Caernarfon railway station

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Caernarfon
Location
Place	Caernarfon
Local authority	Gwynedd
Operations
Managed by	Ffestiniog Railway
Platforms in use	1
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Caernarfon is the new northern terminus of the extended narrow gauge Welsh Highland Railway from Dinas and the station was opened on October 11, 1997. The railway between Caernarfon and Dinas was formerly part of the standard gauge Carnarvonshire Railway (later LNWR and LMS) between Caernarfon and Afon Wen which was closed by British Railways in December 1964, and the tracks lifted. The present Caernarfon station is on the old standard gauge trackbed adjacent to St. Helen's Road, opposite the former locomotive works of De Winton & Co. and beneath the high retaining walls of Segontium Terrace. The station buildings accommodate the booking office, a tourist shop and passenger facilities.

The narrow gauge line was built from Dinas to Caernarfon in 1997 thus providing the narrow gauge extension to Caernarfon of the Welsh Highland Railway that was originally authorised by Act of Parliament. Between Caernarfon and Dinas, the new Welsh Highland line shares the old standard gauge trackbed with the 'Lon Eifion' tourist cycle track. The line was extended from Dinas in 2000 on the old Welsh Highland Railway route, following the complete reconstruction of the railway, to Waunfawr and again in 2003 to Rhyd Ddu. The reconstruction of the Welsh Highland Railway from Rhyd Ddu to Porthmadog started in 2005. The train services are operated by the Ffestiniog Railway Company. In the winter of 2005/06 the passenger platform and run around loop at Caernarfon has been lengthened to permit the operation of trains up to 10 coaches long.

Northwards of the present Caernarfon station, the former standard gauge line ran through a tunnel, which is now used by a public road, to the site of the original Caernarfon station. The LNWR was under an obligation to build a station on this site (below Segontium Terrace0, however the town corporation waived its claim to this station.^[1]