Cardiff Parkway (Part of Hendre Lakes Development)

[Yindee8191]

They didn't want to do the wires at BTM before the works on the east end, which are happening this summer. Infill down Filton Bank seems most likely next, then on to Thingley

That makes a lot of sense tbf. Although possibly a bit illogical to do Filton Bank before Chippenham-BTM considering electric trains use the latter but not the former (presumably a timetable change would accompany it though).

 

[Envoy]

The IET’s use both routes out of Bristol Temple Meads - or certainly do when Covid does not impact the services.

It does seem logical to use electric stoppers between Cardiff and Temple Meads and that these should carry on to Bath > Chippenham and Swindon though ideally, perhaps they should continue to Oxford - ‘parking permitted'. Perhaps a new station should be built at Corsham which such trains could serve? So, this would make use of the wires that we already have on the reliefs between Cardiff & Severn Tunnel Junction and give faster acceleration than say getting a Cardiff to Taunton HST to make these stops. It also covers this one vast economic region where you might for example get workers going to/from Filton to Cardiff Parkway in one direction and Bath in the other.

I note that the Burns report (for the Welsh Government) suggests several new stations between Cardiff and STJ and that the fasts should become the ‘slow’ lines. I am not sure of the logic of that being as freight needs to serve south side steel complexes at Cardiff, Wentloog Freightliner depot, tracks to Newport Docks as well as the steel mill at Llanwern. So, why would you want all these freight trains to cross over to the north side? Click the PDF’s in this link for details:>

South East Wales Transport Commission: final recommendations | GOV.WALES

Final report on new sustainable transport options for south East Wales.

gov.wales

 

[Parallel]

I can’t see GWR wanting to stop their Portsmouth trains here considering they won’t even stop them at Keynsham which is really in need of a half hourly service (pre pandemic at least). There again, Cardiff Parkway may be easier as trains could just arrive/leave Cardiff Central two minutes earlier/later.

I think the most likely trains to call would be:
1tph to Cheltenham Spa
1tph to Ebbw Vale
1tph to Taunton
1tph to Nottingham
1tph to Paddington? (Possibly in the peaks)

Pre-lockdown the Manchester - South Wales trains were busy so it’s probably not great to encourage more short distance travel on those.

It’s a difficult one because you want to entice passengers by offering a good service level but at the same time, you don’t want to needlessly stop loads of trains there if the station will be deserted like Edinburgh Gateway or East Mids Parkway. Would likely be very busy when there’s a sporting event on but most trains come from further afield and there probably wouldn’t be room to board, unless TfW ran a shuttle!

 

[Envoy]

I can’t see GWR wanting to stop their Portsmouth trains here considering they won’t even stop them at Keynsham which is really in need of a half hourly service (pre pandemic at least). There again, Cardiff Parkway may be easier as trains could just arrive/leave Cardiff Central two minutes earlier/later.

I think the most likely trains to call would be:
1tph to Cheltenham Spa
1tph to Ebbw Vale
1tph to Taunton
1tph to Nottingham
1tph to Paddington? (Possibly in the peaks)

Pre-lockdown the Manchester - South Wales trains were busy so it’s probably not great to encourage more short distance travel on those.

It’s a difficult one because you want to entice passengers by offering a good service level but at the same time, you don’t want to needlessly stop loads of trains there if the station will be deserted like Edinburgh Gateway or East Mids Parkway. Would likely be very busy when there’s a sporting event on but most trains come from further afield and there probably wouldn’t be room to board, unless TfW ran a shuttle!

The Manchester to south-west Wales trains will become 5 car in about 2 years (as far as Swansea where they will split). Ideally, a local shuttle should run at least as far north as Abergavenny to serve a new station at Caerleon and enable the long distance trains to be limited stop.

 

[Brissle Girl]

Would likely be very busy when there’s a sporting event on but most trains come from further afield and there probably wouldn’t be room to board, unless TfW ran a shuttle!

Remembering back to the olden days when there used to be sporting events at the Principality Stadium that attracted large crowds, I recall that TfW (or at least its predecessor) did run shuttles to Newport. This was to ensure that trains going further afield weren't full with short distance passengers who then emptied out at Newport leaving longer distance passengers having to wait longer at Cardiff.

A very effective way to manage the load after a match, made easier by the queuing system at Central having a specific line for Newport.

Ah, those were the days...

 

[tiptoptaff]

Remembering back to the olden days when there used to be sporting events at the Principality Stadium that attracted large crowds, I recall that TfW (or at least its predecessor) did run shuttles to Newport. This was to ensure that trains going further afield weren't full with short distance passengers who then emptied out at Newport leaving longer distance passengers having to wait longer at Cardiff.

A very effective way to manage the load after a match, made easier by the queuing system at Central having a specific line for Newport.

Ah, those were the days...

Usually a 6car pacer off Platform 0!

 

[Envoy]

GWR plan to use Class 387 EMU’s as crowd busters - as long as events are on weekends when fewer are needed for commuters in the Thames valley.

Hopefully, in the future, more 387’s will be ordered in order to provide electric commuter services between Cardiff > Bristol Temple Meads > Keynsham > Bath > Corsham > Chippenham > Swindon and perhaps Oxford. (Hopefully, they will be ordered with better seats than the ironing boards that they have at present. Yes - these are even worse than seats than those on the IET’s). By doing this, it would help make/keep the longer distance trains limited stop expresses so everyone is a winner.

 

[Brissle Girl]

GWR plan to use Class 387 EMU’s as crowd busters - as long as events are on weekends when fewer are needed for commuters in the Thames valley.

Hopefully, in the future, more 387’s will be ordered in order to provide electric commuter services between Cardiff > Bristol Temple Meads > Keynsham > Bath > Corsham > Chippenham > Swindon and perhaps Oxford. (Hopefully, they will be ordered with better seats than the ironing boards that they have at present. Yes - these are even worse than seats than those on the IET’s). By doing this, it would help make/keep the longer distance trains limited stop expresses so everyone is a winner.

387s are no longer produced, so unlikely.

Even a few 769s would do the job, and without needing the infill of wires, which so far there's absolutely no hint from the government that it's considering.

I suspect though this sort of service enhancement will need to await clear evidence that demand (particularly white collar commuter traffic) has reverted to pre-2020 levels before it will be considered given the pressures on the railway's finances.

 

[Mrs. Fortescue]

I suggest that when on the Council Planning site, that you click NON TECHNICAL SUMMARY. On P9 of this summary is a plan which shows ‘Potential Emergency Access’ coming in from the east. I would suggest that this is opened up to form a direct link with Marshfield - even though the local Parish Council don’t want this as they fear it will attract more traffic through their village. Surely, it is not in the best interests of the railways to have another station built at Marshfield which is only a short distance to the east?

Or, you could just let people write whatever their view is, which is what the meaning of this is?

Just because this is your view, doesn't mean everyone has to agree and copy and paste your opinion.

 

[Envoy]

Or, you could just let people write whatever their view is, which is what the meaning of this is?

Just because this is your view, doesn't mean everyone has to agree and copy and paste your opinion.

I am not suggesting that everyone should agree with my opinion. A forum like this is where people raise issues and in this case I was bringing to notice that a Parkway station was planned at Cardiff East. I suggested that on the Cardiff Planning portal that a quick and easy way to get an overview of the project was to click on the Non Technical Summary. I merely commented about access from nearby Marshfield - just I would like anyone else to comment on anything to do with this project as they see fit.

 

[Mrs. Fortescue]

Apologies - I mis-read your post. I thought you were asking others to submit your views as theirs to a portal.

Sorry!

 

[Envoy]

Apologies - I mis-read your post. I thought you were asking others to submit your views as theirs to a portal.

Sorry!

Apology accepted.

 

[rf_ioliver]

I have received a Labour Party news letter through my letter box from Mark Drakeford. It suggests that a new Metro line could be built from Llantrisant via Cregiau & the new Plasdwr development to join the City line in Fairwater and then proceed to Central, the Bay before continuing via Splott to eventually reach the proposed Cardiff Parkway station. I am not sure how they propose to get the new tram-trains from the Bay to Cardiff Parkway but if they were to terminate, then surely this station would need a bay platform on the south side? (This has already been mentioned in the South Wales Metro thread but I thought it should be mentioned here as well given this is of relevance to this proposed station).

Via Rhiwsaeson?

I've been waiting for the reinstatement of services between Beddau and Llantrisant since the 80s

 

[Tomos y Tanc]

Via Rhiwsaeson?

I've been waiting for the reinstatement of services between Beddau and Llantrisant since the 80s

There are two different proposals, as I understand it, to link the Llantrisant area to Cardiff.

One is the "Cardiff Crossrail" proposal supported by Cardiff Capital Region and TFW. This involves linking the Cardff docks goods line and the Cardiff Bay line with on street running to Cardiff Central then via the City Line and the closed Taff Vale Llantrisant junction line from Fairwater to Llantwit Faerdre via Creigiau and hence Llantisant.

The other is to use the redundant goods line to Beddau branching off the South Wales mainline that used to service Cwm Coed Ely colliery and coke works.

Both are feasible but the first is probably the better of the two since it would serve the new Plasdwr suburb. It would involve the demolition of a couple of houses, but there's no other trackbed restriction

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

I think it is unlikely the GWR Paddington-Cardiff services will call at Parkway - the turnarounds at Cardiff Central, which include kicking-out time on the down side and a reversal in the Brickyard on the Up side at Cardiff West, are already quite tight, less than 25 minutes in some cases. Given that 15 minutes must be allowed in the turnback, there is nothing to give. Similarly the position in the standard hour of the Up train in particular, either in front of the Cardiff-Nottingham or between it and the Cardiff-Manchester - does not lend itself to insertion of a further 1.5 minute passenger stop at Cardiff Parkway.

 

[Envoy]

Many thanks for your further contributions. I don’t know if anything will come of Grand Union’s proposal to run a service from Llanelli to London that would call at Cardiff East Parkway. If it did operate, I would favour such a service being routed via the Swansea District Line (with speed improvement) and a new Parkway station inserted at Morriston - with bus link to the nearby hospital. http://www.granduniontrains.co.uk/llanelli-to-london/

It is proposed to increase the frequency of this route to an hourly service in 2023, when the route would also expand from Cardiff Central to operate fast to Swansea and Llanelli, with no intermediate calls, with a target journey time to Swansea of 2 hours 30 mins to/from London Paddington. These services would be operated by a new fleet of Hitachi Class 802 bi-mode trains.

 

[Yindee8191]

Many thanks for your further contributions. I don’t know if anything will come of Grand Union’s proposal to run a service from Llanelli to London that would call at Cardiff East Parkway. If it did operate, I would favour such a service being routed via the Swansea District Line (with speed improvement) and a new Parkway station inserted at Morriston - with bus link to the nearby hospital. http://www.granduniontrains.co.uk/llanelli-to-london/

I very much doubt that’ll go ahead - it’s just a blatant revenue abstraction frankly. Not to mention that (if/when the Bristol superfasts are reinstated) it’ll be quicker to get a GWR train changing at Bristol Parkway than to get that train anyway.

 

[Envoy]

I very much doubt that’ll go ahead - it’s just a blatant revenue abstraction frankly. Not to mention that (if/when the Bristol superfasts are reinstated) it’ll be quicker to get a GWR train changing at Bristol Parkway than to get that train anyway.

So why is it OK for First to get the go ahead to offer cheaper services on the Edinburgh to Kings’ Cross route in competition with LNER? I also note that Hull Trains and Grand Central also offer services on parts of this route in competition with LNER. That said, I think it is regrettable that one of the cheaper operators does not offer services on the Edinburgh > Carlisle > Preston > Warrington > Crewe > Shrewsbury > Hereford > south Wales route which has no direct trains & non split tickets have sky high prices thanks to Cross Country setting the through fares - even though you don’t travel on their trains - unless you go the long way via Newcastle with a change in the Midlands.

 

[anthony263]

I think the Cardiff crossrail proposal is better as re opening the old route via pontyclun would mean Beddau getting out 2tph and would take up paths on the mainline

 

[Yindee8191]

So why is it OK for First to get the go ahead to offer cheaper services on the Edinburgh to Kings’ Cross route in competition with LNER? I also note that Hull Trains and Grand Central also offer services on parts of this route in competition with LNER. That said, I think it is regrettable that one of the cheaper operators does not offer services on the Edinburgh > Carlisle > Preston > Warrington > Crewe > Shrewsbury > Hereford > south Wales route which has no direct trains & non split tickets have sky high prices thanks to Cross Country setting the through fares - even though you don’t travel on their trains - unless you go the long way via Newcastle with a change in the Midlands.

The East Coast trains thing is also pretty much 100% revenue abstraction and it definitely shouldn’t have been allowed to go ahead (especially with little electricity on the north ECML). GC and HT both do provide a good service to cities cut off by LNER/VTEC so I can excuse them.