Media centre

Friday 21 Feb 2020

Extreme Weather Update: Major progress made by Network Rail. Passengers thanked

Region & Route:

Wales & Western: Wales & Borders

| Wales & Western

Network Rail has made substantial progress in repairing the railway network across the Wales and Borders route following Storm Ciara, Storm Dennis and additional rainfall this week.

With the Abergavenny to Hereford line scheduled to reopen tomorrow (Saturday 22), ahead of the Wales V France game, the only other affected lines is the line between Abercynon and Aberdare, with partial reopening due on Monday morning, and the Conwy Valley Line in north Wales. All other closed lines have now reopened.

Transport for Wales is publicising bus replacement services they are operating on affected lines.

As of 1430 (2.30pm) on Friday 21 February, the affected lines include:

• Abergavenny - Hereford: Closed. Due to reopen 0400 (4am) Saturday
• Aberdare Line: Closed. Due to reopen (Abercynon - Mountain Ash) 0500 (5am) Monday (Mountain Ash - Aberdare tbc)
• Conwy Valley Line: Closed. More information next week

Reopened lines this week:

• Ebbw Vale Line: Reopened
• Treherbert Line: Reopened
• Heart of Wales Line: Reopened
• Shrewsbury - Machynlleth (Cambrian Line): Reopened
• Machynlleth - Aberystwyth (Cambrian Line): Reopened
• Machynlleth – Pwllheli (Cambrian Line): Reopened
• Heart of Wales Line: Reopened
• Merthyr Line (Pontypridd – Merthyr): Reopened
• Rhymney Line (Bargoed - Rhymney): Reopened

This information is subject to changes, so please check journey details before travel.

Chris Pearce, Network Rail’s head of operations delivery for Wales and Borders said:

“Over the last two weeks, the Wales and Borders route has been hit hard, firstly by Storm Ciara and then, a week later, by Storm Dennis.  This wasn’t the end. Only mid-week this week, Wales was once again subject to adverse weather conditions when we experienced a concentrated period of rainfall which was already falling on saturated ground following the recent storms and flooding. 

“We have been really up against it and the aftermath of the recent extreme weather events have not only been felt on the railway network but throughout the country and by many communities.

“Throughout, Network Rail has had engineers and teams in place and on sites throughout Wales, working around the clock 24/7 to make the repairs needed to reopen the lines that have been affected and make them safe once again for train services to resume.

“The scale of work our teams have been faced with has been almost unprecedented in scale and I want to thank our Network Rail colleagues for their hard work throughout this period, under very challenging circumstances, to keep people and goods moving and to help get our railway back. We have now made significant progress!

“I would really like to thank passengers and our trackside neighbours. The last two weeks has not been great and we apologise to passengers for the inconvenience and disruption this weather has caused. Their understanding has been amazing and for this, we are very grateful.”

Video attached include the above quote, with additional commentary, from Chris Pearce.