Transport for Wales orders Stadler tram-trains for South Wales Metro

Transport for Wales (TfW), the Welsh Government-owned body running the country's rail services, ordered a fleet of Class 398 Citylink tram-trains from the Swiss manufacturer Stadler. Reports differ on whether the order dates to 2018 or to the contract signed in early 2019, which also covered a larger batch of conventional trains. The tram-train order was for 36 three-car units.

The vehicles were designed to run on both mainline railways and street-style tracks. They were dual-power, able to use overhead electric wires or onboard batteries, with a top speed of 100 km/h. They were meant to serve the Valleys lines north of Cardiff, which were being upgraded and electrified as part of the South Wales Metro, a multibillion-pound plan to modernise public transport around Cardiff and its surrounding valleys.

The order mattered because the tram-trains were a central part of the Metro's promise of more frequent, faster and more modern services. Building and approving the new type of vehicle, and finishing the infrastructure it needed, later proved slower than planned, and the fleet entered passenger service years after the original timetable.