{"id":60890,"date":"2025-11-16T14:00:33","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T14:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=60890"},"modified":"2025-11-16T09:03:40","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T09:03:40","slug":"tram-train-depot-at-taffs-well-officially-opened-by-king-charles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=60890","title":{"rendered":"Tram-Train depot at Taffs Well officially opened by King Charles"},"content":{"rendered":"

His Majesty King Charles officially opened the South Wales Metro Depot in Taff\u2019s Well on Friday 14th<\/sup> November 2025. The new structure has been built to house 36 Stadler built Citylink tram-trains which are due to start entering service next year as conventional trains ahead of a planned cross-city tram route, due to open in 2028.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

King Charles met with staff at the depot and also took a journey in the driver\u2019s cab on one of the tram-trains with children from three local schools and community representatives invited to join the celebrations.<\/p>\n

The new depot covers 5 hectares and as well as the depot provides space for stabling for all 36 of the Citylink vehicles. An Integrated Control Centre is also on site and this has already been opened and is in full use. It cost \u00a3100 million and provides over 400 jobs.<\/p>\n

Eluned Morgan, First Minister, said: \u201cImproving transport across Wales is one of my top priorities \u2013 investing in high quality transport which is more reliable, more convenient and more enjoyable to use. \u201cWe are already seeing the significant benefits of our investment in the South Wales Metro.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetter services, brand-new trains and Pay-As-You-go ticketing have transformed travel for passengers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe opening of the Taffs Well Depot marks a major milestone in our \u00a31bn investment to upgrade the Core Valley Lines. It\u2019s part of the behind-the-scenes but essential infrastructure which will make a big difference to people in their daily lives, whether making it easier to go to work or training, or exploring the country on our fantastic rail network.\u201d<\/p>\n

James Price, Transport for Wales CEO, added: \u201cIt\u2019s been a pleasure to host his Majesty, King Charles at Taff\u2019s Well today and for him to tour our South Wales Metro Depot. With electrified railways, brand-new trains and a state-of-the-art depot, the South Wales Metro is transforming the way people travel in the region, and most importantly connecting people and communities to opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in the final stages of electrifying 170 km of track and have already introduced our first electric trains onto the network, alongside pay as you go ticketing for our customers. We\u2019re excited to start introducing the brand-new tram-trains next year, as we continue to transform travel and attract people to use public transport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to take this opportunity to thank all our team and construction partners for their hard work to deliver the new depot. I\u2019d especially like to thank the local community in Taff\u2019s Well for their support and patience throughout the major construction project and for helping us name it locally as \u2018The Walnut Tree\u2019 Depot\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

As exciting as the King visiting to officially open the depot is, the press release actually confirms something which many would have predicted \u2013 the first tram-train will not be entering service in 2025 after all.<\/p>\n

The plan is now that the first of the Citylinks will carry passengers in spring 2026. Daylight Testing began in September, although has not been consistent up until now. Testing will be continuing and will be more frequent in the coming months as the first batch of crew start their training on their use.<\/p>\n

When they do enter service they will be used as just conventional trains on the Rhondda, Merthyr and Cardiff City lines, and the Cardiff Bay branch. From 2028 when the Cardiff Central to Cardiff Bay tramway is built they will be used on that service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

His Majesty King Charles officially opened the South Wales Metro Depot in Taff\u2019s Well on Friday 14th November 2025. The new structure has been built to house 36 Stadler built Citylink tram-trains which are due to start entering service next … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[66],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60890"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60890"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60891,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60890\/revisions\/60891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}