Taff Bargoed Line.

[S-Bahn]

Evening all,

At the moment, this section of track is freight only for the coal from Ffors-y-fran open cast colliery for Aberthaw and Port Talbot.

However it runs through Bedlinog, Trelewis and Nelson, and joins the Rhymney valley line at Ystrad Mynach.

With the closing of Aberthaw power station, and the closure of the mine in the future, could this line be brought back into service as part of the South Wales Metro, to service the aforementioned towns and maybe Merthyr/Dowlais/Heads of the Valleys Road etc with a parkway station near the A4060?

 

[JonathanH]

Evening all,

At the moment, this section of track is freight only for the coal from Ffors-y-fran open cast colliery for Aberthaw and Port Talbot.

However it runs through Bedlinog, Trelewis and Nelson, and joins the Rhymney valley line at Ystrad Mynach.

With the closing of Aberthaw power station, and the closure of the mine in the future, could this line be brought back into service as part of the South Wales Metro, to service the aforementioned towns and maybe Merthyr/Dowlais/Heads of the Valleys Road etc with a parkway station near the A4060?

Isn't this line part of the sale of infrastructure from Network Rail to Transport for Wales in connection with the South Wales Metro scheme already?

 

[MarkyT]

Isn't this line part of the sale of infrastructure from Network Rail to Transport for Wales in connection with the South Wales Metro scheme already?

It must be as it branches from the Rhymney line. There certainly could be a passenger service of some sort, but the valley beyond Nelson and Trelewis is very sparsely populated indeed. One idea that surfaces occasionally is an orbital link between Nelson and Abercynon that could use part of the line and might then carry on to Pontipridd etc to the west and via new infrastructure towards Newbridge and beyond in the east.