Bridgend railway station

Bridgend Welsh: Pen-y-bont
Station entrance, September 2018
General information
Location	Bridgend, Bridgend county borough Wales
Coordinates	51°30′25″N3°34′30″W / 51.50694°N 3.57500°W / 51.50694; -3.57500
Grid reference	SS907798
Managed by	Transport for Wales Rail
Platforms	4
Other information
Station code	BGN
Classification	DfT category C2
Key dates
19 June 1850	Station opened
Passengers
2019/20	1.508 million
Interchange	59,262
Southerndown Road Line open; station closed		Barry Railway Vale of Glamorgan Railway		Terminus

Platforms

Class 143 in platform 1A

Platform 1

• Platform 1A
  • Transport for Wales:
    • Aberdare via Llantwit Major, Barry and Cardiff Central (some services terminate at Cardiff Central). ^[7]
    • Terminating services from Rhymney 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.
  • Transport for Wales & Swanline:
    • Swansea via Port Talbot Parkway and Neath.
    • Maesteg via Wildmill.
    • Milford Haven via Carmarthen from either Cardiff Central or Manchester Piccadilly ^[8]
    • 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

• Platform 2
  • Great Western Railway:
    • London Paddington via Cardiff Central and Reading. ^[9]
  • Transport for Wales & Swanline:
    • Cardiff Central services that start at Swansea.
    • Manchester Piccadilly via Crewe. ^[10]
    • Cheltenham Spa via Newport & Gloucester from Maesteg.

Platform 3

• Platform 3
  • Transport for 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 2005 and is a bay platform which acts as the terminus for the Vale of Glamorgan Line.

Platform 3 was briefly recommissioned in the early 2000s as an overflow bay platform facing west (it was previously the through outer face of an island platform until removal in the mid-1970s), and was used for services from Maesteg, although has since fallen into non-use.

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 that 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. ^[11]
• On 5 May 2012, a dead body was found on the railway, near the station. The death was treated as unexplained. ^[12]

References

1. Cadw. "Bridgend Railway Station (W.Platform Building) (11306)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
2. Padgett, David (June 2018) [1989]. Munsey, Myles (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 3: Western & Wales (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. map 22A. ISBN   978-1-9996271-0-2.
3. "Bridgend Monuments and Memorial Trail, p 18" (PDF).
4. "ACCESS PLANS FOR BRIDGEND RAIL STATION UNVEILED". Network Rail Media Centre.
5. Holden, Michael (17 May 2018). "First Minister for Wales opens revamped Bridgend Railway Station".
6. Bridgend station facilities National Rail Enquiries
7. Table 130 National Rail timetable, May 2017
8. GB eNRT May 2017, Table 128
9. GB eNRT May 2017 Edition, Table 125
10. GB eNRT, Table 131
11. Morrison, Brian (1981). The Power of the 37s. Oxford: Oxford Publishing Co.
12. "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
• "Pembroke Coast Express - photos of the station in 1973, 1981 and 2015"