St Clears railway station

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St Clears
Level crossing, St Clears - geograph.org.uk - 580502.jpg
The station was right of the level crossing
General information
Location St Clears, Carmarthenshire
Wales
Coordinates 51°49′42″N4°29′32″W / 51.8283°N 4.4923°W / 51.8283; -4.4923
Grid reference SN283173
Platforms2
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original company South Wales Railway
Pre-grouping Great Western Railway
Post-groupingGreat Western Railway
Key dates
2 January 1854 (1854-01-02)Station opened
15 June 1964 (1964-06-15)Station closed

St Clears railway station served the town of St Clears, Carmarthenshire, Wales between 1854 and 1964. It was on the West Wales Line.

Contents

History

The station opened on 2 January 1854. [1] It was on the section of the South Wales Railway which opened that day between the temporary station near Carmarthen and Haverfordwest, [2] and was situated between Sarnau and Whitland. [3]

The station closed on 15 June 1964. [1] An attempt to reopen the station in 1973 was made by five local authorities and organisations, together with the Department of the Environment, which jointly agreed to fund construction of a new station at a total cost of £5,400 (equivalent to £27,000in 2021 [lower-alpha 1] ). [4] The new station would have consisted of concrete platforms adjoining both tracks and timber waiting shelters provided with electric lighting. [4] It had been hoped that works would be swiftly completed so that the first trains could call at St Clears by the end of Summer 1973, but this did not materialise. [4]

New reopening proposals

There has long been a local campaign for the reopening of the station, supported by Angela Burns AM and William Powell AM. [5] [6]

Locals started a Facebook campaign to reopen the station in 2010 which drew in thousands of supporters. The St Clears Times ran a community poll from 2010 and 95% of people who voted were in favour of opening the station.[ citation needed ]

There have been recent proposals to reopen the station as part of the Welsh Governments Rail infrastructure investment. [7] In 2019 it was shortlisted by Welsh Government for further assessment, along with three other stations (from an original longlist of 12) as part of a national strategy to improve transport links. [8] In 2020, funding was secured to reopen the station by 2024. [9] Some initial activities (groundwork and surveying) were carried out in February and March 2022. [10] Final design work has not been completed and a timetable for construction of the new station has yet to be announced. [11]

Routes

Preceding station Historical railways Following station
Sarnau
Line open, station closed		  Great Western Railway
South Wales Railway 		  Whitland
Line and station open
 Future services 
Carmarthen   Transport for Wales
West Wales line 		  Whitland

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 203. ISBN   1-85260-508-1. R508.
  2. ↑ MacDermot, E.T. (1927). History of the Great Western Railway, vol. I: 1833-1863. Paddington: Great Western Railway. pp. 572–3, 865.
  3. ↑ Conolly, W. Philip (January 1976). British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazetteer (5th ed.). Shepperton: Ian Allan. p. 7, section A1. ISBN   0-7110-0320-3. EX/0176.
  4. 1 2 3 "Topics: St. Clears to reopen". The Railway Magazine . 119 (866): 269. June 1973.
  5. ↑ "Station campaign picks up steam". BBC News Online . 4 February 2009. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
  6. ↑ "Fresh support for calls to reopen town's rail station". Carmarthen Journal . 25 January 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  7. ↑ "Two New Railway Stations Planned for Wrexham as Part of Welsh Government Rail Infrastructure Improvements".
  8. ↑ Mosalski, Ruth (28 August 2019). "The new railway stations which could be built in Wales". walesonline. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
  9. ↑ Ruth Davies (3 December 2020). "St Clears' new rail station welcomed by Carmarthenshire County Council". Tivyside Advertiser. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  10. ↑ "Work begins to re-open mainline railway station closed for over 50 years". Western Telegraph. 4 February 2022.
  11. ↑ Davies, Ruth (20 January 2023). "New St Clears station at Pembrokeshire gateway is 'long overdue'". Western Telegraph. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  1. ↑ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.


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