Newport And Abergavenny Stations – 14th June 2025
Today, I took a train up the Welsh Marshes Line fromNewport to Abergavenny station.
I took these pictures.
Note.
- Pictures 7 and 8 have a glimpse of the Newport Transporter Bridge in the background.
- All stations are step-free.
- All stations have two platforms.
- All stations have ticket machines.
- I saw a heavy freight train coming down to Newport.
I took these pictures coming down the Welsh Marshes Line from Abergavenny to Newport station.
Pictures 25-28 show the Maindee Junction that allows trains to by-pass Newport station.
I have a couple of general points.
The Track Between Hereford And Maindee Junction Allows A Good Speed
Much of the track has a maximum speed of over 75 mph, with a short section up to 90 mph.
As the maximum speed of Lumo’s Class 803 trains is 125 mph and Trains for Wales’s Class 197 trains are 100 mph trains, I would expect that some speed improvement might be possible.
The track also appeared to give a good ride.
The Stations Were All In Good Condition
In addition, Newport station was being refurbished.
Heads Of The Valleys Road Upgrade Officially Opens
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on BusinessNewsWales.
This is the sub-heading.
The final phase of the £2 billion Heads of the Valleys Road upgrade programme has officially opened.
These first two paragraphs add detail to the project.
The Welsh Government said it marked the completion of “one of the UK’s largest and most technically challenging road projects”.
The £1.4 billion Section 5&6 Dowlais to Hirwaun final phase links the Valleys, South and West Wales to the English Midlands and beyond, together with ports serving Irish and other European destinations. As well as improving the resilience of the South Wales trunk road network, the road provides a vital link across the top of the South Wales valleys for the Metro project improving links to the Cardiff and Swansea Bay City Regions, the Welsh Government said.
From the statistics of work done and the money involved, it would appear that a comprehensive upgrade has fixed a big gap in the UK’s motorway network in South Wales.
This Google Map shows the locations of Dowlais and Hirwaun.
Note.
- Dowlais is in the North-East corner of the map.
- Hirwaun is in the South-West corner of the map and is outlined in red.
- The Heads of the Valleys Road links Dowlais and Hirwaun.
- Going East from Dowlais leads to Abergavenny, Monmouth, Raglan and the English Midlands.
- Abergavenny has a station, but Monmouth and Raglan don’t!
- Abergavenny station has comprehensive services to stations as far apart as Cardiff, Crewe, Holyhead, Manchester Piccadilly, Swansea and Wrexham General.
Abergavenny station could eventually turn out to be a parkway station for the South Wales Valleys.
I can certainly understand, why Lumo wants to run a service to Hereford.
I also feel that the Welsh government and Transport for Wales would be in favour of the service.
- Three towns in Wales; Cwmbran, Pontypool and Abergavenny get a direct service to Bristol Parkway and London Paddington stations.
- Hereford already has an hourly connection to Birmingham New Street via Worcester and University.
- If a coach were to be provided between Bristol Parkway and Bristol Airport, this could make getting to Bristol Airport easier.
I can see further improvements to services, that terminate at Abergavenny.
Abergavenny Station – 13th October 2024
For a trip today, I went to Abergavenny station to see the progress on the new step-free bridge and take a few pictures.
Note.
- The station has several unusual features.
- The car park could take all of about six cars.
- The current bridge would be dangerous for the elderly with shopping trolleys.
- Network Rail seem to be explaining the work in more detail, than usual.
Why is it that each new step-free station bridge appears to be a different design?
The Anonymous Widower 