The proposals include Cardiff Cross Rail, an east-west light rail link from Newport Road to Creigiau via Cardiff Central station, and the Cardiff Circle Line, an orbital light rail line which will use existing heavy rail alignments with a new connection from Coryton to the Pontypridd - Cardiff Central line between Taffs Well and Radyr.
Cross Rail will run via the docks, Lloyd George Avenue and the City Line to the northwest of Cardiff and into Rhondda Cynon Taff. The project is intended to provide direct, frequent links between the bay and Cardiff Central and improve transport access for economically-challenged areas of the city such as Splott, Tremorfa and Ely.
The Circle Line project includes upgrading the existing Coryton and City lines to accommodate four services per hour in each direction.
Cardiff Council says Cross Rail will also directly address the need to link major new residential developments in the northwest with the rest of the city to avoid unmanageable congestion.
The light rail plans build on the South Wales Metro project, which will revitalise the Valley Lines network by 2023 with infrastructure upgrades and a new fleet of tram-trains.
Other measures proposed in the city’s transport vision include: a new park-and-ride station at Junction 32 of the M4 highway, which will be linked to the Circle Line; a new rapid bus network; new safe cycleways and walking routes linked to the bus, rail and tram networks, and an integrated fares system for multimodal journeys.
“Cardiff's transport network needs to change,” Thomas says. “It was originally designed for a city with a population of 200,000, but today our population is closer to 400,000 and there are another 80,000 commuters travelling into the city by car every day.
“It's clear to everyone that this situation is unsustainable. We have a network which is already creaking.
"It is clear we won't deliver this [vision] overnight, but we are today bringing forward the council's aspiration while fully recognising that we will have to work effectively with Welsh Government and other partners. We will also need to have a serious public conversation about how this vision can be funded.”
