Bridgend railway station

Bridgend
Welsh: Pen-y-bont
Station entrance
Location
Place	Bridgend
Local authority	Bridgend county borough
Grid reference	SS907798
Operations
Station code	BGN
Managed by	Arriva Trains Wales
Number of platforms	4
DfT category	C2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11	1.605 million
– Interchange	36,360
2011/12	1.578 million
– Interchange	39,659
2012/13	1.547 million
– Interchange	41,577
2013/14	1.670 million
– Interchange	57,114
2014/15	1.518 million
– Interchange	45,591
History
19 June 1850	Station opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Bridgend from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

The station in 1962

View northward, towards Port Talbot in 1962

Bridgend railway station (Welsh: Gorsaf Pen-y-bont) is a mainline railway station, serving the town of Bridgend, South Wales. It is located approximately halfway between Cardiff Central and Swansea at the point where the Maesteg Line diverges from the South Wales Main Line, and is the western terminus of the Vale of Glamorgan Line from Cardiff via Barry and Llantwit Major. It is the fifth busiest station in Wales, after Cardiff Central, Cardiff Queen Street, Newport and Swansea.

History

The station was opened on 19 June 1850, and both the main platform building and the 1877 pedestrian bridge are Grade II listed.^[1] The station was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Services on both branch lines from the station were withdrawn for a time in the 1960s & early 1970s (trains on the Vale of Glamorgan line fell victim to the Beeching Axe in June 1964, whilst Maesteg trains were withdrawn in July 1970), but because the lines remained in situ due to coal traffic for the Aberthaw Power Station, each one has since been reopened to passenger services.

Services

A First Great Western InterCity 125 service headed by 43004 departs Bridgend with a service to Swansea.

Passenger services are operated by Great Western Railway to and from London Paddington and Swansea, with some services extended to Carmarthen; and by Arriva Trains Wales to destinations across Wales.

To the west, Arriva Trains Wales trains run along the South Wales Main Line and West Wales Line to Swansea and then to Carmarthen, Pembroke Dock, Milford Haven or Fishguard Harbour.

Mainline services to Swansea and London run hourly (with extra services at peak hours), whilst the regional trains to Manchester Piccadilly via Shrewsbury and local trains to Maesteg and over the Vale of Glamorgan Line also run hourly; the Swanline local stopping trains to/from Swansea run every two hours.

Platforms

• Platform 1A
  • Arriva Trains Wales:
    • Aberdare via Llantwit Major, Barry and Cardiff Central (some services terminate at Cardiff Central).^[2]
    • Terminating services from Merthyr Tydfil and Cardiff Central. One morning service terminates here from Caerphilly
• Platform 1
  • Great Western Railway:
    • Swansea via Port Talbot Parkway and Neath.
    • Carmarthen via Swansea.
  • Arriva Trains Wales & Swanline:
    • Swansea via Port Talbot Parkway and Neath.
    • Maesteg via Wildmill.
    • Milford Haven via Carmarthen from either Cardiff Central or Manchester Piccadilly^[3]
    • Pembroke Dock via Carmarthen from either Cardiff Central or Manchester Piccadilly
    • Fishguard Harbour via Carmarthen from either Cardiff Central or Cheltenham Spa
    • Shrewsbury via Swansea on the Heart of Wales Line (limited service).
• Platform 2
  • Great Western Railway:
    • London Paddington via Cardiff Central and Reading.^[4]
  • Arriva Trains Wales & Swanline:
    • Cardiff Central services that start at Swansea.
    • Manchester Piccadilly via Crewe.^[5]
    • Cheltenham Spa via Newport & Gloucester from Maesteg.
• Platform 3
  • Arriva Trains Wales:
    • Maesteg via Wildmill.
    • Terminating services from Maesteg.

Platforms 1 and 2 are full length platforms used for all long distance services on the South Wales Main Line.

Platform 1A was opened in June 2005 by Andrew Davies to act as the terminus for the newly re-opened Vale of Glamorgan Line, whose trains now run through to/from either Aberdare or Merthyr Tydfil

Platform 3, has been re-commissioned as an overflow bay platform facing west, and is used for services from Maesteg.

Accidents and Incidents

• In December 1965 a fatal collision occurred with a derailed Class 47, D1671, and D6983 travelling to Swansea, as the result of a landslip. The damage was so severe, D6983 was the first EE Type 3 to be withdrawn and as a result, the only locomotive in the entire class not to receive a TOPS number. The wreckage blocked the South Wales mainline and the Vale of Glamorgan line. Trains had to be diverted via the Vale of Neath line until unluckily a landslip blocked that route also. After the lines reopened, the remains of both locomotives were sold to local scrap merchants R.S. Hayes and cut up the following year.^[6]
• On 5 May 2012, a dead body was found on the railway, near the station. The death was treated as unexplained.^[7]

References

1. Bridgend Monuments and Memorial Trail, p 18
2. GB National Rail Timetable 2015–16, Table 130
3. GB eNRT 2015-16, Table 128
4. GB eNRT 2015-16, Table 125
5. GB eNRT, Table 131
6. Morrison, Brian (1981). The Power of the 37s. Oxford: Oxford Publishing Co.
7. "Bridgend: rail death inquiry after man's body found". BBC News. BBC. 5 May 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.

External links

• Train times and station information for Bridgend railway station from National Rail

Coordinates: 51°30′25″N 3°34′30″W / 51.50694°N 3.57500°W