Fishguard Harbour railway station

Fishguard Harbour National Rail
Welsh: Porthladd Abergwaun
Location
Place Fishguard Harbour
Local authority Pembrokeshire
Coordinates 52°00′43″N 4°59′10″W / 52.012°N 4.986°W / 52.012; -4.986Coordinates: 52°00′43″N 4°59′10″W / 52.012°N 4.986°W / 52.012; -4.986
Grid reference SM951389
Operations
Station code FGH
Managed by Arriva Trains Wales
Owned by Stena Line
Number of platforms 1
DfT category E
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2002/03   18,066
2004/05 Increase 28,284
2005/06 Decrease 23,873
2006/07 Increase 29,049
2007/08 Decrease 24,755
2008/09 Increase 24,838
2009/10 Decrease 23,746
2010/11 Increase 30,832
2011/12 Increase 38,852
2012/13 Decrease 35,520
2013/14 Decrease 29,404
2014/15 Decrease 26,522
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
* 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 and Road statistics. 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. The area is also now served (since it reopened on 14 May 2012) by Fishguard & Goodwick railway station.

History

The station opened on 30 August 1906 when the Waterford and Cork ferry services were transferred from Neyland to Fishguard Harbour.[1] 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.[2][3]

Facilities

A large area inside the station/port building, which contains seating and toilets, is open to rail passengers. However, there are no railway ticket machines and the station is staffed only by Stena Line personnel, no rail staff are employed there. This means there is no rail ticket office and passengers travelling from Fishguard by train must purchase their tickets in advance by post, at a different station, or onboard their train. The station has step-free access throughout and the station's owners, Stena Line, permit smoking on the platform.[4] The station also has both long and short stay parking. The minimum connection time from Fishguard Harbour is seven minutes, and when bus replacement services are operating, the buses leave from the car park adjacent to the level crossing.

Current ownership

The station is unusual in that it is not owned by Network Rail but privately by Stena Line. Stena Line allows people to smoke on the platform because it is too dangerous to smoke at the only other possible place, where there is a level crossing over a busy road. The public smoking ban only applies to stations owned by Network Rail.[5]

Rail services

Since the station is located in the harbour, its primary purpose has always been providing links with sea going transport. As such, there have always been daily services to and from Fishguard Harbour which coincide with the ferry services to Rosslare in Ireland.

Historic services

1949

April 1964 to May 2003

HST 125 and St Brendan ferry in July 1988

May 2003 to September 2003

2003 saw the remaining First Great Western Fishguard services withdrawn, with the Wales & Borders franchise taking over. This meant there were no longer any through trains to or from London Paddington, but through services to and from a wide range of other stations appeared instead.

From September 2003 to September 2011

Arriva Trains Wales took over from Wales & Borders in December 2003

Current service

All services are currently operated by Arriva Trains Wales. The level of service was greatly enhanced from 12 September 2011 when five extra services per day in each direction commenced running to and from Fishguard Harbour Mondays to Saturdays. The five extra services are as follows:[8]

Outbound

Inbound

These are provided on a trial basis until September 2014 and are in addition to the two daily 'boat-trains', one at lunch time and one in the dead of night, which provide the traditional ferry connections. The extra services are the first regular timetabled services to Fishguard Harbour that have not been provided solely for connection with ferries since local services were withdrawn in 1964. Since the additional services only run Monday to Saturday, only the two trains connecting with ferry services serve the station on a Sunday.

The decision to introduce additional trains has been credited to two teenagers from Moylegrove who collected a 1,440 signature petition in support of the move.[9] A consultation was held in May/June 2011 on the planned services, but did not result in much adjustment to the times. The additional trains for Fishguard initiative has guaranteed funding until 2014, during which a review will be carried out to identify demand and passenger numbers and future funding. The 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.[10]

Fishguard in 1971
Certificate of the Fishguard and Rosslare Railways and Harbours Company

References

  1. MacDermot, E.T. (1931). History of the Great Western Railway, vol. II: 1863-1921. Paddington: Great Western Railway. p. 435.
  2. Ocean-liners.com
  3. MacDermot 1931, pp. 447–8
  4. "Smoking ban loophole on platform". BBC News. 2007-10-07. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
  5. "Smoking ban loophole on platform". BBC News. 2007-10-07. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
  6. Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith. Western Main Lines - Carmarthen To Fishguard. Middleton Press. ISBN 978-1-906008-66-6.
  7. Gough, Terry (2002). British Railways Past and Present - West Wales. Past & Present Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-85895-175-5.
  8. "Fishguard & Six Nations Timetable" (PDF). Retrieved 14 September 2011.
  9. "Pupils' petition for more Fishguard trains pays off". BBC News. 2011-03-30. Retrieved 2011-03-30.
  10. . 2011-03-30 http://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/8939011.Funding_for_extra_trains_to_Fishguard/. Retrieved 2011-03-30. Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Fishguard and Goodwick   Arriva Trains Wales
West Wales Line
  Terminus
Terminus   Stena Line
Ferry
  Rosslare Europort
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