Bridgend railway station

Bridgend railway station (Welsh: Gorsaf Pen-y-bont) is a main line station serving the town of Bridgend, south Wales. It is located approximately halfway between Cardiff Central and Swansea stations, at the point where the Maesteg Line diverges from the South Wales Main Line; it is also the western terminus of the Vale of Glamorgan Line from Cardiff. It is 165 miles (266 km) measured from London Paddington.

Bridgend
Welsh: Pen-y-bont
Station entrance, September 2018
Location
PlaceBridgend
Local authorityBridgend county borough
Coordinates51°30′25″N 3°34′30″W
Grid referenceSS907798
Operations
Station codeBGN
Managed byTransport for Wales Rail
Number of platforms4
DfT categoryC2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15 1.518 million
– Interchange  45,591
2015/16 1.541 million
– Interchange  47,840
2016/17 1.524 million
– Interchange  47,319
2017/18 1.527 million
– Interchange  48,739
2018/19 1.559 million
– Interchange  51,195
History
19 June 1850Station 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.

It is the fifth-busiest station in Wales, after Cardiff Central, Cardiff Queen Street, Newport and Swansea.

History
View from the east end of platforms 2 and 3 in 1962

The station was opened on 18 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Services on both branch lines from the station were withdrawn for a time in the 1960s & early 1970s (trains on the Vale of Glamorgan line fell victim to the Beeching cuts in June 1964, whilst Maesteg trains were withdrawn in July 1970), but because the lines remained in-situ due to coal traffic for the Aberthaw Power Station, each one has since been reopened to passenger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.

Platform 3 was a full length platform running east-to-west until the 1970s when it was removed following the closure of the Maesteg line to passenger traffic. The cafe/waiting area of platform 2 now occupies land where the track used to sit.

Platform 1A was opened in June 2005 by Andrew Davies to act as the terminus for the newly re-opened Vale of Glamorgan Line, with trains now running through to and from Aberdare.

A second, and fully accessible footbridge, was built in 2012 at a cost of £2.4m[2] and the main station ticket hall and entrance was refurbished in 2018 at a cost of £1.5million.[3]

Facilities
New fully accessible footbridge which was built in 2012

The station is fully staffed throughout the week, with the ticket office on platform 1 open from early morning until mid-evening (Monday to Friday: 05:45 – 19:00, Saturday: 07:00 – 19:00, Sunday: 07:40 – 19:15). A self-service ticket machine is also provided for use at other times and for the collection of pre-paid tickets. There is a waiting room and photo booth in the main building on platform 1, whist the amenities on platform 2 include toilets and a coffee shop. Train running details are offered via CIS displays, automatic announcements and timetable posters. Step-free access is available to all platforms via lifts in the accessible footbridge at the eastern end.[4]

Services
GWR Class 800 service to London

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

To the west, Transport for 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.

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Pencoed   Transport for Wales
Maesteg line
   Wildmill
Llantwit Major   Transport for Wales
Vale line
   Terminus
Cardiff Central   Transport for Wales
Swanline		   Pyle
Pencoed   Transport for Wales
South Wales Main Line		   Port Talbot Parkway
Cardiff Central   Great Western Railway
London – Swansea		   Port Talbot Parkway
  Historical railways  
Southerndown Road
Line open; station closed		   Barry Railway
Vale of Glamorgan Railway		   Terminus

Platforms
Class 143 in platform 1A
Platform 1
Platform 2
Patform 3

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, 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.[9]
  • On 5 May 2012, a dead body was found on the railway, near the station. The death was treated as unexplained.[10]
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References
  1. "Bridgend Monuments and Memorial Trail, p 18" (PDF).
  2. "ACCESS PLANS FOR BRIDGEND RAIL STATION UNVEILED". Network Rail Media Centre.
  3. Holden, Michael (17 May 2018). "First Minister for Wales opens revamped Bridgend Railway Station".
  4. Bridgend station facilities National Rail Enquiries
  5. Table 130 National Rail timetable, May 2017
  6. GB eNRT May 2017, Table 128
  7. GB eNRT May 2017 Edition, Table 125
  8. GB eNRT, Table 131
  9. Morrison, Brian (1981). The Power of the 37s. Oxford: Oxford Publishing Co.
  10. "Bridgend: rail death inquiry after man's body found". BBC News. BBC. 5 May 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
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