Trains are to be reduced on the Heart of Wales line after a review by Transport for Wales.

The service will be cut from five trains a day to four after the completion of the TfW Future Timetable Review.

News that the service could be cut was announced earlier this year and has now been confirmed after public feedback.

Transport for Wales confirmed it would be “reducing Heart of Wales Line services from five through services to four per day from December 2024 and removal of the two late evening services to Llandovery and Llandrindod. Bus options are currently being explored.”

OTHER NEWS:

As part of the review, they also confirmed that the Cambrian Line would start having an hourly service from May 2026 – over a decade after it was initially proposed.

Transport for Wales also confirmed that it would only be in place over four months of the year with the “hourly service between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury to run from May to September.”

They confirmed there would also be the “removal of four services between Machynlleth and Pwllheli (two in each direction). Two further services will be retimed and will run between March and December.”

Get in touch

Share your views on this story by sending a letter to the editor. To get in touch email news@countytimes.co.uk, or fill in the form on this section of our website.

In a statement a spokesperson for Transport for Wales said: “In the wake of the Covid 19 pandemic, the way people use public transport for work, education and leisure has changed significantly.

“We’ve changed too, becoming a public railway in the truest sense of the word. Nearly every service we run requires some form of public subsidy at a time where budgets are increasingly stretched.

“Every penny we make above and beyond our operating costs, goes back into reducing the subsidy we receive.

“As a responsible operator it is imperative that we balance the needs for a regular, robust and reliable service within our budgets and against our targets to deliver more sustainable transport.

Help support trusted local news

Sign up for a digital subscription now: www.countytimes.co.uk/subscribe

As a digital subscriber you will get

  • Unlimited access to the County Times website
  • Advert-light access
  • Reader rewards
  • Full access to our app

“We have developed our future timetable to better align with the new travel habits and requirements of customers, whilst becoming a truly multimodal operator.

“That means we’re looking at demand and the opportunities for growth across bus and rail together.

“On the railway, some routes will see little change, others will see slightly different calling patterns better targeted to current needs, but in other areas we have had to make some tough decisions in order to ensure we provide capacity where most needed, grow revenue and ultimately reduce public subsidy.

“Regular stakeholder feedback on our timetables has fed into this, alongside passenger counts and close consideration of alternative travel options.”