![]() Pontyclun Railway Station, June 2014 | |
General information | |
Location | Pontyclun, Rhondda Cynon Taf Wales |
Coordinates | 51°31′26″N3°23′32″W / 51.5239°N 3.3921°W |
Grid reference | ST035815 |
Managed by | Transport for Wales Rail |
Platforms | 2 |
Other information | |
Station code | PYC |
Classification | DfT category F2 |
History | |
Original company | South Wales Railway / Cowbridge Railway |
Pre-grouping | Great Western Railway / Taff Vale Railway |
Post-grouping | Great Western Railway |
Key dates | |
18 June 1850 | SWR station opened as Llantrissant for Cowbridge |
18 September 1865 | Cowbridge Rly station opened as Llantrissant |
c. 1866 | GWR (ex-SWR) station renamed Llantrissant |
by 1902 | both stations renamed Llantrisant |
21 September 1925 | Stations amalgamated |
2 November 1964 | Closed |
28 September 1992 | Reopened as Pontyclun |
Passengers | |
2018/19 | ![]() |
2019/20 | ![]() |
2020/21 | ![]() |
2021/22 | ![]() |
2022/23 | ![]() |
Notes | |
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road |
Pontyclun railway station is an unstaffed,minor railway station in Pontyclun,in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf,South Wales. The station is at street level,on Station Approach,Pontyclun. It is a stop on the South Wales Main Line,served by trains on the Maesteg Line,and occasionally by the Swanline Cardiff to Swansea regional services,as well as one early-morning daily service to Manchester and a late-night daily service to Carmarthen. The station and all trains are operated by Transport for Wales Rail. It is 181 miles 40 chains (292.1 km) from the zero point at London Paddington,measured via Stroud. [1]
The station was rebuilt and reopened under British Rail as Pontyclun on 28 September 1992. [2] It was previously called Llantrisant station and was originally two separate railway stations that were merged in 1925,those originally belonging to the South Wales Railway and the Cowbridge Railway, [3] whose successors,the Great Western Railway and the Taff Vale Railway respectively,had amalgamated in 1922.
The first section of the South Wales Railway (SWR),that between Chepstow and Swansea,opened on 18 June 1850. [4] The original stations on that line included one named Llantrissant for Cowbridge. [3]
The station became a junction with the opening of the first section of the Ely Valley Railway (EVR) to Tonyrefail on 2 August 1860, [5] although passenger services along that line did not begin until 1 August 1865. [6] The EVR opened a branch to Brofiskin Colliery in 1862, [7] and another railway,the Llantrisant and Taff Vale Junction Railway,which opened in December 1863, [8] intended to use part of that branch to gain access to Llantrisant via a connection at Maesaraul Junction,but in order to do this,the Brofiskin branch had to be altered to mixed gauge –this occurred in December 1864. [9]
The station name was simplified to Llantrissantc. 1866, [3] by which time the SWR had amalgamated with the Great Western Railway (GWR) in 1863. [10] Adjacent to this station was the terminus of the Cowbridge Railway,which opened on 18 September 1865,originally being named Llantrissant. [3] The Cowbridge Railway was leased by the Taff Vale Railway (TVR) in 1876,and absorbed by that concern in 1889. [11] Both the GWR and TVR stations had their names amended to Llantrisant by 1902. [3] The TVR in its turn amalgamated with the GWR on 1 January 1922,and on 21 September 1925 their respective stations were merged as a single station. [3]
Llantrisant was a major intermediate station on the South Wales Main Line. It consisted of two central through platforms and bays for the Ely Valley line,the Llantrisant &Taff Vale Junction line and the branch to Cowbridge and Aberthaw. [12] The station was closed on 2 November 1964. [3] Under the auspices of Regional Railways sector of British Rail and Mid Glamorgan the station was reopened. The station was rebuilt and reopened as Pontyclun on 28 September 1992. [2]
Extensive sidings existed around the station for the coal and mineral traffic generated by the mines in the area. At least the line to Cwm Colliery was in regular use until 1984.[ citation needed ]
A single track railway runs north from Pontyclun station - the remnants of the Llantrisant and Taff Vale Junction Railway. The track turns east at Talbot Green to run roughly parallel to the Afon Clun,alongside the north of the A473,which runs between Pontypridd and Bridgend. At Cross Inn the track turns north east,running south of Llantrisant and north of Caerau Hillfort,an Iron Age enclosure. Originally,it ran to the Cwm Coking Works at Tynant,Beddau,just past the former station Llantwit Fardre,although the track has been totally dismantled and the trackbed is now a cycle path that currently terminates at Westfield Crescent,Cross Inn. None of the original railway paraphernalia remains intact between Talbot Green and Pontyclun,apart from a footbridge with cages above the former track (to prevent people throwing things (or themselves) onto the trains,tracks or coal wagons) that crosses the A473 where it meets the A4222 near Leekes. The track remains embedded in the road where it crosses the A473,and warning lights were at the roadside and road signs warned drivers to stop if they saw warning lights flash at the level crossing but these were removed during construction of the cycle path. A consultative study in 2006 (Sewta Rail Strategy Study) considered the possibility of reopening the Pontyclun to Beddau branch line,as a passenger line rather than just for freight. This would require new stations at Talbot Green,Llantrisant,Gwaun Meisgyn and Beddau (Tynant). [13]
A locomotive depot, known as Llantrisant, was situated between the station and Mwyndy Junction, on the eastern side of the curve. It housed around 20 locomotives, and closed in October 1964. [14]
Pontyclun station is unstaffed. It has neither ticket gates nor barriers. The station has no ticket office. passengers can purchase tickets from the station platform self-service ticket machine, on board trains or at their destination. Both platforms have shelters. The station car park is free-of-charge to rail users.
The station has 2 platforms:
Mondays to Saturdays there is an hourly service eastbound to Cardiff Central, with most continuing to Newport, Chepstow, Lydney, Gloucester and Cheltenham Spa, as well as an early-morning service to Manchester via Cardiff, Newport and the Welsh Marches Line via Hereford, Shrewsbury and Crewe. [15] Westbound, services continue to Bridgend and Maesteg. These services are operated mainly by Class 170 Turbostar units.
On Sundays the service decreases slightly. There is roughly a 2-hourly service to Maesteg however there are also four services a day to Manchester Piccadilly via Hereford and Shrewsbury, the latter of which is usually operated by either Class 158 Express Sprinter or Class 175 Coradia units.
A few early morning and late evening services take the spur to Ninian Park to continue onto Cardiff Central alongside Canton sidings, to retain route knowledge.
Preceding station | ![]() | Following station | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Cardiff Central | Transport for Wales Maesteg Line | Llanharan | ||
Ninian Park limited service | ||||
Cardiff Central | Transport for Wales South Wales Main Line | Pencoed | ||
Disused railways | ||||
Terminus | Great Western Railway Ely Valley Railway | Coed Ely Line and station closed | ||
Terminus | Llantrisant and Taff Vale Junction Railway Pontypridd-Llantrisant | Cross Inn Line and station closed | ||
Terminus | Taff Vale Railway Llantrisant-Aberthaw | Llanharry Line and station closed | ||
Historical railways | ||||
Peterston Line open, station closed | Great Western Railway South Wales Main Line | Llanharan Line and station open |
The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in stages in 1840 and 1841.
Cardiff Central is a major station on the South Wales Main Line. It is located in the capital of Wales, Cardiff, 170 miles 30 chains (274 km) down the line from London Paddington, via Stroud. It is one of the city's two urban rail network hubs, along with Cardiff Queen Street. Opened in 1850 as Cardiff station, it was renamed Cardiff General in 1924 and then Cardiff Central in 1973.
From 1839 the Trustees of the Marquis of Bute, operated a large dock operation in Cardiff, the "Bute Docks". This was very successful, but was overwhelmed by the huge volume of coal exported through Cardiff. At the same time it was seen that railway companies, especially the Taff Vale Railway (TVR), were making money conveying the coal to the docks.
The Rhymney Railway was a railway company in South Wales, founded to transport minerals and materials to and from collieries and ironworks in the Rhymney Valley of South Wales, and to docks in Cardiff. It opened a main line in 1858, and a limited passenger service was operated in addition.
Pontypridd railway station serves the town of Pontypridd in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It is located at the junction of the Merthyr line and the Rhondda line and has for many years been the only station serving the town.
Beddau is a large former mining village situated within the South Wales Valleys around 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from Llantrisant and 4 miles (6.4 km) from the larger town of Pontypridd in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales.
Treforest railway station is a railway station serving the village of Treforest, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It is located on the Merthyr Line and the Rhondda Line 18 km north west of Cardiff Central. Passenger services are provided by Transport for Wales.
Talbot Green is a town just north of the M4 motorway, in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales in the United Kingdom. The town is part of Llantrisant Community Council.
The South Wales Railway was a main line railway which opened in stages from 1850, connecting the Great Western Railway from Gloucester to South Wales. It was constructed on the broad gauge. An original aspiration was to reach Fishguard to engender an Irish ferry transit and transatlantic trade, but the latter did not materialise for many years, and never became an important sector of the business. Neyland was the western terminus of the line until 1906.
The Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway was a Welsh railway company formed to connect the upper end of the Rhondda Fawr with Swansea, with the chief objective of transporting coal and other minerals to Swansea docks. It was incorporated in 1882, but at first the connection to Swansea from Briton Ferry was refused.
Church Village is a large village in the historic parish and community of Llantwit Fardre, located within the Taff Ely district of the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf in Wales. The village is centrally located being around 4 miles (6.4 km) from the local principal towns of Llantrisant to the southwest and Pontypridd to the north and is situated around 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Cardiff city centre.
The Afon Clun is a 14-mile (23 km) long tributary of the River Ely, in the counties of Cardiff and Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Its bedrock is predominantly of sandstone. Beginning on the western slope of The Garth the river is fast-flowing, in clear shallow water with a hard substrate, flowing to the south of Llantrisant and generally west to its confluence with the River Ely at Pontyclun, falling 715 feet (218 m) over its course.
The Llantrisant and Taff Vale Junction Railway was a railway company that constructed a standard gauge line in South Wales, connecting Llantrisant and the Taff Vale Railway near Treforest. It ran through thinly populated country, and linked to a number of iron mines, collieries and other mineral sites. It opened in stages in 1863 and 1864. In 1865 through passenger trains from the Cowbridge Railway ran over the line, to Pontypridd, although for some time there were no passenger stations on its own network. At the Llantrisant end, it was reliant on broad gauge railway companies which were not always friendly to it. The company leased its line to the Taff Vale Railway in 1870.
The Llancaiach Branch railway line was a mineral branch line in Glamorganshire, South Wales. It was authorised in 1836 as part of the Taff Vale Railway, and its purpose was to connect collieries at Llancaiach and bring their output to Cardiff for onward shipment. It was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and built on the standard gauge. It opened in 1841 from a junction with the Merthyr line immediately south of Abercynon. It was intended to be horse worked, and included a self-acting rope-worked inclined plane near the junction. The collieries were slow to use the line, preferring their customary use of a tramroad and the Glamorganshire Canal, and the value of the line was diminished when the Taff Vale Extension line, an east-west connecting line belonging to the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway, intersected it and cut off the colliery connections, and the line became dormant.
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The Maerdy Branch was a railway branch line in South Wales. Financed and operated by the Taff Vale Railway, on amalgamation it became part of the Great Western Railway in 1923. Designed and mainly operated as a coal mining freight railway, its creation and demise was wholly defined by the South Wales Coalfield.
Tonteg Halt refers to two railway stations serving the township of Tonteg in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. They were located on the Llantrisant and Taff Vale Junction Railway and latterly on the Barry Railway under the Great Western Railway.
The Ely Valley Railway (EVR) was a broad gauge railway company in South Wales, which opened a mineral line between Llantrisant station on the South Wales Railway main line and pits at Mwyndy and Penrhiwfer in 1860.
The South Wales Metro is an integrated heavy rail, light rail and bus-based public transport services and systems network currently being developed in South East Wales around the hub of Cardiff Central. The first phase was approved for development in October 2013. Works are currently under way, with a brand new depot under construction at Taff's Well and new trains being built by Stadler Rail in Switzerland. The development will also include the electrification of the core Valley Lines and new stations.
The Llantrisant – Aberthaw line was a railway line built in two parts.
Media related to Pontyclun railway station at Wikimedia Commons