July 2024
I cover some of these issues and wider opportunities re Metro in the Cardiff Capital Region in my book, “How to build a Metro“, published on October 2024.
This station should have happened already!
PS Autumn/Summer 2025 – Planning issues removed and UK Gov via CSR have committed some funds (not enough yet) to progress some of the Burns Stations/services and Cardiff West. Still a debate as to the role/function/funding of Cardiff Parkway…and the welcome development of a PT connected business park seems to be progressing (esp re +ve news re potential for Rolls Royce)
Cardiff Parkway and the proposed Hendre Lakes Business Park[i] is in the news again. However, despite the current discussions and the planning obfuscation, the key issue and disappointment for me, is that the station wasn’t built years ago! The station proposal goes back decades, and the broader station/business park concept was first aired in about 2006/7 by Nigel Roberts then of Paramount Office Interiors and owner of the St Mellons business park. More important though, even then, the station had much wider utility than just serving a business park; it would provide a station on the SWML for tens of thousands of residents in the east of Cardiff that today still have no easy access to rail services locking in car dependency and/or limiting access to employment opportunities along the M4 corridor.
Figure 1 Illustration of Cardiff Parkway by Hendre Lakes
The case for the station is overwhelming and longstanding…
In fact, the station itself, along with others in the east of the city, have been positively identified in numerous studies, reports etc over the last twenty years, including
- 2007 SEWTA Prioritised Rail Strategy[ii]
- 2011 A Metro for Wales Capital City Region[iii]; I included the proposal in my first Metro report back in 2011
- 2013 SEWTA Rail Strategy
- 2013 South East Wales Integrated Transport Task Force Study
- 2013 A Cardiff Capital Region Metro
- 2013 Metro Impact Study[iv] – At the time of this study I actually recorded some narrative for a Week In-Week Out programme for BBC Wales from the proposed site of the station)
- 2020 South East Wales Transport Commission (Burns Study)[v]
- 2021 CCR Passenger Transport Rail Vision[vi]
- 2023 Western Gateway 2050 Rail Vision[vii]
- 2023 TfW recent consultation on the Burns Stations[viii]
I also summarised the wider Integrated Transport Grid concept[ix] along this corridor in 2020.
Figure 2 – SWML Concept (from SEWTC) and used by TfW
Figure 3 From TfW Burns Stations and Services Consultation in 2023
There is clearly an overwhelming transport case for a station at St Mellons that can
- Serve the existing large local residential population to provide easy access to Cardiff City Centre, Newport, Bristol, etc. Over 150,000 people live in the east of Cardiff with limited access to rail services
- Provide a bus/rail interchange with feeder services from across east and northeast Cardiff. The role of integrated bus services can extend the “catchment population” of the station very significantly.
- Take cars of the road – I am not a fan of P&R everywhere, but this location makes sense to allow people to park up and access Cardiff city centre, Newport City Centre and Bristol quickly and easily whilst also reducing city centre road congestion in both Cardiff and Bristol (and help make the case to re-allocate road space closer to the city centres for bus priority and Active Travel).
It is also necessary (as part of the larger programme) to help provide an alternative for trips to/from the many Origin/Destination points in the north and east of Cardiff by making possible short car trips to Parkway and its P&R facility to connect to a rail service, instead of using a car for the entire E2E trip. For example, someone living in Pontprennau or Old St Mellons wanting to go to Bristol would today almost certainly drive the entire trip; in future a short car trip to St Mellons Parkway can connect to the 4tph services planned for Bristol - Support economic development and inward investment via a business park that is connected to the public transport network – I expand on this below.
The plans brought forward by Cardiff Parkway Developments Ltd build on this body of data; and they have assembled a private sector proposal to build this station linked to the business park. I’m not close to, but am aware of, the planning issues vis a vis “the calling in”, that have held up progress.
The Parkway proposal is part of a proposals for radically enhanced public transport along the M4 corridor…
It should also be noted, studies have also set out and supported other stations in the east of the city. Primarily Cardiff East/Tremorfa (nr Newport Rd Retail Park which also will act as an interchange with the future full extension of Cardiff Crossrail[x]) and at Rumney near Capital Business Park. (PS Summer 2025 – Although that phase of Cardiff Crossrail – to an interchange with SWML at Cardiff East/Tremorfa is probably at least 5~8 years away – Cardiff Crossrail Phase 2 at the core of the network is the immediate priority)
The station development at Parkway also needs to be seen in the wider strategic context of these additional Cardiff stations and more importantly the upgrade of the Relief Lines and introduction of additional services to Cardiff from Bristol Temple Meads (as set out in the recent consultation).
In an ideal world, these would all be progressed in a single programme and funded by UK Gov via the DfT and delivered via NR in the same way they are progressing, for example the £10bn TransPennine Route Upgrade (TRU)[xi]. Remember, this is a non-devolved matter and for £1~1.5Bn UK Gov could probably also electrify the SWML to Swansea in addition to the relief line upgrades and the new 7 stations. As I have said before, UK Gov ought to fund the measures required to address the constraints at Cardiff West junction ASAP as well. PS Summer 2025 – ££ now available for some of this work
We still need high quality AND public transport connected business parks…
A challenge I often hear, is that we don’t need any more business parks – especially post covid. My counter, which I think is robust, is that many “office” occupiers, especially those with logistics or with particular security requirements, or want a more campus-based location, etc don’t want to, or can’t locate in a city centre (eg Pharma, biotech, advanced Mfg, etc). Yes, we need to support more city centre and public transport connected development (I have written at length on this matter[xii]), but this is in the context of the primary need to provide alternatives to, and descale the enormous volume of, exclusively car based “out of town” office parks and other developments (retail, housing, public services, etc).
Cardiff Parkway Business Park (Hendre Lakes) can really help, as it will be on the SWML with at least 4 local services an hour in each direction, services to Bristol Temple Meads and possibly London; although I suspect the introduction of a mainline station at Old Oak Common may prevent the option of most London services stopping at Parkway. With all main line services stopping at least every 30mins at Newport and Cardiff, Parkway will then be only be one stop away in just 5 minutes, every 15 mins or better using local South Wales or Bristol services. Remember when arriving at Paddington, Euston, etc one still has to change onto the London Underground or Crossrail to reach your final destination in London.
It is also self-evidently much better to encourage further development at a high-quality public transport connected location like Cardiff Parkway, than at places like Cardiff Gate, Langstone, Imperial Park, etc which are entirely car based and have plagued south Wales for decades contributing to the congestion on the M4. Our Net Zero and mode shift targets are pretty clear that we need to reduce car dependency.
There are always choices and compromises, but Cardiff Parkway is a sorely needed station for the city, the region and for its economic development. This is not just to provide an alternative for occupiers at existing and exclusively car-based locations, but to support inward investment opportunities that could be attracted to a high-quality, public transport connected site like Hendre Lakes.
Yes, I am concerned that we support only really sustainable economic development (and yes GDP is a flawed metric[xiii]), and wish to avoid the unnecessary encroachment of our natural environment. However, even with these existential challenges, a public transport connected business park that serves a wider purpose will deliver more benefits and outweigh any costs in my view.
We just need to get beyond the protracted planning issues and find a way of moving the project forward; and integrated with the wider SWML upgrade programme (including the Burns stations). Issues of how many platforms are served, which services, etc. will get washed out in the details. The rail service question will be led by DfT/NR with input from rail operators (given GWR is now in effect operating under a management contract not a franchise) – and in a new political environment for rail in Wales and the UK, I hope WG/TfW will have the necessary influence to specify which of TfW services can use Parkway.
Something a new UK Government should get behind ASAP….
We do need some clear messaging from government(s) asap to help secure the private sector investment lined up behind the parkway site. I for one want to pay credit to the Roberts family for committing so much time, energy and resource to this scheme for nearly 20 years. This is something UK Gov as well as WG, should quickly come together on, by committing to the full SWML programme that TfW have developed over the last three years (and advocated by the Western Gateway) AND Cardiff Parkway. It will be good for Cardiff, the Cardiff Capital Region, Wales…over the border to Bristol and for the UK economy as a whole.
[i] Cardiff Parkway Developments, Cardiff Hendre Lakes – Served by Cardiff Parkway
[ii] SEWTA Prioritised Investment Programme 2007, SEW21 – SEWTA Prioritised Investment Programme
[iii] Mark Barry, Cardiff Business Partnership/IWA 2011, “A Metro for Wales’ Capital City Region”iwa-metroreport.pdf
[iv] Mark Barry, Welsh Government, 2013 South Wales Metro: impact study | GOV.WALES
[v] Lord Burns, South East Wales Transport Commission, SEWTC: final recommendations | GOV.WALES
[vi] Mark Barry, Cardiff Capital Region, 2021 “Rail Passenger Vision” passenger-rail-vision
[vii] Western Gateway 2050 Rail Vision, 2023, Western Gateway Rail_Vision_2050
[viii] TfW, Burns Stations/Services Consultation 2023, New stations and services between Cardiff Central and BTM
[ix] M Barry, 2020, “A Public Transport Grid for the M4 Corridor”, A Public Transport Grid for the M4 Corridor
[x] M Barry, 2019, Cardiff Crossrail, A Cardiff Crossrail… – Mark Barry (swalesmetroprof.blog)
[xi] DfT , 2022, Transport update: Transpennine route upgrade – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
[xii] M Barry, 2024 Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in the Cardiff Capital Region (CCR) #3
[xiii] M Barry, 2024, What use is GDP on a planet with no trees or bees? – Mark Barry (swalesmetroprof.blog)
if i remember it was called in, but why? and after all this time i havent seen much decision about this call in which im sure just delays this project
I’m so frustrated this is being dragged on and on. I live in St Mellons and to get to the office in Bristol takes me nearly 2 hrs there and another 2 home on the days I go to the office. This kind of link would change my life.
We have been promised this desperately needed link for so many years. This has to go ahead as the benefits that this brings the whole of the east of the city and environmental benefits taking cars off the road. Not to mention the Welsh economy and business investment. Please just get this agreed!
One of the main reasons that Wales has to jump through so many hoops on transport issues is that the Transport portfolio is not devolved. Would it not be a good idea, therefore, to apply for Transport (in Wales) to be “Barnetised”? I hope all of these schemes come to fruition, particularly Cardiff Parkway, given the paucity of rail services that has prevailed in Eastern Cardiff for decades, not least because of Beeching’s lies sponsored by Marples and his road- building empire. What about the chunk of HS2 money that was said to be heading our way? That alone could cover most if not all of the current proposals, if it hasn’t already disappeared into the ether, that is. Finally, outside of Cardiff and South-East Wales, spare a thought for the archaic rail arrangements in the Swansea area, and the criminally under-used SDL (Swansea District Line). I understand that money may have been ring-fenced for the “South Wales metro”, but to see electrification reaching places like Aberdare, Merthyr and Rhymney before Wales’ second-largest conurbation is, frankly, a disgrace. Correlatively, the SDL is probably the single biggest waste of transport infrastructure in the whole of the country.
I have bee trying to get rail fully barnettised and devolved for 15 years! I have given evidence to Westminster and Senedd committees…. and met rail ministers. However, Whitehall and many Labour/Con MPs don’t want to do it!! I have written at length on this and my experience (see the blog from earlier this year – and will update in my book). Wales is getting shafted
I have also worked on the Swansea Metro and north Wales….and written about
When I served my apprenticeship, my home station was Uskmouth. Traveling by public transport from Gabalfa meant catching the 5 am bus on Western Avenue for Cardiff Central. It was quicker to cycle, giving me an extra hour in bed. The idea of catch a train to get from st Mellons to get into Cardiff would seem absurd to me even now.
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