Heart of Wales line
The Heart of Wales line south ofSugar Loaf
Overview
Other names	Heart of Wales Railway Rheilffordd Calon Cymru
Native name	Llinell Calon Cymru (Welsh)
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	South West Wales Mid Wales Shropshire
Termini	Craven Arms Llanelli
Stations	29
Service
Type	Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	Transport for Wales Rail
Rolling stock	Class 150 DMU,Class 153 DMU
History
Opened	1868
Technical
Line length	90 mi (144.84 km)
Number of tracks	Mainlysingle track
Character	Rural
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge
Electrification	None
Operating speed	60 mph (97 km/h) (max)
Route map

v t e Heart of Wales line
Legend
Welsh Marches line toShrewsbury Craven Arms Craven Arms Junction Welsh Marches line toHereford Broome Hopton Heath Bucknell Knighton England Wales Knucklas Knucklas Viaduct Llangynllo Llanbister Road Dolau Pen-y-Bont Llandrindod Mid-Wales Railway toBrecon Mount Street Builth Road Mid-Wales Railway toLlanidloes Cilmeri Garth Llangammarch Llanwrtyd Sugar Loaf Cynghordy Viaduct Cynghordy Llandovery Llanwrda Llangadog Llandeilo Llanelly Railway toCarmarthen Ffairfach Llandybie Ammanford Llanelly Railway toTairgwaith Colliery Pantyffynnon Pontarddulais River Loughor Hendy Junction Swansea District line toBriton Ferry Morlais Junction Llangennech Bynea West Wales lines toCarmarthen Llanelli West Wales lines toSwansea

TheHeart of Wales line (Welsh:Llinell Calon Cymru)^[1] is arailway line running fromCraven Arms inShropshire toLlanelli insouthwestWales. It serves a number of rural centres, including the nineteenth-centuryspa townsLlandrindod Wells,Llangammarch Wells andLlanwrtyd Wells. AtBuilth Road, two miles (3.3 km) from the town ofBuilth Wells, the line crosses the former route of the earlierMid Wales Railway, which closed in 1962.

Historically, the line was known as theCentral Wales line (Welsh:Rheilffordd Canol Cymru)^{[nb 1]} and also included routes throughGowerton, where the railway crossed theWest Wales lines and ran throughDunvant andKillay then down through the Clyne Valley toBlackpill, and then along the sea wall toSwansea Bay station, (near the former slip bridge) before finally reachingSwansea Victoria railway station. This section, originally built by theLlanelly Railway and Dock Company to compete with theGreat Western Railway and break the monopoly they held on Swansea Dock, closed in 1964.Nationalisation of the railways had removed the need for competing routes, and the running down and closure of Swansea North Dock ended the need for freight services on this section. Trains now use the original LR main line to reach theWest Wales lines atLlandeilo Junction and thenceLlanelli and (after a reversal)Swansea.

Knighton Railway Act 1858
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for making a Railway from the Craven Arms Station of the Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway in the County of Salop to the Borough of Knighton in the County of Radnor; and for other Purposes.
Citation	21 & 22 Vict. c. xix
Dates
Royal assent	21 May 1858

Central Wales Railway Act 1859
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for making a Railway from Knighton to Llandrindod in the County of Radnor, to be called "The Central Wales Railway," and for other Purposes.
Citation	22 & 23 Vict. c. cxxi
Dates
Royal assent	13 August 1859

Central Wales Extension Railway Act 1860
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for making a Railway from Llandrindod in the County of Radnor to Llandovery in the County of Carmarthen, to be called "The Central Wales Extension Railway;" and for other Purposes.
Citation	23 & 24 Vict. c. cxli
Dates
Royal assent	3 July 1860

Central Wales Extension Railway Act 1863
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for enabling the Central Wales Extension Railway Company to raise additional Capital; to make working and other Agreements with the London and North-western Railway Company; and for other Purposes.
Citation	26 & 27 Vict. c. lxxvii
Dates
Royal assent	22 June 1863
Text of statute as originally enacted

North ofLlandovery, the route was opened in stages between 1861 and 1868 by a number of different companies (all backed by theLNWR) – theKnighton Railway, theCentral Wales Railway andCentral Wales Extension Railway.

The 1963 Beeching Report proposed the entire Central Wales line be closed but this was refused by the MoT except for the Pontarddulais to Swansea Victoria section.^[2] As a rural branch line, it survived theBeeching Axe since it carried freight traffic, serving the steelworks atBynea and industrial areas such asAmmanford andPontarddulais, linking them with the docks atLlanelli. It also passed through sixmarginal constituencies.^[3] During engineering work, the line is still occasionally used as a diversionary freight route. The basic service over the line since the seventies has remained more or less constant, with four or five trains per day in each direction on weekdays and two or three on Sundays (although the latter ran in summer only until quite recently).

The line is single track throughout (except for a few miles at the southern end shared with theSwansea District line) and has been operated under alight railway order since 1972.^[4] There are fivepassing loops, atLlandeilo,Llandovery,Llanwrtyd,Llandrindod andKnighton. Unless "Out of Course" working occurs the Llanwrtyd passing loop is used on two of the Monday – Saturday services and the Llandrindod passing loop is in use on the other two and also on the Sunday services. The signalling was modernised in 1986,^[5] when a system known asNo Signalman Token Remote working was introduced.^[6] This is overseen by the signaller atPantyffynnon, with the token instruments at the aforementioned five passing loops being operated by the train crew (the survivingsignal boxes at each station having been closed as part of the modernisation scheme and the points converted to automatic operation byBritish Rail).

For more than two years only two of the loops (Llandrindod and Llanwrtyd) were operational asNetwork Rail were unable to source spare parts for the points mechanisms used at all five: the design used is now obsolete. Parts had to be taken from the three decommissioned loops to keep the other two operational.^[7] In 2009 NR stated their intention to install new conventional electric point machines at all five loops and restore the three out-of-service ones to full working order (after being heavily criticised by the chairman of the South Wales branch ofRailfuture at the organisation's recent Annual General Meeting)^[8] but were unable to give a timescale for this to be carried out as design work on the new equipment was still ongoing. NR began the replacement works for the points after first installing the system on the line to Pembroke Dock, at the Tenby loop, on 7 December 2009 and then making minor alterations in Feb 2010.Llandeilo was the first on the line to be modernised, the rest followed. The £5 million project was completed in October 2010.^[9]

In 2014 Network Rail added exit indicators at the trailing end of each loop to aid in the reversing of services: a decision taken so that all moves have an active indication of the status of the motor points.

In 1987 tragedy struck the line nearLlandeilo when theGlanrhyd Bridge collapsed following heavy flooding, and an early morning northbound train plunged into the swollenRiver Towy, killing four people.^[10] For a while the future of the line was in doubt (the equally ruralCarmarthen-Aberystwyth line had been closed in 1965 following serious flood damage as the cost of repairs was deemed unacceptable) but political forces of all sides rallied to ensure the line's survival.

After leaving theWest Wales Line atLlandeilo Junction (east ofLlanelli), the route is shared with the Swansea District line as far asMorlais Junction (the site of a seriousoil train derailment in the summer of 2020) before passing beneath theM4 Motorway, and turning northwards towardsPontarddulais and Pantyfynnon. The short tunnel before the former station is the oldest surviving example still in use in Wales (dating from 1839), whilst the freight-only branch along the Amman valley toGwaun-Cae-Gurwen diverges at the latter. North ofAmmanford, it follows the valley of theRiver Tywi north to Llandeilo (formerly the junction forCarmarthen) and thenLlandovery, crossing the river at Glanrhyd by a replacement single-span bridge built & commissioned in 1988. North of Llandovery the character of the route changes, as it ascends into theCarmarthenshire hills towards the first of the line's two major summits atSugar Loaf (820 feet (250 m) above sea level) on gradients as steep as 1 in 60.^[11] En route, it passes over the 283-yard (259 m) longCynghordy viaduct across the Afon Bran valley before crossing the county boundary intoPowys through the 1001-yd (915 m) summit tunnel beneath theBlack Mountain range. A descent at 1 in 70-80 follows toLlanwrtyd Wells along the valley of theRiver Irfon, from where it continues via Builth Road to Llandrindod Wells - the largest settlement on the line.

From Llandrindod, the line climbs steadily once more, skirting theRadnor Forest as it heads for the remote station atLlanbister Road (some 5 miles (8 km) distant from the village it is named after) and another summit nearLlangynllo Tunnel, the highest point on the route at 980 feet (299 m) above sea level. There then follows a 4-mile (6.4 km) descent (again at mostly 1 in 60) toKnucklas, where the line is carried above the village on a 193-yd (176 m) viaduct with ornate castellated turrets at each end. It then heads toKnighton, where the station is in England but the town it serves is mostly in Wales.^[11] The last portion of the route then runs through southwestShropshire along the valleys of theRiver Teme &River Clun to join the mainWelsh Marches line atCraven Arms, from where trains continue north to terminate at Shrewsbury.

For many years there were four trains per day in each direction on weekdays and two on Sundays. From May 2015 an additional Monday to Friday train pair in each direction was introduced north ofLlandrindod and south ofLlandovery, ostensibly to improve commuting possibilities, although the consequential changes to existing services substantially lengthened the working day for those travelling toShrewsbury.^[12] Trains are one or two carriages each, with a small team of staff. A buffet trolley service runs occasionally.^[when?] The Heart of Wales line runs from Llanelli to Craven Arms, however train services normally terminate atShrewsbury andSwansea. Two northbound weekday trains travel onwards from Shrewsbury toCrewe, bringing the total journey length to 153.5 miles (247.03 kilometres), and one starts from Crewe southbound. Most stations arerequest stops.From December 2022 a fifth train through train each way has been introduced as well as a later Shrewsbury-Llandrindod round trip and a late Swansea - Llandovery out and return service on weekdays only. These additional services were withdrawn in December 2024, with the timetable reverting to the old pattern of four services per day in each direction.

At Craven Arms, the line joins theWelsh Marches line toChurch Stretton andShrewsbury.

Passenger services are operated byTransport for Wales Rail usingClass 150 orClass 153diesel multiple units, althoughClass 175s have been used on rare occasions.^{[citation needed]} The continued use of Class 153 DMUs has received criticism, notably fromKirsty Williams AM, who says:

The 153 units have a poor reliability record, can carry few bicycles—which we desperately need to be carried on the line—little bulky luggage, and offer poor visibility, and this on a line that is supposedly promoted as scenic.^[13]

The line has also been used for exceptional train movements, including:

• Manchester toCarmarthen trains diverted during engineering works betweenBriton Ferry andBridgend
• Builth Road has special trains fromCardiff for theRoyal Welsh Show which operate via theSwansea District line betweenBriton Ferry andPontarddulais
• Charter trains taking in the scenery along the route, such as The Welshman's charter on Saturday 30 April 2011^{[citation needed]}

Although no regular scheduled freight services use this line, the route is maintained to W5 standard to accommodate the occasional EWS diversions for Margam and Llanwern traffic when the south Wales route is closed.

This is designated as acommunity rail partnership.^[14]

• Railways of Shropshire
• History of Wales
• Royal Welsh Show
• Heart of Wales Line Trail

Wikimedia Commons has media related toHeart of Wales Line.

• Heart of Wales Line website
• Heart of Wales Line Travellers Association website
• Arriva Trains Wales: Heart of Wales Line timetable
• Glanrhyd Rail Disaster BBC Report
• Scenic Rail Britain: Heart of Wales Line page
• Video footage of Llandrindod station
• Video footage of Knucklas Station

• Heart of Wales Line
• Railway lines in Wales
• Railway lines in the West Midlands (region)
• Rail transport in Carmarthenshire
• Rail transport in Powys
• Rail transport in Shropshire
• Rail transport in Swansea
• Community railway lines in Wales

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