Ebbw Vale to Newport train service returns after 60 years

Trains between Ebbw Vale and Newport will run 30 times a day

Direct trains connecting a valleys town with its nearest city have resumed, more than 60 years after being cut.

Trains between Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent, and Newport now run 30 times a day after a £70m investment.

The Welsh government loaned the money to Blaenau Gwent council for rail infrastructure improvements to make the service possible

Deputy climate change minister Lee Waters said it would "make a difference" to many communities.

Passenger services on the Ebbw Vale line restarted in 2008 following its closure in 1962, but until Thursday anyone wanting to go to Newport had to get a bus from Pye Corner station in Rogerstone.

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A return ticket from Ebbw Vale Town to Newport will cost £8.30 or £29.10 for a seven-day season ticket

The infrastructure improvements include an extension of the passing loops between Crosskeys and Aberbeeg and new platforms and lifts at Newbridge and Llanhilleth stations.

"These will be a game-changer for people on the line, doubling the number of trains per hour and opening up shorter journey times for anyone heading towards Manchester, Bristol, or London," said Alexia Course, the chief commercial officer at Transport for Wales.

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