Ebbw Vale Railway Line

This Statement is to set out the timetable for this project.

The Ebbw Vale Passenger Line project will be completed in the summer of 2007. The Project will deliver the outputs specified at the time of commission, namely:

An hourly frequency train service between Ebbw Vale Parkway and Cardiff.
6 new stations at Ebbw Vale Parkway, Llanhilleth, Newbridge, Cross Keys,  Risca and Rogerstone.

The cost of the scheme is £28.6 million (representing an investment of £21.1 million from the Assembly Government and £7.5million from Corus Regeneration & Objective 1 funds).

In addition, the Assembly Government is funding the ongoing cost of train crew and rolling stock to operate the hourly train service to and from Cardiff. Arriva Trains Wales will operate the service.

The provision of a train service to Newport is not a specified output of the current project due for completion in summer 2007.

There is currently insufficient capacity on Network Rail’s infrastructure to provide a passenger train service to Newport – this is due to the design of the connection between the Ebbw Vale Line and the South Wales Main Line at Gaer Junction, situated on the western side of Newport Railway Tunnel.

The earliest opportunity to remove this capacity constraint will be in 2009, when Network Rail completes the re-signalling of the Main Line at Newport. Network Rail will need to install new crossover points in order to remove the capacity constraint. Network Rail will require external funding for the new crossover points, as it is regarded as an enhancement rather than a steady state renewal.

With this in mind, the Assembly Government has asked Network Rail to provide detailed costs of the work required, although there is no present commitment from the Assembly Government to fund the enhancement work.

In the meantime the Assembly Government has committed funding for a rail-link bus service between Rogerstone Station and Newport Station & Shopping Centre when the Ebbw Vale-Cardiff service starts in 2007.