokesperson:
"The bridges are bonded to the main line OLE system and it was therefore necessary to separate them from the CVL electrification system from an earthing point of view, to avoid a fault on either system affecting the other.
'This has been achieved by creating a 'floating section' in the CIB [Cardiff Intersection Bridge] area for the CVL OLE system, which utilises HV cable through the area to provide the earth path for the system. This enables both OLE systems to operate independently of each other.”
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
We finally have some news on Butetown station: a consultation document has been published which explains that Butetown's Down platform 2 (Lloyd George Avenue side) is planned to open on December 13th 2026. The preamble to the document notes that the deadline for completion of certain European-funded elements of the Metro is 27th February 2027.
This Entry into Service event will bring the newly constructed Down Platform 2 at Butetown Station into operational use.
The new platform has an overall constructed length of approximately 125 metres and an
operational stopping length of approximately 123 metres, this EIS will bring into use a
reduced operational use of 80mtrs, for the 3 car CityLink 398s limited services that
will run from December 2026.
Note: The final state operational length will be brought into use during the main CAR
commissioning April 2027.
It's not clear to me if "398s limited services" means that the services will only be operated by 398s, or if only certain trains will stop at Butetown (i.e. providing a "parliamentary" service so that they can say that the station was opened on time). I hope it means the former.
The down platform has a fixed distant signal signboard on it at the moment, which I presume is the reason why the full platform length won't be used initially - this will be removed when the line is converted to tramway rules during a future resignalling in April 2027 (that's what "main CAR commissioning" means).
There is a big shutdown on the Bay line programmed for the week of 24th-30th October, which is shown in the project plan as for installing the second track.
Well what a shower today was! After yesterdays broken down train, a defective rail between Abercynon and Merthyr meant every other train was stopping at quakers Yard. I was on one of them, and saw TFW put on Teulu buses for xx:45 the hour from Abercynon and xx:15 the hour from Merthyr. However, the driver would not leave until 6pm which was insane it was for the interim service. I should complain to TFW as they are (we are) paying for this but will not get a reply so pointless. I have been getting home over half an hour late (not through any fault of my own) and no fun when you get up at 4am for a long walk before the first train in the morning!
Butetown Station will officially open on 13 December - but with very limited service (1 train per week?). Can not open for full service until the Queen Street modifications have been completed - but had to open in 2026 or else EU funding had to be returned.
Operating one service per week from Butetown (if that is indeed what is planned) might meet the letter of TfW's funding arrangement with the EU, but not the spirit.
You really have to wonder what is going on at TfW. Everything they touch turns to dust ('dust' is not the word I was originally going to use) at the moment, and it's difficult to get a straight - or even honest - answer out of them. No doubt they will trumpet the so-called opening of Butetown station as a great success, and probably not even acknowledge the less-than-ideal service frequency.
The entire Metro project is a very long way from what TfW has repeatedly promised us.
Operating one service per week from Butetown (if that is indeed what is planned) might meet the letter of TfW's funding arrangement with the EU, but not the spirit.
You really have to wonder what is going on at TfW. Everything they touch turns to dust ('dust' is not the word I was originally going to use) at the moment, and it's difficult to get a straight - or even honest - answer out of them. No doubt they will trumpet the so-called opening of Butetown station as a great success, and probably not even acknowledge the less-than-ideal service frequency.
The entire Metro project is a very long way from what TfW has repeatedly promised us.
It seems like what's happening down in the bay is slowing down progress in other areas of Cardiff too, like the opening of crwys road station for example, which I'm guessing isn't constrained by the same funding deadlines. If I were TFW I would've focused on that sooner as that would serve way more people than a station 200m up the line from an existing one
It seems like what's happening down in the bay is slowing down progress in other areas of Cardiff too, like the opening of crwys road station for example, which I'm guessing isn't constrained by the same funding deadlines. If I were TFW I would've focused on that sooner as that would serve way more people than a station 200m up the line from an existing one
I think Crwys Rd would be busier than Butetown is expected to be initially, but maybe the construction is inextricably linked to the whole Bay line project. I think it'll become more relevant once Crossrail has been developed further, and once the 398s are going to all of the TAM lines (fingers crossed). Construction is supposed to begin at Crwys Rd once Butetown is finished next year.
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