GWR services to Cardiff - slashed for the day / urgent bridge repairs

[whole diary]

[bradshaw]

Just appeared on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Journey Check

Cancellations to services between Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff Central
Due to urgent repairs to a bridge between Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff Central fewer trains are able to run on some lines.
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Customer Advice
Urgent repairs are required to a bridge in the Cardiff area.

As a result of this fewer train services will be able to operate through that area and owing to the reduction in the operational flexiblility there those services which do operate may be subject to further delay and revision. Train services between Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff Central may terminate and start back from Newport where a change of train will be required to travel to / from Cardiff Central. Additionally, some trains between Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff Central may not run at all.

GWR ticket holders may use Transport for Wales services in the area at no extra cost but do note that their services will also be severely affected by this incident.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause to your journey today.

[grahame]

75 trains running short routes today (Monday 21st April 2025) - problems between Newport and Cardiff.  West Country trains terminating at Newport, Portsmouth trains terminating at Bristol, looks like London trains still running. Due to the fragmented nature of our systems, I'll need to look elsewhere to find out about Cardiff trains from Nottingham, from Shrewsbury and beyond, and more locally from Cheltenham Spa and from Ebbw Vale.

Where GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) say "alterations" they do of course avoid using the more specific wording like "cancellations" and "reductions" - don't you love doublespeak!

Alterations to services between Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff Centra

Due to urgent repairs to a bridge between Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff Central fewer trains are able to run on some lines.

Train services running through these stations may be revised. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer Advice

Urgent repairs are required to a bridge in the Cardiff area.

As a result of this fewer train services will be able to operate through that area and owing to the reduction in the operational flexiblility there, those services which do operate may be subject to further delay and revision.

Train services that would normally operate between Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff Central will operate to a reduced frequency in both directions.

The general pattern of service will be for those services which originate from / are destined for west country locations (Penzance / Plymouth / Exeter / Taunton / Weston-superMare) will operate though to / from South Wales but will terminate and start back from Newport. A change of train will be required to travel to / from Cardiff Central. Those services which originate from / are destined for Westbury / Salisbury / Southampton / Portsmouth will not operate between Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff Central.

GWR ticket holders may use Transport for Wales services in the area at no extra cost but do note that their services will also be affected by this incident.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause to your journey today.

Further Information

An update will follow within the next 2 hours.

If you arrive at your destination 15 or more minutes late because your GWR train was delayed or cancelled, you can claim Delay Repay compensation. Please keep your ticket and visit GWR.com/DelayRepay
Last Updated:21/04/2025 04:01

[Chris from Nailsea]

An update, from the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Second day of rail disruption for 'urgent' repairs



Rail services are experiencing major disruption with journeys cancelled or suspended due to urgent repairs needed on a bridge on Sunday and into Monday.

The work near Cardiff Central station has affected a number of routes run by Great Western Railway, Transport for Wales and CrossCountry, according to National Rail.

Rail replacement transport is being organised between Newport and Cardiff Central, and Cardiff Central and Caerphilly.

"Major disruption is expected until the end of the day on Monday 21 April," said National Rail.  It said routes affected included:

* CrossCountry between Nottingham / Birmingham New Street / Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff Central

* Great Western Railway between Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff Central, and also between Bristol Parkway and Swansea

* Transport for Wales between Cardiff Central and Cardiff Bay / Ebbw Vale Town / Pontypridd / Merthyr Tydfil / Aberdare / Treherbert, and between Barry Island and Caerphilly, and also between Penarth and Cardiff Queen Street

[UstiImmigrunt]

Shut all day Tuesday as well.

[Mark A]

Gerry Fiennes lives on. Realtime Trains, against the 04:59 Swansea to Paddington today, has:

"This service was cancelled due to an error having been made (OC)."

Mark

[Chris from Nailsea]

Another update, from the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Rail disruption now set to last more than a week



Disruption on some rail services in south Wales will now last over a week and continue until Monday morning as repair work on a railway bridge continues.

Many journeys were suspended or cancelled due to work on the bridge outside Cardiff Central station between Sunday and Tuesday.

Transport for Wales (TfW^▸ (Transport for Wales)) and Network Rail, which owns and operates most of the rail infrastructure in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), said mainline services in and out of Cardiff had largely returned to normal by Tuesday evening.

But work on the bridge will continue this week and bus replacements or diverted lines would remain in place until 28 April for services from Cardiff to Ebbw Vale in Blaenau Gwent.

The bridge connects Cardiff Central to Queen Street, running over the lines linking Cardiff Central to Newport and beyond.

An inspection at the weekend revealed some structural problems and services were immediately suspended due to safety concerns.

Trains will only run between Ebbw Vale and Newport for the remainder of this week, with either bus replacements or diverted train journeys between Newport and Cardiff, the statement said.

Bus replacements are also in place for the Caerphilly and Coryton lines, TfW and Network Rail said.

Additional train services will be added as phases of the work are completed this week, the companies added.

It follows three days of disruption caused by the work to the bridge, which affected a number of routes run by Great Western Railway, TfW and CrossCountry.

Plaid Cymru Member of the Senedd Delyth Jewell said the ongoing issues with rail infrastructure were "a symptom of Wales' history of being short-changed when it comes to rail funding".

Conservative transport spokesman Peter Fox said commuters had "every right to feel frustrated, especially after a 6% rise in ticket prices this year".

Wales' Transport Minister Ken Skates said TfW was "working closely with Network Rail and Amey Infrastructure Wales to resolve this urgent mater as soon as is safely possible".

[Mark A]

The National Rail page on this now has a bit more detail, identifying the location too (and also has the expected completion as next Sunday).

Mark

A routine inspection of the intersection bridge between Cardiff Central and Cardiff Queen Street at the weekend revealed some structural problems. Extensive repair works have enabled mainline services between Newport and Cardiff to largely reopen.

Work on the bridge will continue this week with service amendments expected until Sunday. Additional train services will be added as phases of the work complete this week.