Current Service
The Ebbw Valley Railway provides an hourly (two hourly Sundays) passenger service between Ebbw Vale Parkway and Cardiff Central. Approximate journey duration between Ebbw Vale Parkway and Cardiff Central is 57 minutes. Intermediate stations (their approximate journey times from Ebbw Vale Parkway are shown in brackets) are Llanhilleth (8 minutes), Newbridge (14), Crosskeys (22), Risca and Pontymister (27) and Rogerstone (31). Dedicated feeder bus services link the line to Ebbw Vale and Abertillery town centres, from Ebbw Vale Parkway and Llanhilleth respectively.
Actual passenger numbers greatly exceed forecasts. In 2002, passenger journeys were forecast at 22,000 per month. Whereas by 2008, 44,000 journeys had been made on the service each month; also exceeding the monthly target of 33,000 set for 2012. In August 2008 Trish Law, Assembly Member for Blaenau Gwent, said she had received "many complaints of standing-room only and grossly overcrowded trains". Arriva Trains Wales provide extra carriages at busy times, Saturdays and holidays, to cope with the demand. Passenger journeys had exceeded 55,000 per month by May 2009, and by October 2009, over one million passenger journeys had been made on the line in the 20 months since its opening, comfortably exceeding the fourth-year target of 453,000.
Network Rail own and manage the track and signalling; stations and services are operated by the existing train operating company, Arriva Trains Wales; and the local authorities each own and operate the station car parks in their area. Each station has at least one Passenger Help Point and all stations and car parks have CCTV. All stations on the branch are unstaffed, and at first lacked any ticket issuing facilities; but in late 2009 a Scheidt & Bachmann Ticket XPress self-service ticket machine was installed at each station.
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