Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes is the network of passenger suburban railway services radiating from Cardiff, Wales. It includes lines within the city itself, the Vale of Glamorgan and the South Wales Valleys.
Wales & West was a train operating company in the United Kingdom that operated the South Wales & West franchise from 1996 until 2001.
Wales and Borders was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated the Wales & Borders franchise from October 2001 until December 2003.
West Anglia Great Northern, commonly shortened to WAGN, was a train operating company in England. It operated the West Anglia Great Northern franchise between January 1997 and March 2004, as well as the Great Northern franchise between April 2004 and March 2006. It was initially owned by Prism Rail, and was subsequently acquired by the British transport conglomerate National Express.
Arriva Trains Wales was a British train operating company owned by Arriva UK Trains that operated the Wales & Borders franchise. It ran urban and inter-urban passenger services to all railway stations in Wales, including Cardiff Central, Cardiff Queen Street, Newport, Swansea, Wrexham General and Holyhead, as well as to certain stations in England such as Hereford, Shrewsbury, Chester, Crewe, Manchester Piccadilly and Birmingham New Street.
Great Western Railway (GWR) is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the Greater Western passenger railway franchise. It manages 197 stations and its trains call at over 270. GWR operates long-distance inter-city services along the Great Western Main Line to and from the West of England and South Wales, inter-city services from London to the West Country via the Reading–Taunton line, and the Night Riviera sleeper service between London and Penzance. It also provides commuter and outer-suburban services from its London terminus at Paddington to West London, the Thames Valley region including parts of Berkshire, parts of Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire; and regional services throughout the West of England and South Wales to the South coast of England. Great Western Railway also provides and maintains the Electrostar Class 387 fleet for Heathrow Express.
Rail transport in Wales began in the early 19th century initially used for industrial purposes and shortly began to be used for commercial purposes. The Beeching cuts had a significant impact on rail transport in Wales, closing a large number of railway stations. Since then some stations have reopened in Wales and following Welsh devolution, the Wales and Borders passenger rail franchise was established in 2001 and the operator was taken into public ownership by the Welsh Government in 2021.
The British Rail Class 170 Turbostar is a British diesel multiple unit (DMU) passenger train built by Adtranz and later Bombardier Transportation at Derby Litchurch Lane Works. Introduced after privatisation, these trains operate regional as well as long-distance services, and to a lesser extent suburban services. A total of 139 units were built, but some were later converted to Class 168 and Class 171 units. These trains are currently in use with CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Transport for Wales Rail, ScotRail and Northern Trains.
The British Rail Class 153Super Sprinters are single-coach railcars converted from two-coach Class 155 diesel multiple units in the early 1990s. The class was intended for service on rural branch lines, either where passenger numbers do not justify longer trains or to boost the capacity on services with high passenger volume.
The British Rail Class 166 Networker Turbo is a fleet of diesel multiple unit (DMU) passenger trains, built by ABB Transportation at their Holgate Road Works in York between 1992 and 1993. They were specified by and built for British Rail, the state-owned railway operator in Great Britain at the time. The trains were designed as a faster, air-conditioned variant of the Class 165 Turbo, intended for longer-distance services, and, like the 165s, belong to the Networker family of trains. They were originally known as Networker Turbos to distinguish them from the electrically propelled members of that family. Today the 166s, alongside the 165s, are normally referred to as Thames Turbos or just simply Turbos.
The British Rail Class 165 Networker Turbo is a fleet of suburban diesel multiple unit passenger trains (DMUs), originally specified by and built for the British Rail Thames and Chiltern Division of Network SouthEast. They were built by BREL York Works between 1990 and 1992. An express version was subsequently built in the form of the Class 166 Networker Turbo Express trains. Both classes are now sometimes referred to as "Networker Turbos", a name derived some three years later for the project that resulted in the visually similar Class 365 and Class 465 EMUs.
Newport railway station is the second-busiest railway station in Wales, situated in Newport city centre. It is 133.5 miles (215 km) from London Paddington on the British railway network.
The Butetown branch line, also known as the Cardiff Bay Line, is a 1-mile-6-chain (1.7 km) commuter railway line in Cardiff, Wales from Cardiff Bay to Cardiff Queen Street. The service pattern used to comprise a mixture of shuttle services along the branch and through trains along the Rhymney Line to Caerphilly, or the Coryton Line to Coryton, but since December 2005 is a shuttle service from Queen Street station. The normal journey time is four minutes.
The Rhymney line is a commuter rail line running from Cardiff Central through the Rhymney valley via Heath and Llanishen in the north of the city, to Caerphilly, Bargoed and Rhymney.
The Vale of Glamorgan Line is a commuter railway line in Wales, running through the Vale of Glamorgan from Barry to Bridgend, via Rhoose and Llantwit Major.
Transport in Wales is heavily influenced by the country's geography. Wales is predominantly hilly or mountainous, and the main settlements lie on the coasts of north and south Wales, while mid Wales and west Wales are lightly populated. The main transport corridors are east–west routes, many continuing eastwards into England.
Keolis Amey Operations, trading as Transport for Wales Rail Services was a Welsh train operating company owned by Keolis (60%) and Amey (40%) that operated the Wales & Borders franchise between October 2018 and February 2021.
The British Rail Class 231 is a class of eleven diesel-electric multiple units of the FLIRT family, which have been built for Transport for Wales by Swiss rolling stock manufacturer Stadler Rail. The first units entered service on 18 January 2023.
The British Rail Class 756 FLIRT is a class of tri-mode multiple units being built for Transport for Wales Rail by Swiss rolling stock manufacturer Stadler Rail. They are closely related to the Class 755 bi-mode units delivered by Stadler to Greater Anglia between 2018 and 2020, which can be powered either by overhead electric lines or on-board diesel generators, but Class 756 units will also carry batteries as an additional source of traction power.
Transport for Wales Rail Limited, branded as Transport for Wales and TfW Rail, is a Welsh publicly owned train operating company, a subsidiary of Transport for Wales (TfW), a Welsh Government-owned company. It commenced operations of the day to day services of the Wales & Borders franchise on 7 February 2021, as an operator of last resort, succeeding KeolisAmey Wales. Transport for Wales Rail manages 248 National Rail stations, including all 223 in Wales, and operates all passenger mainline services wholly within Wales, and services from Wales, Chester, and Shrewsbury to Liverpool, Manchester, Manchester Airport, Crewe, Birmingham, Bidston and Cheltenham.
