West Wales Lines
| West Wales Lines | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Type | Heavy Rail |
| System | National Rail |
| Locale | Wales Swansea Carmarthenshire Pembrokeshire |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 1868 |
| Owner | Network Rail |
| Technical | |
| No. of tracks | Double track Swansea to Cockett and Dyffryn to Clarbeston Road (remainder single line) |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (Standard gauge) |
The West Wales Lines (Welsh: Llinell Gorllewin Cymru) are a group of railway lines from Swansea through Carmarthenshire to Pembrokeshire, West Wales. The main part runs from Swansea Carmarthen and Whitland, where it becomes three branches to Fishguard, Milford Haven and Pembroke Dock.
Before the rail cuts of the 1960s, the route was more extensive, with the towns of Cardigan and Newcastle Emlyn also served, and with a cross-country route from Carmarthen to Aberystwyth, via Lampeter.
Contents |
[edit] The route
The cities, towns and villages served by the route are listed below. Towns in italics are served by InterCity express services.
[edit] Swansea to Whitland
- Swansea
- connection with South Wales Main Line
- Gowerton (request stop)
- Llanelli
- connection with Heart of Wales Line and Swansea District Line
- Pembrey and Burry Port
- Kidwelly (request stop)
- Ferryside (request stop)
- Carmarthen
- Whitland (junction for Pembroke Dock branch, served by Intercity services on Summer Saturdays)
[edit] Pembroke Dock branch
All stations on this line are served by at least one of the two Intercity services that run down this line on Summer Saturdays.
- Narberth (request stop)
- Kilgetty (request stop)
- Saundersfoot (request stop)
- Tenby
- Penally (request stop)
- Manorbier
- Lamphey (request stop)
- Pembroke
- Pembroke Dock
[edit] Whitland to Clarbeston Road
- Clunderwen (request stop). Former junction for the North Pembrokeshire and Fishguard Railway.
- Clarbeston Road (request stop, junction for Milford Haven and Fishguard branches)
[edit] Milford Haven branch
- Haverfordwest
- Johnston (request stop)
- Milford Haven
[edit] Fishguard branch
- former connection with the North Pembrokeshire and Fishguard Railway. It closed in May 1949.
- Fishguard Harbour
[edit] History
The railway to west Wales was first projected in 1844, and the proposal was for a line to run from the Great Western Railway near Gloucester to Fishguard, with a branch from Whitland to Pembroke. The railway was called the South Wales Railway, and although it was in theory independent of the G.W.R, in practice it was very closely linked. This was shown by the fact that Isambard Kingdom Brunel was the engineer, and the line was laid to the 7 ft 0 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm) broad gauge.
Construction began in 1847, but the company ran into financial difficulties. In addition, the Irish potato famine reduced the prospective revenue from Anglo-Irish traffic. As a result, instead of completing the line to the proposed port at Fishguard, the Haverfordwest branch was extended to Neyland, where a harbour could be provided more cheaply.
The line from Swansea opened as far as Carmarthen on 11 October 1852; then to Haverfordwest on 2 January 1854; and finally to its terminus at Neyland on 15 April 1856. At first, the railway was leased to the G.W.R., but in 1863 the two companies were amalgamated.
The original powers for the branch to Pembroke lapsed, and so in 1859 the Pembroke and Tenby Company was authorised to build a 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm), standard gauge, line from Pembroke Dock to Tenby. The line opened from Tenby to Pembroke on 30 July 1863, and to Pembroke Dock on 8 August 1864. The extension from Tenby to the G.W.R. line at Whitland opened on 4 September 1866. There were two adjoining stations at Whitland with no physical connection between the two lines because they operated on different gauges.[1]
The line was engineered by Sir James Szlumper.[2] It had its own police force until 1897, due to the high-security of the Naval Dockyard at Pembroke Dock, and the munitions transported.[3]
The Pembroke & Tenby Company obtained powers in 1866 to extend their standard-gauge line from Whitland to Carmarthen. This would have enabled the Pembroke & Tenby to link up with the standard-gauge network through the Llanelly Railway, the Vale of Towy Railway and the Central Wales line. Through a series of inter-company working agreements, this would have had the effect of giving the London & North Western Railway unrestricted access to west Wales. Within the Act for the extension to Carmarthen was a Schedule which allowed either party (the Pembroke & Tenby or the Great Western) to request the Great Western for running powers to the Pembroke company. In doing this the cost of adding a rail to mix the gauge and installing the necessary junctions at Whitland and Carmarthen was £20,000 to be paid to the Great Western within 18 months of the request. The request was made by the Pembroke company and consequently the Great Western converted the up line to standard gauge leaving the down line purely as broad. This was not what the Pembroke company was wanting but had to live with it. The Great Western maintained a crossing loop at St Clears for the broad gauge and this caused some hindrance to the Pembroke company. The conversion is noted as the first pure broad to standard gauge for the Great Western.
The Pembroke & Tenby ran the first goods trains to Carmarthen on 1 June 1868, and passenger services in August 1869.
The Pembroke & Tenby was leased by the G.W.R on 1 July 1896 and finally 'amalgamated' with it a year later.[1]
In 1895, the Rosebush line was opened from Clynderwyn to Letterston along the old Maenclochog line, and construction started on extending it to Goodwick and the proposed new harbour at Fishguard. A Bill was approved by Parliament for the railway to extend eastwards to Carmarthen, although this was stopped when the line was bought out by the Great Western Railway in 1898.
In 1906, the railway was extended from Letterston to Fishguard & Goodwick, followed in 1909 with Fishguard Harbour.
The Rosebush line was stopped during World War I, and in 1917, the line is removed to provide rails for the army in France. The line was relaid in 1923, but passenger services stopped in 1937, and the line closed in 1949.
The first freight line to the Oil Refineries was built in 1960 when Esso opened their first refinery in Milford Haven.
Passenger services stopped on The Whitland and Cardigan branch in 1962, followed by freight in 1963. The line to Neyland followed in 1964. Most disused lines were torn up in the 1990s.
[edit] Services
Train services on the West Wales Line are sub-optimally distributed, and calling patterns compromised, by the existence of a stretch of single track on the otherwise double-track main line.
The five-mile long single track between Cockett, in the western suburbs of Swansea, and Duffryn, to the east of Llanelli, where the River Loughor is crossed on a viaduct would require significant works to accommodate two tracks.[4] One intermediate station, at Gowerton, lies on this single-track stretch, with just the former Down (ie. westbound) platform in use for trains in either direction. The disused former Up platform is still in existence. Less than half of all trains passing through Gowerton can be scheduled to make stops owing to pathing limitations. Additionally, this tight pathing compromises route performance. Delays on this section can have a knock-on effect on connections into and out of long-distance high-speed services east of Swansea, as interchange passengers from the Pembroke Dock line for Cardiff and English destinations are a high proportion of those travelling in west Wales.
Additional problems are also found on the Single Lead Junction at Swansea Loop East junction (north of Swansea station), which causes conflict between trains from west of Swansea and the eastbound mainline High Speed Train services.
There are two passenger companies operating along this stretch, Arriva Trains Wales and First Great Western, as well as a regular freight network serving the Oil Refineries of Pembrokeshire
[edit] First Great Western
[edit] Winter services
First Great Western operate the following services:
- Monday to Saturday, one morning High Speed Train from Carmarthen to London Paddington, stopping at Pembrey & Burry Port and Llanelli
- Monday to Saturday, one evening High Speed Train from London Paddington to Carmarthen, stopping at Llanelli and Pembrey & Burry Port
- Saturdays, one morning High Speed Train from Swansea to Carmarthen
- Sundays, three morning/afternoon High Speed Trains from London Paddington to Carmarthen, stopping at Llanelli and Pembrey & Burry Port
- Sundays, three afternoon/evening High Speed Trains from Carmarthen to London Paddington, stopping at Pembrey & Burry Port and Llanelli
[edit] Summer services
During the summer months, additional services are provided between Pembroke Dock and London Paddington, although the stopping pattern of these trains are highly constrained to the single track nature between Whitland and Pembroke Dock and appear to vary from year to year. In recent years, these trains have taken the path of the regular service Arriva Trains Wales schedules with modification to the stations served, and timings at stations other than Pembroke Dock due to the handling characteristics of the High Speed Trains.
[edit] Historical services
Some key services previously operated by First Great Western and its predecessor Great Western included the following services that no longer operate
- Daily services from Milford Haven (and towards the latter years of operating, Haverfordwest) to London Paddington.[5]
- Daily night time service from Fishguard Harbour to London Paddington, stopping only at Whitland, Llanelli and Swansea
- Daily daytime service from Fishguard Harbour to London Paddington, stopping only at Whitland and Llanelli, and also operating express to/from London stopping only at Cardiff Central
- This train was noted for its non-stop action at stations like Reading, Bristol Parkway and Newport
- Daily sleeper service from Milford Haven to London[5]
[edit] Arriva Trains Wales
[edit] Regular Services
Due to the Single Lead Junction at Swansea and the single track between Cockett and Dyfryn, a standard repeating departure time service is not possible, therefore a non-standard departure time service is operated on these main routes:
- Milford Haven to Manchester Piccadilly via Swansea - every two hours
- Pembroke Dock to Swansea - every two hours
- A standard repeating departure time trial results in a 58-minute layover at Pembroke Dock, with trains passing each other at Tenby, the only passing loop between Whitland and Pembroke Dock
- Carmarthen to Manchester Piccadilly via Swansea - every two hours
- Together with the Milford Haven - Manchester service this makes Carmarthen to Manchester hourly
Most services are timed to provide a connection at Swansea to the High Speed Trains to London Paddington
[edit] Other Services
- Fishguard Harbour to Swansea - one train per night, connecting with the night ferry to Rosslare Europort, Ireland
- Fishguard Harbour to Cardiff Central avoiding Swansea - one train per day (normally via the Swansea District Line), connecting with daytime conventional ferry to Rosslare Europort, Ireland
- Heart of Wales Line services between Shrewsbury and Swansea (four trains a day) travel over the Swansea to Llanelli section of the West Wales Lines.
- Irregular local trains to/from Fishguard Harbour (some going only as far east as Clarbeston Road some coming all the way from Cardiff (via Swansea)) which started on 12 September 2011, after a petition organised by two 15-year-olds.[6] Funding will be provided by the Welsh Assembly Government at the cost of £1.4m per annum. One of these extra trains in each direction is expected to connect with the summer-only Stena Lynx fast ferry to Rosslare Europort, Ireland next summer.
[edit] Freight
- One of the oil refineries near Milford Haven generates daily long distance freight trains.
- Llanelli steel works generates some freight traffic
The junction on the Fishguard branch to the former North Pembrokeshire and Fishguard Railway, which now leads to the former RNAD Trecwn site, has been refurbished in recent years. Perhaps it was expected that the new owners of Trecwn would generate freight traffic or it may have been in connection with plans for Intermodal freight traffic from Fishguard.
[edit] Usage
The majority of usage of the west Wales lines 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 (Haverfordwest, Carmarthen, Llanelli) rather than use the smaller stops.[citation needed] Although there is some commuting, 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.[citation needed]
[edit] Future 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.
An early stage feasibility study is being undertaken by the Welsh Assembly Government with Network Rail for the re-doubling of the section of line between Llandeilo Junction and Cockett, and the redoubling of the section at Swansea Loop East junction. This would permit more trains to stop at Gowerton, (in particular Heart of Wales trains), to enable an increase in the number of trains over this section, decrease train waiting times and improve timetabling. Re-doubling the section would facilitate a new station to be opened at Cockett.[7] It was announced by the Welsh Assembly Government on 3 December 2008 that funding was secured from the Strategic Capital Investment fund for improvements to be carried out in the section between Gowerton and Loughor.[8]
Also under consideration by WAG 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 (by Pembrokeshire County Council) for a new deepwater road/rail intermodal port at Milford Haven.
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Railway Magazine", October 1959
- ^ G J Davies
- ^ British Transport Police
- ^ Network Rail Route Utilisation Strategy - Wales
- ^ a b Parker, Richard, The Railways of Pembrokeshire, Noodle Books, 2008. ISBN 9781906419073
- ^ BBC Wales
- ^ Network Rail - Strategic Business Plan
- ^ News Wales - New Transport System for Wales
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