Fishguard Harbour railway station

Fishguard Harbour
Welsh: Porthladd Abergwaun
Location
Place	Fishguard Harbour
Local authority	Pembrokeshire
Grid reference	SM951389
Operations
Station code	FGH
Managed by	Arriva Trains Wales
Owned by	Stena Line
Number of platforms	1
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage
2002/03 *	18,066
2004/05 *	28,284
2005/06 *	23,873
2006/07 *	29,049
2007/08 *	24,755
2008/09 *	24,838
2009/10 *	23,746
History
Original company	Fishguard and Rosslare Railways and Harbours
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway
30 August 1906	Station opened
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
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Fishguard Harbour from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Fishguard Harbour railway station serves the port of Fishguard Harbour, Wales. It is the terminus of one of the branches of the West Wales Line from Swansea.

Contents 1 Ownership 2 Services 2.1 1949 2.2 April 1964 to May 2003 2.3 May 2003 to September 2003 2.4 From September 2003 to September 2011 2.5 From September 2011 to 2014 3 Facilities 4 History 5 References 6 External links

Ownership

The station is unusual in that it is not owned by Network Rail but privately by Stena Line.^[1]

Services

There have always been daily services to and from Fishguard Harbour which coincide with the Ferry services to Rosslare in Ireland.

1949

• Two night-time express trains ran daily to and from London Paddington
• Eight trains operated Monday to Saturday to and from Clarbeston Road stopping at Wolf's Castle Halt, Welsh Hook Halt, Mathry Road, Jordanston Halt and Fishguard and Goodwick
• One of those trains extended to and from Neyland

April 1964 to May 2003

• All the services serving the other stations on the branch were withdrawn on 6 April 1964, leaving the station served by boat trains only.^[2] This was during the Beeching Axe period.
• Since that date the only scheduled passenger services have been the boat trains.
• In recent years these have been one night service and one day service all year round, despite the summer-only fast ferry. At one stage the night service was formed of an INTERCITY 125 train running direct to/from London Paddington. The daytime service was the same, although perhaps for only part of the year. British Rail, and later First Great Western and its predecessor Great Western Trains all have operated INTERCITY 125 services to Fishguard Harbour.
  • In 2000, the night service was still operated by First Great Western but the daytime train was operated by Wales&West.^[3] First Great Western continued to run daytime services into West Wales during the day using INTERCITY 125 trains but only as far as Carmarthen for most of the year.
  • Wales&West's services transferred to Wales & Borders Trains when Wales&West was split up.

May 2003 to September 2003

2003 saw the end of the remaining First Great Western Fishguard services, with the Wales and Border's franchise holder taking over (Arriva Trains Wales took over in December 2003). This started a wide range of exotic stations for the trains to run to and from.

• The night-time train started from London Waterloo every-day, connecting with Eurostar continental services, with the train arriving at 02.38 Tuesday to Saturday mornings, and 01.00 Sunday and Monday mornings. Because of this later arrival on Tuesday to Saturday, this arriving service ran empty to Carmarthen rather than form a return journey.
• The night-time train went to Liverpool Lime Street on Monday to Saturdays and Bristol Temple Meads on Sundays, leaving each day at 01.50. On Tuesday to Saturdays, this was formed of empty stock run from Carmarthen, whereas on Sundays and Mondays, it was formed of the incoming train from Waterloo.
• On Monday to Fridays, the day-time train started from Cardiff Central between 30 June and 5 September, not stopping Swansea and Carmarthen stations. Before and after these dates, the train started from Swansea and also called at Carmarthen.
• On Saturdays, the day-time train went to and from Rhymney
• On Sundays, the day-time train started at Newport, and went only as far as Carmarthen although it offered a 5 to 10 minute connection at Carmarthen for the London train.

From September 2003 to September 2011

• The daytime train operates to and from Cardiff Central, arriving and leaving Fishguard Harbour between 1pm and 2pm, often starting from and/or terminating at stations beyond Cardiff, such as Birmingham New Street in 2003.
  • In 2010 and 2011 the service starts from Cardiff and calls only at Llanelli and Whitland on route to Fishguard Harbour, making it the only scheduled passenger service to use the Carmarthen avoider line. On the return, the train calls at Carmarthen as well as Whitland and Llanelli before reaching Cardiff Central, the train then continues to Cheltenham Spa.
  • This daytime service therefore avoids Swansea in both directions, either using the "Swansea Avoiding Line" around the back of Landore Train Maintenance Depot or (more often) the Swansea District Line.

• A daily train operates in the night, arriving and leaving Fishguard Harbour between 1am and 2am
  • This train operates to and from Swansea
  • This train has often started from/terminated at other stations beyond Swansea, such as Cardiff Central on Sunday services in 2011
  • As maintenance of the railways is predominantly done at night, this train is frequently replaced by buses. This is normally known well in advance. When buses replace the trains, the bus usually arrives at Fishguard Harbour at around 02.05 and leaves after loading/unloading passengers, normally around 02.10

In 2010/2011 a Class 150 unit usually works the daytime service, which is highly unsuitable for such a limited stop service compared to the Class 158 trains Arriva used at one point. The train used on the night time workings to Swansea goes on to work the first Heart Of Wales Line train of the day, meaning it is likely to be a Class 153 unit.

From September 2011 to 2014

On 12 September 2011 the two Fishguard boat trains were joined at Fishguard Harbour by the following new services:^[4]

• Two trips from Fishguard Harbour to Clarbeston Road and two return (the first Clarbeston Road to Fishguard trip leaving at 07:34 with no connection from further east)
• One trip to Manchester Piccadilly
• One trip from (leaving at 05:50 with no connection from further east), and two trips to, Carmarthen
• Two arrivals from Cardiff Central
  • One of these is shown on the East Coast journey planner to come only from Whitland and on the Fishguard & Six Nations Timetable as coming from Hereford. The service east of Whitland is shown on the journey planner as a direct train from Hereford to Pembroke Dock.

These extra services are the first regular timetabled services to Fishguard Harbour not provided solely for connection with ferries since local services were withdrawn in 1964. Both boat trains remain, and since the additional services are only run Monday to Saturday are still the only Sunday services.

These extra services, with trains to and from Cardiff and Clarbeston Road, are not quite what was expected when the Welsh Assembly Government announced it would be funding up to £1.4m annually to provide extra services between Carmarthen and Fishguard.^[5] This decision has been credited to two teenagers from Moylegrove who collected a 1,440 signature petition in support of the move.^[6] A consultation was held in May/June 2011 on the planned services, but did not result in much ajustment to the times. This initiative has guaranteed funding until 2014, during which a review will be carried out to identify demand and passenger numbers and future funding.

Facilities

Due to the very few trains serving this station, the facilities are very basic at the station. The station is unstaffed, and has step-free access. There are short and long-stay car parks. Station owners Stena Line permit smoking on the platform.^[7]

History

The station opened on 30 August 1906 when the Waterford and Cork ferry services were transferred from Neyland to Fishguard Harbour.^[8] Three years later, Fishguard Harbour was developed as a port of call for Atlantic liners, and on 30 August 1909 the first Cunard liner to call at Fishguard was the RMS Mauretania.^[9][10]

References

External links

• Train times and station information for Fishguard Harbour railway station from National Rail
• Campaign Against New Beeching Report
• Fishguard Trains: independent news and discussion

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Clarbeston Road		Arriva Trains Wales West Wales Line		Terminus
Terminus		Stena Line Ferry		Rosslare Europort

Transport in Pembrokeshire Road A40 · A478 · A487 National Cycle Network Celtic Trail · NCR 4 · NCR 47 Railway lines West Wales Line Railway stations Clarbeston Road · Clunderwen · Fishguard Harbour · Haverfordwest · Johnston · Kilgetty · Lamphey · Manorbier · Milford Haven · Narberth · Pembroke Dock · Pembroke · Penally · Saundersfoot · Tenby Air Haverfordwest Aerodrome Sea Fishguard Harbour · Pembroke Dock · Milford Haven