Porthmadog railway station

This article describes a main line railway station. For the narrow gauge station, see Porthmadog Harbour railway station.
Porthmadog National Rail

Location
Place Porthmadog
Local authority Gwynedd
Coordinates 52°55′52″N 4°08′02″W / 52.931°N 4.134°W / 52.931; -4.134Coordinates: 52°55′52″N 4°08′02″W / 52.931°N 4.134°W / 52.931; -4.134
Grid reference SH565391
Operations
Station code PTM
Managed by Arriva Trains Wales
Number of platforms 2[1]
DfT category F1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05 44,630
2005/06 Decrease 39,568
2006/07 Increase 53,752
2007/08 Increase 58,290
2008/09 Increase 68,518
2009/10 Increase 73,976
2010/11 Increase 75,690
2011/12 Increase 80,912
2012/13 Decrease 76,428
2013/14 Decrease 53,040
2014/15 Increase 55,892
History
Original company Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway
Pre-grouping Cambrian Railways
Post-grouping Great Western Railway
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Porthmadog from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Porthmadog railway station serves the town of Porthmadog on the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales. The station is on the Cambrian Coast Railway with passenger services to Pwllheli, Harlech, Barmouth, Machynlleth, Shrewsbury and Birmingham.

Disambiguation

Considering the size of the town, Porthmadog has, and has had, a number of stations, all containing either "Porthmadog", or the earlier spelling "Portmadoc" in their name.

Additionally there were two interim stations either side of, what is now, the Network Rail / Welsh Highland Railway Cae Pawb crossing. These were referred to as:

with station (2) taking the title Portmadoc Old during the period these existed.[3]

Services

Until the line between Bangor and Afonwen closed in 1964 there was a through service in the summer to and from London Euston via Crewe, Chester, Llandudno Junction and Caernarvon; the Pwllheli portion was detached at Afonwen and the forward coaches proceeded to Portmadoc (the spellings are those used at the time). There was also a summer service between London Paddington and Pwllheli, via Birmingham Snow Hill, Shrewsbury and Machynlleth.

Nowadays trains call at Porthmadog roughly once every two hours Monday - Saturday, with a solitary train stopping in each direction on Sundays during the winter and two additional services each way in the summer (May - mid-September). During the daytime, trains run through to/from Shrewsbury and Birmingham International (joining or splitting from a portion to/from Aberystwyth), but in the evening they start/terminate at Machynlleth.[4]

From November 2013 until September 2014, main line services were suspended due to structural problems with the Pont Briwet viaduct near Llandecwyn.[5] Network Rail and Gwynedd County Council were carrying out work to build a £20 million replacement for the current bridge a few metres downstream, but in doing so had caused the old one to sink and thus made it unsafe for both rail & road traffic. A replacement bus service operated during the railway's closure.

Preceding station   National Rail   Following station
Arriva Trains Wales
Historical railways
Minffordd
Line and station open
  Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway
Cambrian Railways
  Black Rock Halt
Line open, station closed
  Heritage railways
Connection with Porthmadog (WHHR) on the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway
Connection with Porthmadog Harbour on the Ffestiniog Railway and Welsh Highland Railway

References

  1. Mitchell & Smith 2010, Photos 86-91 & Map XXIII.
  2. Miniature Railway terminus
  3. Boyd, James I.C. (1975) [1959]. The Festiniog Railway 1800 - 1974; Vol. 1 - History and Route. Blandford: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-8536-1167-X. OCLC 2074549.
  4. Table 76 National Rail timetable, May 2016
  5. Bridge fiasco could close Porthmadog line until 2015 Milner, Chris Railway Magazine 1-01-2014; Retrieved 2013-01-17
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Sources

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