South Wales Main Line

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South Wales Main Line
The entrance to Sodbury tunnel with the newly electrified overhead line equipment.
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	South Wales South West England
Stations	18
Service
Type	Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	Transport for Wales CrossCountry Great Western Railway
History
Opened	1850 (Chepstow-Swansea) 1903 (Swindon-Patchway)
Technical
Line length	84 miles 30 chains (135.79 km)
Number of tracks	Mainly double track, though quadruple track from Severn Tunnel Junction via Newport to Cardiff Central.
Character	Main line
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification	25 kV 50 Hz AC OHLE (Wootton Bassett to Cardiff Central)
Operating speed	125 mph (201 km/h) in England 100 mph (161 km/h) in Wales
Route map (Click to expand)

v t South Wales Main Line
Legend
Miles 0⅓ London Paddington Great Western Main Line 77¼ Swindon Golden Valley line Wootton Bassett Road Wootton Bassett Junction Great Western Main Line to Bristol Temple Meads Brinkworth Little Somerford Malmesbury branch Hullavington Alderton Tunnel Badminton Chipping Sodbury Tunnel 2 mi 924 yd / 4.06 km Chipping Sodbury Westerleigh Junction Cross Country Route Bristol and Gloucester Railway to Westerleigh goods depot Coalpit Heath Wessex Main Line and Great Western Main Line Winterbourne 117¾ Bristol Temple Meads Bristol–Exeter line 116¾ Lawrence Hill 116¼ Stapleton Road Severn Beach line 111¾ Bristol Parkway 113⅓ Filton Abbey Wood Stoke Gifford depot Henbury Loop Line 113⅓ Patchway Patchway Tunnel 1 mi 2 km 116½ Pilning England Wales Severn Tunnel 4 mi 624 yd 7.01 km Gloucester–Newport line MoD Caerwent Caldicot 123½ Severn Tunnel Junction Undy Halt Magor Flying junction Bishton Crossing Llanwern steelworks Llanwern Goods line to Uskmouth East Usk Maindee Junction Welsh Marches line Bridge over River Usk Monmouthshire Railway Newport (Mill Street) 133½ Newport Hillfield Tunnel 770 yd 704 m Gaer Junction Alexandra Dock Ebbw Valley Railway Ebbw Junction Ebbw River Marshfield Wentlooge Freightliner terminal River Rhymney Roath Long Dyke Junction Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes Cardiff Queen Street Cardiff Bay 145¼ Cardiff Central River Taff Cardiff Canton TMD Vale of Glamorgan Line Ninian Park Leckwith Junction Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes to Pontypridd Ely Main Line River Ely St Fagans River Ely Peterston River Ely River Ely Pontyclun River Ely Llantrisant & Taff Vale Junction Railway 156¼ Llanharan Llynvi and Ogmore Railway to Brynmenyn 161½ Pencoed Vale of Glamorgan Line 165¼ Bridgend Maesteg Line River Ogmore 171½ Pyle Water Street Junction Goods line to Tondu Margam Knuckle Yard Port Talbot Steelworks (Port of Port Talbot) 177⅖ Port Talbot Parkway Margam Halt River Afan 179¾ Baglan Baglan Bay 181½ Briton Ferry Court Sart Junction Swansea District line 183⅓ Neath Neath Canal River Neath Vale of Neath Railway Tennant Canal 187⅓ Skewen Swansea District line to Llanelli 188¾ Llansamlet Swansea Vale Railway Llansamlet cutting Landore viaduct over River Tawe Landore High Level Swansea Loop East Junction Landore TMD 191��� Swansea Swansea Loop West Junction Landore Junction West Wales line

The South Wales Main Line (Welsh: Prif Linell De Cymru), originally known as the London, Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway or simply as the Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway, is a branch of the Great Western Main Line in Great Britain. It diverges from the core London-Bristol line at Royal Wootton Bassett beyond Swindon, first calling at Bristol Parkway, after which the line continues through the Severn Tunnel into South Wales.

Great Western Railway operates Class 800 trains between London and South Wales, and Classes 253, 254 and 255 High Speed Trains on services between Cardiff and South West England. CrossCountry provides services from Cardiff to Nottingham via Severn Tunnel Junction and thence the Gloucester to Newport Line via Gloucester and Birmingham. Transport for Wales operates services between South Wales, and North Wales and the Midlands on the line.

The line between Wootton Bassett and Cardiff Central is electrified using the 25 kV AC overhead system, as part of the larger electrification of the Great Western Main Line.

History[]

The original route of the Great Western Railway (GWR) between London and South Wales, after the opening of Brunel's Chepstow Railway Bridge in 1852, left the Bristol-bound Great Western Main Line at Swindon, proceeding via Stroud, Gloucester and Chepstow before rejoining the present line at Severn Tunnel Junction. This gave rise to the nickname 'Great Way Round'.^[1][2]

In 1886, the opening of the Severn Tunnel brought the opportunity of a more direct route to South Wales, and trains from Swindon to Newport and beyond were routed via Bath, Bristol and the tunnel.

The route used today was established in 1903 with the building of what is often known as the Badminton Line.^[3] This involved the construction of about 33 miles (53 km) of new track, and tunnels at Alderton and Sodbury. The new line left the Bath line beyond Swindon at what is now Royal Wootton Bassett, rejoining the earlier route north of Bristol near Patchway. Not only did this provide a more direct route for traffic to and from South Wales, the gradients were easier for coal trains to negotiate, and it was thought that the line would be a boost to what was, at the time of building, the expanding port of Fishguard. This was the GWR's connection with trans-Atlantic ocean liner departures.

Infrastructure[]

Four track railway approaching Cardiff from Newport, prior to electrification

There are four tracks from Severn Tunnel Junction through Newport to Cardiff Central, with two tracks on the remaining sections.^[4] Multiple-aspect signals are controlled from several power signal boxes including Swindon, Bristol and two in Cardiff. Over the August Bank Holiday weekend 2016, control of the signals between Westerleigh Junction and Pilning was switched over to the Thames Valley Signalling Centre. These signals now carry the prefix 'BL'.^{[citation needed]}

The maximum line speed from Wootton Bassett Junction to Coalpit Heath is 125 mph (200 km/h);^[5] 90 mph (145 km/h) from Coalpit Heath to Newport; 90 mph (145 km/h) from Newport to east of Bridgend;^[6] 75 mph (120 km/h) from east of Bridgend to Swansea Loop North junction (with a small section of 100 mph (160 km/h) track through Pyle station); and 40 mph (65 km/h) from Swansea Loop North Junction to Swansea.^[4]

Associated routes[]

A diversionary route exists if the Severn Tunnel is closed. This takes trains from Severn Tunnel Junction to Gloucester, from where they can rejoin the main line either via the Golden Valley Line to Swindon, or take the Cross-Country Route and reverse at Bristol Parkway.

If the line is closed between Cardiff Central and Bridgend, an alternative route exists along the Vale of Glamorgan Line.

Half of peak High Speed Trains and most off peak trains continue from Cardiff Central to Swansea, with a few continuing to Carmarthen or in summer, Pembroke Dock.

The local service between Swansea and Cardiff is branded Swanline. The urban network within and surrounding Cardiff, including the Maesteg Line, is referred to as Valley Lines.

Plans[]

Traffic levels on the Great Western Main Line are rising faster than the national average, with continued increases predicted. The now defunct Strategic Rail Authority produced a Route Utilisation Strategy for the Great Western Main Line in 2005 to propose ways of meeting this demand. Network Rail's 2007 Business Plan included the provision of extra platform capacity at Cardiff Central, Newport and Bristol Parkway, also resignalling and line speed improvements in South Wales, most of which would be delivered in 2010–2014.

Reading railway station underwent a major redevelopment being reopened in July 2014 and there is a proposed future link to Heathrow Airport directly from Reading under the Heathrow Airtrack scheme.

Electrification[]

Electrification work at Cardiff Central in October 2019

The South Wales Main Line was one of the last of the major inter-city routes in Great Britain to remain un-electrified. The government announced in 2012 a scheme to electrify the South Wales Main Line as part of a wider scheme of electrification on the Great Western Main Line. The line from London to Cardiff was fully electrified by Christmas 2019.^[7]

The new Hitachi Super Express trains planned for the Great Western inter-city services are predominantly electric units instead of the planned diesel units. However, a proportion of the fleet are dual power source electro-diesel bi-mode trains, which enabled services to operate before line electrification is complete. The bi-mode trains will allow inter-city services to continue to operate from London all the way to Carmarthen in the future. The new Super Express trains will bring about an estimated 15% increased capacity during the morning peak hours. Electrification has cut journey times between Swansea and London by an estimated 20 minutes, although electrification will not extend west of Cardiff to Swansea, Carmarthen or Pembroke Dock, and services on the line to Brighton, Portsmouth Harbour and Taunton will continue to be operated by diesel trains, as the Bristol to Exeter Line and the Wessex Main Line will not be electrified.^[8]

Communities served[]

Accidents and incidents[]

• On 7 March 2015, Battle of Britain-class locomotive 34067 Tangmere was hauling a charter train that overran a signal at Wooton Bassett, Wiltshire. The train's operator, West Coast Railway Company was banned from running trains on the British railway network as a direct consequence of this incident.

See also[]

• Transport in Wales
• Transport in England
• South Wales Railway
• Great Western Main Line

References[]

• Network Rail Passenger Timetable. London: Network Rail. 2006.

External links[]

Route map:

Wikimedia Commons has media related to South Wales Main Line.

• 2007 Business Plan, Network Rail, London