The Butetown Branch Line is a railway line in South Wales from Cardiff Bay and Butetown to Cardiff city centre. The service pattern comprises a mixture of shuttle services along the branch and through trains along the Rhymney Line to Caerphilly, or the . Railroad or railway tracks are used on railways, which, together with railroad switches (points), guide trains without the need for steering. ... South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the East and South, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the North and West. ... Cardiff Bay is the regeneration area created by the Cardiff Barrage which impounded two rivers to form a new freshwater lake around the former dockland area south of the city centre of Cardiff in south Wales. ... Butetown is a district of the city of Cardiff, Wales. ... The city centre in Cardiff is an area riddled with alleys and arcades, as well as a number of small shopping centres, including the Capitol, St. ... The Rhymney Line is a railway line in South Wales from Cardiff to Heath, Llanishen, Caerphilly, Bargoed and Rhymney. ... Caerphilly Castle Caerphilly (Welsh: Caerffili) is a town in Glamorgan, Wales, located at the bottom of the Rhymney Valley. ...

Originally, the branch was opened as part of the Cardiff Railway. In 1917, it was absorbed, along with the Taff Vale Railway) into the Rhymney Railway, before being allocated in 1923 to the expanded Great Western Railway. After the initial phases of the regeneration of the Cardiff Bay area, the stretch of line between Queen Street and Butetown station was re-opened, along with one platform at Butetown station itself (renamed Cardiff Bay), and services returned as part of Wales and West. The line is currently operated by Arriva Trains Wales (ATW) as part of the Valley Lines network. ATW replaced the previous franchise, Wales & Borders Trains in December 2003. The Cardiff Railway came into being from the need to service Bute Docks, so as to provide facilities for the traffic to and from the Docks. ... The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) is a railway in Glamorgan, South Wales, and is one of the oldest in Wales. ... The Rhymney Railway (Rhymney) was virtually a single stretch of main line, some twenty-five miles in length, by which the Rhymney Valley was connected to the docks at Cardiff in the county of Glamorgan, South Wales. ... The original Bristol Temple Meads station, first terminus of the GWR, is the building to the left of this picture The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company, linking South West England, the West Country and South Wales with London. ... On 14 October 2001 the former Wales and West company, a part of the National Express Group, was divided into two new companies, Wales and Borders Trains for services in Wales and Central England and Wessex Trains for the West Country and South West England. ... An Arriva train in North Wales Class 158, no. ... The Valley Lines are the local train services in South Wales from Cardiff. ... Class 158, no. ... 2003: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December - → A timeline of events in the news for December, 2003. ...