West Wales Line
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Principal Stations (from east to west)
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The West Wales Line is a railway line from Swansea to West Wales. It connects the counties of Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire with South Wales. It has three branches, to Fishguard, Milford Haven and Pembroke Dock.
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[edit] The route
The cities, towns and villages served by the route are listed below. Towns in bold are served by InterCity express services.
Swansea to Whitland
- Swansea
- connection with South Wales Main Line
- Gowerton (request stop)
- Llanelli
- connection with Heart of Wales Line
- Pembrey and Burry Port
- Kidwelly (request stop)
- Ferryside (request stop)
- Carmarthen
- Whitland
Pembroke Dock branch
- Narberth (request stop)
- Kilgetty (request stop)
- Saundersfoot (request stop)
- Tenby
- Penally (request stop)
- Manorbier (request stop)
- Lamphey (request stop)
- Pembroke
- Pembroke Dock
Milford Haven branch
- Clunderwen (request stop)
- Clarbeston Road (request stop)
- Haverfordwest
- Johnston (request stop)
- Milford Haven
Fishguard Harbour branch
- Clunderwen (request stop)
- Clarbeston Road (request stop)
- Fishguard Harbour
[edit] Services
Most services are run by Arriva Trains Wales, who run an hourly service from Manchester Piccadilly to Carmarthen calling at Llanelli and Burry Port. This service is extended to Milford Haven every two hours. There is also a two hourly service from Swansea to Pembroke Dock calling at all stations. The Fishguard Harbour branch has two trains per day to connect with ferry services to Rosslare, Ireland. First Great Western also run at least one train per day from London Paddington to Carmarthen. On summer Saturdays, two trains run from London Paddington to Pembroke Dock. The first up service calls at all stations from Llanelli to Pembroke Dock whilst calling at selected stops on the down service. The second up service calls at the selected stations to Pembroke whilst calling at all stations to Llanelli on the down service.
[edit] Usage
The majority of usage of the west wales line is from Swansea, Llanelli and Carmarthen, the other stations accounting only for a small percentage of journeys. Most rail users drive to one of the major stations (Haverford West, Carmarthen, Llanelli) rather than use the smaller stops. Although there is some communting, traffic west of Tenby and Haverfordwest is very seasonal and includes tourism. Local government is currently proposing to increase the tourist potential of the services. Passenger usage in South Wales has grown by 11.4% between 2001 and 2004, and this trend is expected to continue.
Historically the line carried a great deal of heavy freight traffic. With the run down of coal and other heavy industry this has fallen dramatically. Nevertheless large amounts of freight continue to be moved. Recent developments have included facilities at Fishguard Harbour and Tre Cwn for sending intermodal traffic from Ireland direct via rail.
[edit] Plans
SWWITCH is currently performing a business case review of the Fishguard branch, and whether it is viable to continue to operate a passenger service. The results of this may lead to the withdrawal of services from Fishguard, or their improvement. Proposals exist to double track parts of the line, which would allow improved service timings and more trains to stop at Gowerton. Also under consideration is changing the status of the Pembroke Dock branch to a community railway and possibly then using light-rail or tram/train vehicles to provide a better and more cost effective service. Currently it is not clear how any such changes would be funded and Network Rail have no plans to perform them.
Plans are under consideration for a new deepwater road/rail intermodal port at Milford Haven.
