Support quality, independent, local journalism…that matters

From just £1 a month you can help fund our work – and use our website without adverts. Become a member today

Rail services between Newport and Crosskeys still aren’t running because of safety checks being carried out on trains.

Operator Transport for Wales is continuing to advise customers to check their journeys before travelling because of the checks on the Class 175 trains and continuing work to upgrade lines.

The number of trains available for use has increased, allowing TfW to reinstate services on nearly every route across the Wales and Borders network. However, some services may still be running with reduced capacity, and services between Newport and Crosskeys remain paused.

Jan Chaudhry-Van der Velde, Chief Operations Officer at Transport for Wales, said: “We’d like to thank our customers for their continued patience while the vital transformation work takes place on the Valleys lines and as we continue to work to resolve the issues with our Class 175 trains.

“Our Class 175 trains have been receiving urgent safety checks and engine repairs, after a number of recent incidents. This has left us with a temporary shortage of rolling stock across the network and has meant we have had to redistribute rolling stock to affect the minimum number of passengers possible.

“As the rolling stock shortages have eased, we have been able to restore much of our timetabled service. However, some services are still being operated by different trains with less capacity than usual, so we’re continuing to work through the repair programme on the Class 175 trains.  As soon as each train is repaired and passes the safety checks, it is brought back into passenger service.”

TfW will be carrying out infrastructure upgrades across the Core Valley Lines network for the South Wales Metro, resulting in buses replacing rail services on some routes.

Buses are replacing trains between:

• Cardiff Queen Street and Cardiff Bay until 12.30pm on Sunday April 30.
• Pontypridd and Aberdare until Friday May 12.
• Cardiff Central and Radyr via the City Line from Monday April 24 to Tuesday May 2.
• Cardiff Central and Radyr via Cathays from Tuesday April 25 to Tuesday May 2.
• Radyr and Pontypridd from Tuesday April 25 to Friday May 12.
• Pontypridd and Merthyr Tydfil from Saturday April 29 to Tuesday May 2
• Pontypridd and Treherbert from Saturday April 29 to early 2024

Services between Cardiff and Ebbw Vale will be replaced by buses on Sunday April 23 and Sunday April 30.

For more information visit https://tfw.wales/projects/metro/service-changes