It was definitely announced by the Westminster Government. If it isn't one of their projects, what on earth are they doing announcing it, with huge fanfare and publicity?

Fairly minor but 2 Cardiff stations will be getting some improvements this year...

Llandaf & Radyr stations (along with 3 others) will receive a share of £12m as part of the 'Access for All programme' to create step and obstacle-free routes to platforms and station entrances, through new foot bridges, lifts and ramps.

Work will start in May/June and all projects will be completed by end of this year or early 2015.

http://wales.gov.uk/newsroom/transport/2014/140320afa/?lang=en

all a bit of a mess
as I understand it nothing was signed and the uk gov at the original costs were pretty much going to fund the lot to Swansea.
however as with anything costs spiralled - I always thought they were low - and so when it comes to the fine print they are staying with the main line - bar Cardiff to bridgend which somewhow is classed as valley lines, and its up to welsh gov to fund the rest.
doable, but kills the metro aspects as its going to be a billion to fund electrification by the time it all comes round.
sad and messy. knowing some of the officials involved, no surprise mind.

It must mean the Vale of Glamorgan line, if not then there would be a big un-electrified section between Cardiff and Bridgend which is unlikely.

38 billion of investment by Network Rail and what do we get? Well by the looks of it nothing:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26810369

That news item is just announcing Network Rail's for CP5 that runs to 2019 and includes electrification of the Great Western main line to Swansea and the Valleys lines if they ever sort out the funding arrangements. It's true there doesn't appear to be much capital investment - a lot of the budget is just maintenance and upgrading signalling etc.

Just imagine how many massive bus shelters you could buy for £38bn!!

Is the electrification of the entire Great Western mainline costing 1bn? Must be remembered that that isn't just benefitting Wales but Oxford, Swindon, Bristol etc. If we're 5% of UK population a per capita share would be a couple of billion. However if rail is partialy devolved would we expect a smaller share, with WAG paying for some stuff out of their own budget.

If any power could be devolved to Cardiff Bay nothing would benefit Wales more than infrustructure.
Wales is being short changed is an understatement.
One M Road.
No Trams.
No electrified rail lines.
Incedible - criminal lack of investment by successive Westminster regimes.

Standing on Queen St platform I must admit that the new platform opposite looks like it's been done on the cheap.Not impressed with tarmac platform surface to say the least.

Queen Street Station is the most significant hub in the Valley Lines...
It deserves so much more....
If we dont believe in our own worth - why will others?
There is no ambition in the development..
A dire shame...

Aside from all the stuff about it being cheap, what is the access going to be to this new platform? How will you be able to get there? Is the front of the station being re-designed? Will it be something similar to what they did with the new platform at Central?

Just found a report from Network Rail concerning bridge works required in the Cardiff area to accommodate the electrification. Two quite busy road bridges are going to be demolished and rebuilt along with various other works. It may predate the decision to confirm the electrification as far as Swansea as nothing west of Canton is mentioned. Also Pellet street is still mentioned despite the bridge already being replaced as part of Capital Quarter.

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/projects/great%20western/electrification%20environmental%20statements/wales/cardiff/gwml%20electrification%20-%20cardiff%20council%20-%20environmental%20statement%20vol%201b.pdf

Sure I read somewhere too that the Windsor Road bridge is also being replaced, that report doesn't seem to mention it but fairly sure of it...

Windsor Road is definitely being replaced as it is structurally deficient

I do think it would improve the city centre if the railway bridges could be spruced up a bit. Walking under them is rather tatty.

Looks like Ely Bridge is also going to be replaced as part of the electrification. Saw a bit on WalesOnline about the Ely Papermill development no longer having to contribute something to its maintenance as Network Rail are replacing it in 2017. Tried to post before but the spam filter wouldn't let me and I gave up after multiple tries!

The whole process of putting in the infrastructure seems to be very slow. I travel to and from London by train every week and I keep an eye on what is being constructed. There does not seem to be any structure or plan to when they put the steel frames in place. On occasions a large group of them pop up from nowhere and then nothing for quite some time. Plus they seem to have given up just past Reading. If they had somebody putting in 1 frame and then another as soon as the last was put in then the whole project would be complete a lot sooner.

As i have brought up Reading, does anybody know what or why they are building that flyover type thing as you approach Reading station? It is a big construction job and as far as i can see it is just extra line built on stilts.

I read somewhere that the max line speed in the Welsh section of the GWR main line in 90MPH where as its 125MHP on the English side (there are some exceptions)
Could they spend the money getting the speed up (signalling/quad'ing etc) as this would have a far better time performance per buck thyan the electrification, when it comes.
Some trains I get back from London at 23:00 travel at a walking pace from the tunnel to Cardiff.

lol who is this MrJamesBrown

seems to know all the answers here .

Two seperate developments up north that will help the connectivity of rail from Cardiff:

1) Work has started on line between Wrexham and Chester reinstating a double track for larger part of its length. This will allow a greater frequency of trains to North Wales &

2) Halton curve in Runcorn being reconfigured to allow access from the west. This will allow trains from North Wales and Cardiff to run direct into Liverpool Lime Street (once again).

I'd assumed the Lime St train had been cancelled due to lack of passenger numbers. I'd never thought it was difficult to get there. Assumed it just went through Crewe. Did they not used to have the same train going to Manchester as Liverpool and it would split in two at Crewe? You had to make sure you were in the right half of the train I guess!