Dovey Junction railway station

Dovey Junction railway station (Welsh: Cyffordd Dyfi) is a railway station on the Cambrian Line in Wales. It is the junction where the line splits into the line to Aberystwyth and the Cambrian Coast Line to Pwllheli. Passenger services are provided by Transport for Wales. There is a single island platform.

Dovey Junction
Welsh: Cyffordd Dyfi
Dovey Junction with Aberystwyth line train (August 2016)
Location
Place	Derwenlas
Local authority	Powys
Coordinates	52.564°N 3.924°W / 52.564; -3.924
Grid reference	SN697980
Operations
Station code	DVY
Managed by	Transport for Wales
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	2,366
– Interchange	1,029
2015/16	3,740
– Interchange	7,748
2016/17	4,084
– Interchange	9,035
2017/18	4,434
– Interchange	9,312
2018/19	4,622
– Interchange	9,321
History
Key dates	Opened 1863 (1863)
1 July 1904	Renamed Dovey Junction
National Rail – UK railway stations
Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Dovey Junction from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

The station is in Powys, about 440 yards (400 m) NE of the junction of three counties: the current principal areas of Ceredigion, Powys and Gwynedd, corresponding to the traditional counties of Cardiganshire, Montgomeryshire and Merionethshire.

The station is in the midst of the large Dyfi National Nature Reserve, near the Cardigan Bay coast. There is no settlement here but, contrary to common belief, it is not completely isolated: a 0.6-mile (1 km) footpath provides passenger access to and from the hamlet of Glandyfi in Ceredigion and a main road (the A487).

History

The station was opened in 1863 as Glandovey Junction. It was renamed Dovey Junction in 1904.[1]

The station has been rebuilt twice in recent years: the original Cambrian Railways buildings were first replaced in the 1970s by a flat-roofed station building. This building was subsequently replaced in the 1990s by a simple bus shelter, having fallen into a state of disrepair and being far larger than required at this remote location.

The station platforms were raised in 2008 in conjunction with raising of the tracks, to reduce the likelihood of closure of this section of line due to flooding. The work was part of a major programme of work on the Cambrian Line, including ERTMS signalling to replace the previous RETB system and an extended (dynamic) passing loop at Welshpool to permit running an hourly service from Shrewsbury-Aberystwyth in the future.

Dovey Junction is often quoted as a defining feature of the Great Western Railway in Wales: its inheritance of junctions in unlikely and inconvenient locations. Other examples are Moat Lane Junction, Talyllyn Junction, Afon Wen and Barmouth Junction (renamed Morfa Mawddach in 1960).

Services

Trains call at least every two hours in each direction throughout the day (Mon–Sat), rising to once an hour during the morning and afternoon peaks and into the early evening. Platform 2 (east side) is used by services to/from Borth and Aberystwyth and platform 1 (west side) by trains along the coast to Barmouth and Pwllheli. Most trains serve both branches, with units joining or dividing at Machynlleth to make a 4-coach set east of there, though some trains (especially on Sundays) run between Birmingham or Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth only (some trains on both branches also start or end at Machynlleth).[2]

On Sundays, there is a 2-hourly service between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth all year, plus 3 trains each way in summer to/from Pwllheli but just a single train each way in the winter months.

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Machynlleth		Transport for Wales Birmingham International-Aberystwyth		Borth
		Transport for Wales Shrewsbury-Pwllheli		Penhelig

References

1. "Cambrian Railway Company. Alteration of Station Name". Montgomeryshire Echo. Wales. 16 July 1904. Retrieved 7 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
2. Table 76 National Rail timetable, May 2017

Further reading

• "The end of Dovey Jct's semaphores". RAIL. No. 82. EMAP National Publications. July 1988. p. 14. ISSN 0953-4563. OCLC 49953699.

External links

Media related to Dovey Junction railway station at Wikimedia Commons

• Train times and station information for Dovey Junction railway station from National Rail