Dovey Junction railway station

Dovey Junction Welsh: Cyffordd Dyfi
Platforms 1 & 2a with 2b in the distance (2024)
General information
Location	Derwenlas, Powys Wales
Coordinates	52.564°N 3.924°W / 52.564; -3.924
Grid reference	SN697980
Managed by	Transport for Wales
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	DVY
Classification	DfT category F2
History
Opened	1863
Key dates
1 July 1904	Renamed Dovey Junction
Passengers
2018/19	4,622
Interchange	9,321
2019/20	4,292
Interchange	8,097
2020/21	1,692
Interchange	920
2021/22	7,030
Interchange	2,575
2022/23	9,190
Interchange	4,370
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Dovey Junction (/ˈdʌviː-/ DUH-vee-; Welsh: Cyffordd Dyfi) is a railway station on the Cambrian Line in Wales. It is the junction where the line splits into the line to Aberystwyth and the Cambrian Coast Line to Pwllheli. Passenger services are provided by Transport for Wales. There is a single island platform.

The station is in Powys, about 440 yards (400 m) north-east of the junction of three counties: the current principal areas of Ceredigion, Powys and Gwynedd, corresponding to the traditional counties of Cardiganshire, Montgomeryshire and Merionethshire.

The station is in the midst of the large Dyfi National Nature Reserve, near the Cardigan Bay coast. There is no settlement here but, contrary to common belief, it is not completely isolated: a 0.6-mile (1 km) footpath provides passenger access to and from the hamlet of Glandyfi in Ceredigion, and to a main road (the A487).

History

The station was opened in 1863 as Glandovey Junction. It was renamed Dovey Junction in 1904.

The station has been rebuilt twice in recent years: the original Cambrian Railways buildings were first replaced in the 1970s by a flat-roofed station building. This building was subsequently replaced in the 1990s by a simple bus shelter, having fallen into a state of disrepair and being far larger than required at this remote location.

The station platforms were raised in 2008 in conjunction with raising of the tracks, to reduce the likelihood of closure of this section of line due to flooding. The work was part of a major programme of work on the Cambrian Line, including ERTMS signalling to replace the previous RETB system and an extended (dynamic) passing loop at Welshpool to permit running an hourly service from Shrewsbury-Aberystwyth in the future.

Dovey Junction is often quoted as a defining feature of the Great Western Railway in Wales: its inheritance of junctions in unlikely and inconvenient locations. Other examples are Moat Lane Junction, Talyllyn Junction, Afon Wen and Barmouth Junction (renamed Morfa Mawddach in 1960).

Services

A train bound for Birmingham International calls at Dovey Junction (2024)

Trains call at least every two hours in each direction throughout the day (Mon–Sat), rising to once an hour during the morning and afternoon peaks and into the early evening. Platform 2 (east side) is used by services to/from Borth and Aberystwyth and platform 1 (west side) by trains along the coast to Barmouth and Pwllheli. Most trains serve both branches, with units joining or dividing at Machynlleth to make a 4-coach set east of there, though some trains (especially on Sundays) run between Birmingham or Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth only (some trains on both branches also start or end at Machynlleth). Platform 2 is split into 2a at the north end, alongside a passing loop, used by trains bound for Shrewsbury and Birmingham and 2b at the south end used by services bound for Aberystwyth allowing the branch to have a clock face hourly service at peak times.

On Sundays, there is a 2-hourly service between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth all year, plus three trains each way in summer to/from Pwllheli but just a single train each way in the winter months.

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Machynlleth		Transport for Wales Birmingham International-Aberystwyth		Borth
		Transport for Wales Shrewsbury-Pwllheli		Penhelig

Further reading

• "The end of Dovey Jct's semaphores". Rail. No. 82. EMAP National Publications. July 1988. p. 14. ISSN 0953-4563. OCLC 49953699.

External links

Media related to Dovey Junction railway station at Wikimedia Commons

• Train times and station information for Dovey Junction railway station from National Rail