Controversy has erupted across the Severn as rail operators fight against their respective plans to expand rail services in South Wales and Bristol.

Transport for Wales have submitted a proposal to the Department for Transport in London, seeking to create new services between west Wales and Bristol Temple Meads, filling a gap that currently sees passengers having to change trains at Cardiff Central.

The service would see trains running nine times per day each way, with two beginning in Cardiff in the morning, and the rest operating out of west Wales.

The service will also enable stops at new proposed stations in and around Newport, as recommended by Lord Burns and the South East Wales Transport Commission, committed to by UK Government in late 2025 as part of a £445 million rail enhancement commitment as part of the Spending Review.

Stations in West Wales that will benefit include more routes to and from Carmarthen, Pembrey and Burry Port, Llanelli, Gowerton, Swansea, Neath, Port Talbot Parkway and Bridgend. Some would serve Fishguard Harbour and Milford Haven.

However the ability for Transport for Wales to deliver this service has come into doubt after rival operator Great Western Railway formally objected to the proposal.

Clash over Brabazbon plans

Great Western Railway are pushing their own plans in north Bristol as part of the 20,000 capacity Aviva Arena development, being coupled with a large new housing estate by developers YTL.

YTL have already conceded that the new arena will not have sufficient rail capacity when the Brazabon station opens for its major events, and now GWR have asserted that services calling at the new station will be under threat if Transport for Wales expand their routes into Bristol.

Services from Wales would not call at the new Arena station, and take up paths on congested routes in and out of Bristol Temple Meads. However core to GWR’s objection was a statement that UK government money invested in GWR would face a “large risk” from the new TfW service, because the new services would be “likely to have a significant effect on GWR’s revenue income”.

However the TfW plans indicate some attempts to merge existing Cardiff-Bristol routes with new plans, meaning not all services will be genuinely new uses of Bristol track.

Temple Meads is currently undergoing a £95m expansion by Network Rail to expand capacity in the west of England region.

High level political criticism

The new Plaid-run Welsh Government have aggressively fought the GWR effort to refuse the new services between Wales and Bristol, accusing the company of trying to “disrupt” plans for new direct train services between west Wales.