Editing Cambrian Line (section)

==Services==
[[File:TfW class 158 Tywyn.jpg|thumb|right|Freshly painted and without branding, Transport for Wales Class 158 at Tywyn station, making the 11:30 service to Pwllheli on 21 February 2019]]

{{update|date=June 2023}}
As of May 2023, the Aberystwyth line has a near-hourly service and twelve direct trains between [[Aberystwyth railway station|Aberystwyth]] and [[Shrewsbury railway station|Shrewsbury]] daily,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cambrian Coast Timetable |url=https://tfw.wales/sites/default/files/2023-05/1%20Cambrian%20-%20May%202023.pdf |website=Transport For Wales}}</ref> with several extended to or from [[Birmingham International railway station|Birmingham International]]. Trains to Pwllheli typically operate once every two hours, either as separate connecting services running to/from Machynlleth, or as portions attached to Aberystwyth services with trains dividing or joining at Machynlleth as necessary.

Trains now run more frequently than before: resignalling of the railway and other infrastructure changes have allowed more trains to run to and from Aberystwyth since 2015. Connections are better too, as some trains run through from Birmingham New Street to Birmingham International.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saveseverntunnel.co.uk/timetable-08/Arriva%20Dec%2008%20-%20May%202009%20Draft%20Timetable%20Major%20Changes%20Poster%20-%20Dec%202008_3.pdf |title=Proposed timetable 2008 |access-date=8 July 2008 |website=Arriva Trains Wales  |publisher=Severn Tunnel Action Group |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107054004/http://www.saveseverntunnel.co.uk/timetable-08/Arriva%20Dec%2008%20-%20May%202009%20Draft%20Timetable%20Major%20Changes%20Poster%20-%20Dec%202008_3.pdf |archive-date=7 January 2009 }}</ref> From the 1990s until 2015, a service had typically been provided between Birmingham and Aberystwyth every two hours, with a reduced service on Sundays. From December 2009 to December 2022, connections were available through calls at {{rws|Smethwick Galton Bridge}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://railsmartr.co.uk/december-timetable-change-2022/|title=December Timetable Change – what's happening?|website=Railsmartr|archive-date=20 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230520220601/https://railsmartr.co.uk/december-timetable-change-2022/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Freight services over the line were absent for many years, after regular oil trains were halted in 1993. However, trials in 2003 and again in 2022 have led to the introduction of a regularly weekly train transporting timber from Aberystwyth to the [[Kronospan]] woodchip factory in [[Chirk]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-08-18 |title=Welsh timber is back on Welsh railways |url=https://forestmachinemagazine.com/colas-rail-has-agreed-a-permanent-contract-to-move-raw-timber-logs-from-the-coastal-town-of-aberystwyth-to-the-kronospan/ |access-date=2023-07-22 |website=Forest Machine Magazine}}</ref> Trains are operated by [[Colas Rail]] but are hauled by [[British Rail Class 97|Class 97]] locomotives belonging to [[Network Rail]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-06-22 |title=Colas Rail UK Freight collaborate with Kronospan for Chirk service |url=https://colasrail.co.uk/colas-rail-uk-freight-kronospan/ |access-date=2023-07-22 |website=Forest Machine Magazine}}</ref> due to the need for trains on the route to be compatible with the ETCS signalling used on the line (97/37 combinations with the 97 in front of the 37 can also be used). The 2003 trial, by contrast, had used a pair of [[British Rail MPV]] units sandwiched around a rake of seven open-sided timber wagons.