Knighton railway station

Knighton railway station serves the market town of Knighton in Powys, Wales, although the station itself is located in Shropshire, England (the border is immediately adjacent to the south side of the station). It lies 32 1⁄2 miles (52.3 km) south west of Shrewsbury (by railway line) on the Heart of Wales Line.

Knighton
Welsh: Trefyclawdd
Location
PlaceKnighton
Local authorityShropshire Council
Coordinates52.345°N 3.042°W / 52.345; -3.042
Grid referenceSO291723
Operations
Station codeKNI
Managed byTransport for Wales
Number of platforms2
DfT categoryF1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15 23,022
2015/16 21,626
2016/17 20,714
2017/18 21,440
2018/19 21,892
History
1861Knighton Railway station opened
1865Present station 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 Knighton from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

The railway station is located below street level at Station Road beside the River Teme and about 1⁄2 mile (0.8 km) from the centre of the town. All trains serving the station are operated by Transport for Wales, who also manage the station.

History
Trains meet at Knighton Station in 1962
The refurbished station in 2018

The station was built in 1865, although the Knighton Railway route from Craven Arms had reached here four years previously. The present station dates from the opening of the Central Wales Railway to Llandrindod Wells. From here the line begins to climb as it heads west into Wales (on gradients that reach 1 in 60 in places), eventually reaching a summit near Llangynllo some 980 feet (300 m) above sea level.

In 2004 the station was partially refurbished, with visual display units installed to display train departure times, and enhanced disabled access on the northbound platform. The station building still stands, but is not used for railway purposes. Tickets must be bought on the train (as the station is unstaffed), whilst there are waiting shelters provided on each side and a customer help point situated on platform 1.[1]

There are two platforms at the station today, although from 1964 until 1990 only a single line and platform (the current southbound one) was used. The 30 miles (48 km) long block section between Craven Arms and Llandrindod Wells was considered to be a capacity bottleneck (even on such a lightly used line) however and following the modernisation of the route signalling in 1986,[2] an additional passing loop was installed here to provide extra capacity, with the disused second platform being refurbished and returned to use by British Rail. The northbound loop (and platform) was out of action for more than two years but was put back into use by Network Rail in September 2010 following the replacement of the old automatic points (which were obsolete) with new electrically-worked ones.

Proposed Knighton to Presteigne railway

The plans for a proposed Knighton to Presteigne Railway were deposited on 30 November 1865.[3]

Services
View from the road; the England-Wales border runs through the car park

There are four trains a day in each direction (to Shrewsbury northbound and Swansea southbound) from Monday to Saturday; a fifth early morning service runs to Llandrindod Wells and then back to Shrewsbury for commuters except on Saturdays; two services each way call on Sundays.[4]

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Knucklas   Transport for Wales
Heart of Wales Line		   Bucknell

Notes
  1. Knighton station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 7 April 2017
  2. Central Wales Light Railway (Amendment) Order 1990 Archived 7 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine www.opsi.gov.uk; Retrieved 2009-03-02
  3. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/ba21389b-b6c9-4749-9cf6-23d31de1fd68
  4. GB National Railway Timetable December 2018 Edition, Table 129 (Network Rail)

Further reading
  • Organ, John (2008). Mitchell, Vic (ed.). Craven Arms to Llandeilo. West Sussex: Middleton Press. figs. 24-31. ISBN 9781906008352. OCLC 648080889.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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