Compelling case for Treasury to fund Cardiff station revamp

WALES IN MOTION PROFESSOR STUART COLE

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THE opening 175 years ago of the first section of the south Wales mainline railway in 1850 linked Swansea and Chepstow, but it was part of an infrastructure development which began with an act of Parliament in 1846.

Further extensions were built in the following years, with the line (broad gauge) to Paddington via Gloucester (1851), to Llanelli and Carmarthen (1852) and Milford Haven (1856).

The construction of Cardiff Station in 1850 is to be celebrated tomorrow with a display at Cardiff Central station. The line has of course undergone heavy investment since then, most recently the £2.8bn electrification between Cardiff and London and the £1.1bn electrification of Valley lines north of Cardiff.

In 1850 the criterion for building the South Wales Railway (SWR) was potential profit for its shareholders through freight and passenger traffic to and from Ireland. The potato famine appeared to end this economic lifeline for south Wales and Irish shareholders were forced to sell their holdings. Subsequently the coal and iron industries provided the required profits for the Great Western Railway (GWR) and the Taff Vale Railway, though initially the latter exported its freight through Cardiff docks following disagreements on the railway gauge.