Transport for Wales

Transport for Wales is a not for profit company, wholly owned by the Welsh Government

Transport for Wales (Trafnidiaeth Cymru) exists to drive the Welsh Government’s vision of a high quality, safe, integrated, affordable and accessible transport network for the people of Wales. A better, more integrated public transport system is a key driver in the delivery of the Welsh Government’s national strategy which is summed up as ‘prosperity for all’.

Transport for Wales focuses on planning, commissioning and managing efficient transport by creating transport networks fit for the future that will contribute to the long-term sustainability of Wales.

The intention is to create a rail service that benefits the whole of Wales, as well as communities along the border in England and to this end Transport for Wales is:

• Working to bring the rail service into line with the regulations for persons of reduced mobility ensuring everyone can benefit from a better service
• Committed to meeting the requirements of the Welsh Language Standards by providing better Welsh Language services
• Improving integration with active travel routes making it easier for people to walk and cycle to and from stations
• Working with bidders to ensure they invest in the skills of their staff and suppliers and that local people have opportunities for employment
• Investing £738 million to transform the valley lines to Treherbert, Aberdare, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhymney and Coryton, electrifying 107 miles of track and upgrading infrastructure to enable improved journey times and more trains every hour.

From 2023, an £800 million investment will ensure that 95 per cent of journeys are on new trains. More than half the trains will be assembled in Wales. By December of that year, an extra 285 (29 per cent) more services will run every weekday, including improvements on the Ebbw Vale, Cambrian and Heart of Wales lines and the North Wales Metro (Wrexham-Bidston). A new service will link Cardiff and Liverpool via Wrexham. By December 2019, an extra 294 (61 per cent) more services will run across Wales on Sundays.

This will create more than six hundred new jobs, including two hundred new on-train customer service staff, and add thirty apprenticeships per year. An investment of £194 million will be made in station improvements with at least five new stations planned. A £15 million fund will make stations more accessible, and the launch of a new app allowing customers requiring assistance to ‘turn up and go’ will be available from April 2020.

On top of that at least 1,500 new car parking spaces will be created and by 2023 the availability and quality of ticketing facilities will be transformed.

Delay Repay for delays of above 15 minutes will be introduced from January 2019. Stations and overhead wires will be powered by a hundred per cent renewable energy, with at least fifty per cent sourced in Wales.

Free end-to-end internet access will be available on 85 per cent of journeys by 2024 and smart ticketing will be rolled out across Wales and the Borders. Validators on the South Wales Metro will enable pay-as-you-go flexible ticketing. Elsewhere, customers will be able to use mobile tickets to ensure they always pay the lowest fare.

Free travel for children under five years old will be extended to under elevens. Half-price fares will be extended to 16 to 18-year-olds whilst under 16s will go free off peak.

Wales and Borders and the South Wales Metro 

On behalf of the Welsh Government, Transport for Wales appointed an Operator and Development Partner (ODP), KeolisAmey, to the Wales and Borders Rail Service.

As well as operating the Wales and Borders Rail service, the ODP will support Transport for Wales in developing plans for, and subsequently implementing and operating, the South Wales Metro.

South Wales Metro will link communities together and help to transform the economy. The South Wales Metro is an ambitious project linking people and jobs across southeast Wales in a fast, efficient and environmentally sustainable way.