Bangor (Gwynedd) railway station
Bangor  | |
|---|---|
|
Bangor Station looking west, viewed from Bangor Mountain | |
| Location | |
| Place | Bangor |
| Local authority | Gwynedd |
| Grid reference | SH575716 |
| Operations | |
| Station code | BNG |
| Managed by | Arriva Trains Wales |
| Number of platforms | 2 |
| DfT category | C1 |
|
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries | |
| Annual rail passenger usage* | |
| 2004/05 |
 0.534 million |
| 2005/06 |
0.538 million |
| 2006/07 |
0.547 million |
| 2007/08 |
0.564 million |
| 2008/09 |
 0.551 million |
| 2009/10 |
0.592 million |
| 2010/11 |
0.613 million |
| 2011/12 |
0.676 million |
| - Interchange | 1,487 |
| 2012/13 |
0.680 million |
| - Interchange |
2,471 |
| 2013/14 |
0.663 million |
| History | |
| Key dates | Opened 1 May 1848 |
| National Rail – UK railway stations | |
| * Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Bangor from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Methodology may vary year on year. | |
| UK Railways portal | |
Bangor railway station in Bangor, Gwynedd is the last mainland station on the London Euston to Holyhead North Wales Coast line, and the busiest railway station in North Wales in terms of passenger numbers.[1] The station is 24 3⁄4 miles (40 km) east of Holyhead.
The station occupies a rather exposed site, with the wind channelled between high ground on both sides and exposed to the prevailing wet westerly winds. A full platform-length canopy on Platform 1 provides protection for travellers heading east and south to Chester and beyond. Travellers heading west towards Holyhead on Platform 2 have only two bays of canopy to shelter under. An enclosed pedestrian bridge links the two platforms. For cyclists there are a row of cycle kennels at the northern end of Platform 1.
History
The station was opened on 1 May 1848 by the Chester and Holyhead Railway,[2] built at a cost of £6,960 and lies between two tunnels, each of which has two running lines, an up line and a down line. Through the station there are also two further lines used for goods traffic, particularly the carriage of nuclear fuel flasks to and from Wylfa nuclear power station on Anglesey.
The station was expanded as branch lines were opened:
- From Menai Bridge to Caernarvon (Bangor and Carnarvon Railway) (1848)
- From Gaerwen to Amlwch (Anglesey Central Railway) (1866)
- From Holland Arms to Red Wharf Bay and Benllech (Red Wharf Bay branch line) (1909)
- To Bethesda (Bethesda Branch) (1884)
The station was renamed twice under British Railways: originally Bangor, it became Bangor (Caerns); then Bangor (Gwynedd). In some timetables it was shown as Bangor for Beaumaris.[2]
The present building on platform 1 was the main building, with a forecourt on the site of the present car park. Between 1924 and 1927 an additional loop line and platform were constructed on the site of the forecourt with a new frontage facing Deiniol Road. Ultimately there were four platforms and a small bay platform to serve the main line and branch lines.[3][4]
By the 1950s there were an extensive goods yard, a five-road engine shed (on the site of the steel mill), a turntable, three-road goods shed, two signal boxes, an extra footbridge and a subway connecting platforms. There were a total of nine separate through routes from one tunnel to the other.
With the closure of the branch lines in the 1960s and 1970s, the station was reduced to just two operational platforms, with the track and platform on the pre-1920s forecourt converted back to something like its original use.
Announced in November 2009, the Welsh Assembly Government asked Network Rail to conduct a feasibility study on reopening the line between Llangefni on Anglesey and Bangor for passenger services. Network Rail is expected to clear the line of vegetation and assess the track bed before publishing its report in 2010, before any business case to reopen the line is then developed.[5]
Services
There is a basic hourly service to Wrexham General and Shrewsbury via Llandudno Junction, Colwyn Bay, Rhyl, Prestatyn Flint and Chester, as well as across Anglesey to Holyhead.
There are also through services to and from London Euston (six per day Monday-Friday, of which four run to and from Holyhead and two start and terminate here; two on weekends of which one runs to and from Holyhead and one starts and terminates here operated by Virgin Trains, Virgin also provide two services to/from Birmingham New Street and Crewe on weekdays. Services also run to/from Cardiff Central via Hereford (every two hours) and Birmingham International (every two hours). Since December 2012, there has also been a single weekday service to and from Manchester Piccadilly[6] (from Manchester mid-morning, returning in the early afternoon).
On Sundays the service is also hourly each way from mid-morning, but runs to Holyhead and Crewe (apart from a single through service to Cardiff).
Notes
- ↑ "Station Usage Statistics 2012/13". Office of Rail Regulation. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 26. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
- ↑ John Cowell (1990). Bangor: A Portrait in Old Picture Postcards. S.B. Publications. ISBN 1-870708-58-X.
- ↑ John Cowell (1997). Bangor: A Pictorial History (Volume 2). ISBN 0-9518592-3-4.
- ↑ "Old tracks could see trains again". BBC News. 2009-11-06. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
- ↑ GB National Rail Timetable 2013, Table 81
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bangor (Gwynedd) railway station. |
- Train times and station information for Bangor (Gwynedd) railway station from National Rail
- Postcard of Bangor railway station in 1909
| Preceding station | National Rail |
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arriva Trains Wales | ||||
| Arriva Trains Wales North-South "Premier" service | ||||
| Virgin Trains London Euston/Birmingham New Street/Crewe-Bangor/Holyhead | ||||
| Terminus |