The railway line is widely regarded as scenic, as it passes through the Cambrian Mountains in central Wales, and along the coast of Cardigan Bay in Snowdonia National Park.

Since early 2009, recorded timekeeping has improved – a considerable achievement, considering that the route has been the testing ground for brand new signalling technology previously unused on the British railway network.

[6] The upgrade was expected to cost £59 million and was to be completed by December 2008,[7] but the system was only released, for limited testing between Pwllheli and Harlech, in February 2010.

[8] Ansaldo STS were the principal contractors for the upgrade, with Thales as sub-contractors for the Telecomms and Eldin as installation subcontractors for all elements of UK infrastructure.

Ansaldo installed ERTMS In Cab ETCS (European Train Control System) level 2, class 1, specification V2.3.0 in 2011 (as noted below).

The driver familiarisation and practical handling stage of the rehearsal provided an excellent opportunity to monitor the use of GSM-R voice in operation on this route.

On 18 March 2011, the final commissioning phase for the ERTMS system across the whole Cambrian route started, including layout alterations at Welshpool and Talerddig which would facilitate a desired increase in service frequency.

At 07:20 on 26 March 2011, the New ERTMS signalling system was placed into operational use across the Cambrian Line controlled from Machynlleth, some 40 minutes ahead of the planned schedule.

An initial assessment by the operating company was not favourable: problems with the design and installation of the in-cab displays were identified and infrastructure failures included the control system becoming "confused" by common train movements, such as changes of speed or shunting into the depot.

[13] The UK Government Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced on 21 August 2020 that £3m in funding had been authorised to advance plans to upgrade signalling on the 241 km (150 mi) Cambrian line from Shrewsbury Sutton Bridge Junction to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli.

A westbound stopping train from Whitchurch set off from Abermule without the correct authority, and collided head-on with an eastbound express from Aberystwyth.

An underlying cause of the incident was that the signalling system now in use on the lines from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli did not interface with the automatic level crossings on these routes.

[15] On 2 September 2009, a Class 97/3 locomotive, operated by Network Rail, collided with a Fiat Punto on an unmanned level crossing near Penrhyndeudraeth.

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.

The 2003 trial, by contrast, had used a pair of British Rail MPV units sandwiched around a rake of seven open-sided timber wagons.

Before the 2011 season, WCR issued a statement stating that due to Network Rail's implementation of the new European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) signalling on the Cambrian Coast, which necessitated new in-cab signalling equipment, the seasonal steam services had to cease running because no system was yet available for fitment in steam locomotives.

Following an absence of 14 years it was announced in February 2024, that as part of trials for the fitment of the new ETCS signalling system to steam locomotives, 60163 Tornado is to run overnight testing trains between Shrewsbury and Newtown.

Major structural problems with Barmouth Bridge resulted in the withdrawal of services between 1980 and 1986[25] and the line was threatened with closure before ultimately being repaired and reopened.

A new temporary bridge was due to open in Spring 2014, but this plan had been scrapped in favour of running a convoy system on the A496 road that served as the diversionary route.

In January 2014, the Coast line from Dovey Junction was closed to all trains after two sections of track between Tywyn and Barmouth were severely damaged by storm-force winds and tidal surges at the beginning of the month.