This timeline is by no means a definitive blow-by-blow account of the trials and tribulations of the re-opening saga but should provide a modest guide to the complexities of re-introducing passenger stations and trains to a line around 15 miles long and no regular passenger services since 1962.

More details of the Ebbw Vale re-opening can be gleaned from the South Wales Argus "ThisIsGwent" website archive pages. Using the hyperlink (a new browser page will open), insert the search word rail or railway and see what pops up!

June 2001
Blaenau Gwent council indicating rail services could be introduced back to the western valleys as soon as 2004. The council had been approached by rail development bodies in central Government to make early applications for cash from special funds for new rail services. Figures around £30m were being mooted as a realistic cost of re-introducing passenger services to Ebbw Vale at a Parkway station near the steelworks that was scheduled to close in 2002. Proposals were indicating possible extension to Abertillery at some point.

The council also commissioned a feasibility study and a business plan showing the impact on the labour market and local economy.

January 2002
The Welsh Assembly announces the intension to open the rail link from Ebbw Vale to Cardiff for passenger use. Part of a multi-million pound package to revitalise Gwent's steel communities in Newport and Ebbw Vale.

June 2002
Criticism was levelled at rail strategists regarding re-opening the stretch of the line which would link Ebbw Vale and Newport (Park Jcn. - Gaer Jcn.). Railtrack were indicating a seven-year delay until an Ebbw Vale - Newport service could be opened due to the signal work which is needed. A shortage of contractors or engineers prepared to undertake the work was cited by Railtrack as one obstacle. Indications were pointing to the proposed use of a bus link between Rogerstone and Newport for the interim period.

July 2002
The Corus plant at Ebbw Vale closed with the last shift of 5/6 July.

M.R.S. 'Demon Docker' railtour reaches the locked gates at the southern limit of the site on the afternoon of Sat. 6th July.

Gaer Jcn. and its signalling is at the centre of debate as to why it should take until 2008 to modernise, thus delaying the Newport link with Ebbw Vale. A report by WS Atkins Rail (Derby) claimed the work could be done much sooner and with minimal alteration by adding a stand-alone signalling system at Newport which would also bring into use the existing unused platform (Platform 4). The report was dismissed by a National Assembly spokesman as "speculative and unofficial".

August 2002
Railtrack said it is possible the Newport link could be restored earlier than planned and for as little as £700,000. The date of 2008 was also the 'latest' date they could predict the work can be completed, ie. it would be done no later than 2008. It wasn't so much the money that was holding back the work but the resources, particularly people.

January 2003
Proposals for the first six stations were exhibited at a number of locations in the western valley including Tesco at Abertillery, Llanhilleth Institute, Newbridge Leisure Centre and Oxford House in Risca.

A total of £7 million already pledged from the Corus Regeneration Fund was boosted by the announcement of £11 million to come from the National Assembly. The Assembly also announced that it would provide a shortfall of £4 million for capital funding of the £27.7 million rail scheme. A further sum of several million pounds was expected in Objective 1 money.

The Strategic Rail Authority stated they would not provide the £2.5m subsidy required each year for the first 3 years of the Ebbw Vale - Cardiff service. The W.A. stepped in and said they would cover it as the scheme would have been more or less stopped in its tracks without it.

November 2003
Caerphilly council refused planning permission for Lafarge Aggregates Ltd. to use part of Crumlin's long-closed Navigation Colliery as a rail transfer facility for aggregates. The proposal was for 400 tonnes of stone to be delivered daily to the site by road from the Hafod Fach Quarry, tipped onto a purpose-made storage pad and loaded into freight trains. Objections to the appeal were heard from the Ebbw Valley Railway Project, which claimed the proposed use, for loading purposes, of the line to Ebbw Vale would prevent other services using it for significant periods of time. Blaenau Gwent Council representatives felt that it would be impossible to operate the proposed hourly service between Ebbw Vale and Cardiff/Newport if the freight facility was allowed permission.

January 2004
Lafarge Aggregates Ltd appealed against the refusal of planning permission for the rail transfer facility on the site of Navigation Colliery.

February 2004
Plans put in front of Newport council for a £1.2m station at Rogerstone consisting of a single platform, help point, pick-up and set down area, four cycle lockers and 56 park & ride spaces, with room for another 19. The land was reserved for the station by the council under a planning agreement with Westbury Homes, the developers of Afon Village.

April 2004
Lafarge Aggregates Ltd lose the appeal against the decision preventing them implementing the loading facility at Navigation Colliery, Crumlin.

May 2004
Planning consent granted by Caerphilly council for a new station in Bridge Street, Newbridge. A footbridge will link the two platforms with a new 107-space car park in the centre of the town. Outline permission has also been granted for a convenience store. The station is being seen as a key interchange on the Ebbw Vale line which should see a 35-minute service to Cardiff when trains commence in the Summer of 2006.

Proposals examined which would see the re-introduction of platform 4 at Newport in a bid to overcome the projected congestion caused by the Ebbw Vale service into the station. Network Rail looking to run a computer model to test whether an hourly service between Newport and Ebbw Vale can be accommodated.

March 2005
Work officially begins on the £27.7 million project to provide services from Ebbw Vale to Newport and Cardiff. Wales transport Minister Andrew Davies, indicated the expected opening date for an hourly service to Cardiff was put as the end of 2006 while Newport would have to wait until 2009. Various issues have been blamed for the delay in opening the Newport link including signalling problems and lack of capacity at Newport railway station.

Prior to the submission of a planning application to Blaenau Gwent county borough council, the plans for the proposed new station in Ebbw Vale were exhibited to the public in the Brewster public house car park, Victoria Business Park on 2nd & 3rd March '05, close to where the station would be built.

The clearance works for the entire route begun in January was completed on time and within the budget of £600,000.

April 2005
Invitations to tender for the detailed design and construction of signalling, structures and track went out on April 15 while those for the six stations went out approx. two weeks later. Both tenders must be returned by June 28. The contracts are expected to be awarded to the successful bidders in the autumn and construction will start next spring.

Planning consent has been granted for Newbridge and Rogerstone stations while Llanhilleth was due for submission at the end of April. Applications for Crosskeys and Risca Pontymister had yet to be submitted.

September 2005
By the end of the month, planning consent had been granted for the stations at Llanhilleth (rear of Commercial Rd.) and Ebbw Vale (Garden Festival car park on Glan Ebbw Terr., Victoria). The latter will be known as Ebbw Vale Parkway and have parking for 100 cars. Llanhilleth will have room for 50.
Consent for Cross Keys and Risca was still pending with Caerphilly planning dept.. Newbridge and Rogerstone have already been approved.

November 2005
The first week of the month saw the announcement that Amey Infrastructure Services had won the contract for the construction on phase 1 of the project which it was anticipated would see EV - Cdf. trains by mid-2007. Indications are that even with pressure coming to bear from a number of quarters, Newport will not see a service with EV until 2009.

December 2005
Caephilly Council's planning committee were to make visits to site in order to take a closer look at the proposals for the last two stations on the route to be considered for consent; Cross Keys and Risca Pontymister. A number of objections had been raised by local residents to the two proposals with a number of issues cited by objectors including loss of privacy, noise, dust during construction and the stations attracting anti-social behaviour. A decision on planning consent was expected this month.