The South Wales Metro, aka the ‘Welsh tube’, has been in the works for more than a decade. It’s a mammoth £1bn project that’ll boost connections between the south Wales valleys and Cardiff and revolutionise travel across the region. Plans got underway way back in 2013 and were revealed in 2015. This year, it’s finally set to get fully up and running.
Once everything’s good to go, there’ll be 36 tram-trains (we got a first look at them here), around 170km of electrified track and a set brand-spanking new stations lining the Valleys. There will be six ‘core’ lines linking Cardiff to Aberdare, Coryton, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhymney and Treherbert, all with multiple stops along the way. Just like London’s Underground, the network will have a colour-coded map, contactless tap in tap out payments and boards showing exactly how soon the next service will be.
People living in or around Aberdare, Merthyr Tydfil and Treherbert will have access to four trains per hour (every 15 minutes) and those around Caerphilly will get six trains per hour (every 10 minutes) and Pontypridd will enjoy 12 an hour (every five minutes) to the Welsh capital.
Some of the trains have already be rolled out, with eight trains currently serving the Rhymney line. And passengers will be glad to know that they’ve all got modern air-con and handy power sockets. The first phase of the South Wales Metro is expected to be fully complete later this year.
Time Out in Wales
In other recent news from Cymru, a Welsh gin has just made history, one of its national parks was one of the most beautiful places in the world, its largest theme park just closed after 40 years and in February it became the first British nation to ban greyhound racing. If you’re new to this underrated part of the country, check out out Time Out’s guides to it’s bucket-list-worthy things to do and best places to go.
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