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I just want an increased frequency for the stations on the South Wales mainline between Cardiff and Bridgend and onwards to Maesteg. One train an hour isn't enough. It should be a minimum of two and hour but ideally more.

In my opinion, one of the worst decisions made during the South Wales Metro changes since initially announced was the removal of Blackwood from the network. Now Blackwood is left with no easy access to the trains and a single bus every hour into Cardiff. It used to be two buses per hour (reduced due to Stagecoach and not TfW) plus one RailLinc service per hour to Ystrad Mynach Train Station. The original Metro plans were to keep the RailLinc service and to add another shuttle service between Blackwood and Pontypridd, but both of those have now been scrapped.

As a whole id say its quite decent. At least an improvement from before. Would be nice to see the Vale line electrified and the new stations built but id say right now its good.

This is the clearest description of the project I've seen. It is truly transformational.  Not even in the heyday of the GWR did the Valleys have 3 or 4 trains per hour to/from Cardiff. The use ofbi & tri modal trains is very innovative.

Great video very informative, thanks for your time and hard work.

Further to the west, we have the southern end of the woefully under-timetabled and thus under-used Heart of Wales line. I'm pretty confident that a few more trains a day would encourage more people to consider it as a transport option. Certainly a shuttle service up as far as Llandeilo and possibly even Llandovery would be popular. If there was a frequent service on that stretch with the full length of the line still provided for to a lesser extent, the line might be more relevant to more of us. A round Swansea-Llanelli-Pontarddulais and then back to Swansea on the northern goods loop via Pontlliw and Morriston  service might also make a difference. Whenever a passenger service is reintroduced on goods lines or rebuilt routes, demand always seems to exceed expectations.

Ebbw vale trains will run to Maesteg from December and Coryton branch is wored. 756007 has been testing on the line today

Magnificent catches of showing the new trains, see the interior and many more.
I like it 5 stars.
Thumbs up.
Keep up the perfect work, my friend, I just liked and subscribed your channel, Greetings from Portugal to the UK.

So good to see so much investment in the valleys rail network remember back in the 70s my late dad was a guard on the old 116 units the service was on its knees and came very close to closing remember the 150s brand new to canton depot they have given awesome service on the valleys

another great update my man! I'm not even a train enthusiast but enjoy knowing what's going on

Brilliantly well put together, informative video. I learned a lot about a subject I thought I already knew a lot about!

Really informative video Chris - thanks for this!

Nice informative video, cannot wait to see the upgrades complete on the Valley Lines.

Those trains are pretty

Nice to see some of the electrification coming along very nicely. And with the Class 398 Tram-train to enter service from the end of this year or next year.

Nice project. Shame they didn't trial the Class 769's in electric mode as they perform better but Northern's units seem to be doing fine and Scotrail are now using the ex-GWR ones.

I only wish they wouldn't tell the Press electrification is complete between Cardiff and Pontypridd when it obviously isn't and calling it 'tram-train' when it obviously isn't.

Any news on the proposed extension of the Aberdare line to Hirwaun?

This looks very positive for the valleys. Having had to use the great eastern main line recently, I am quite impressed with the “flirt” trains. I assume those tram trains won’t have toilets though - so much for accessibility! Merthyr to Cardiff currently takes about an hour :/