Abergavenny railway station

Abergavenny railway station (Welsh: Y Fenni) is situated southeast of the town centre of Abergavenny, Wales. It is part of the British railway system owned by Network Rail and is operated by Transport for Wales. It lies on the Welsh Marches Line from Newport to Hereford.

Abergavenny Welsh: Y Fenni
Abergavenny station (April 2019)
Location	Abergavenny, Monmouthshire Wales
Coordinates	51.8167°N 3.0088°W
Grid reference	SO305136
Managed by	Transport for Wales
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	AGV
Classification	DfT category D
Key dates
2 January 1854	Station opens
19 July 1950	Renamed Abergavenny Monmouth Road
6 May 1968	Renamed Abergavenny
Passengers
2015/16	0.435 million
2016/17	0.426 million
2017/18	0.437 million
2018/19	0.433 million
2019/20	0.415 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Abergavenny lies at the eastern edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park and provides an access point to local services and public transport into the park. The station is Grade II listed and was designed by Charles Liddell in an Italianate architectural style when he was Chief Engineer of the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway.

History

The station, designed by Charles Liddell, Chief Engineer of the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway (NA&HR), is in an Italianate architecture style.[1]

The NA&HR amalgamated with other railways in 1860 to form the West Midland Railway, which itself amalgamated with the Great Western Railway in 1863.[2] The line then passed on to the Western Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. In 1950, the station was renamed Abergavenny Monmouth Road, but reverted to its simple name in 1968. When sectorisation was introduced, the station was served by Regional Railways until the privatisation of British Railways.

Railway town

A branch line to Brynmawr was opened in 1862 starting at Abergavenny Junction station north of the current station, constructed by the Merthyr, Tredegar and Abergavenny Railway (MT&AR). The line also had a station in the town called Abergavenny Brecon Road, making three stations in all. This company was acquired by the London and North Western Railway in 1866. In 1958 the MT&AR passenger trains ceased and Abergavenny Junction was closed.

GWR Locomotive 'Abergavenny Castle'

A GWR Castle-class locomotive, number 5013, was named after Abergavenny Castle.

Facilities

The station is staffed in the daytime, with the ticket office open seven days per week. It has disabled access to platforms, a cafeteria and toilets, plus large waiting rooms on both platforms. Train running information is provided via automated announcements, digital CIS displays and timetable posters, along with an customer help point on platform 1. Step-free access is available on the northbound platform at all times, but to the southbound one only when the ticket office is manned (as this requires the use of a barrow crossing with locked gates). There is also a footbridge linking the two platforms.[3]

The footbridge was temporarily replaced whilst Network Rail took down and restored the original footbridge between December 2018 and July 2019. The bridge was restored at a specialist company in Cardiff. Works involved adding anti-slip material to the deck and refurbishing the trestle support columns and staircases. Future works include providing the station with step-free access throughout as part of the Department of Transport Access for All fund, which will be match-funded by Transport for Wales.[4]

Services

With a few exceptions, the weekday daytime service pattern typically sees one train per hour in each direction between Manchester Piccadilly and Cardiff Central, with most trains continuing beyond Cardiff to Swansea and West Wales. There is also a two-hourly service between Cardiff and the North Wales Coast Line to Holyhead via Wrexham General. These services are all operated by Transport for Wales.[5] The northbound Premier service from Cardiff to Holyhead calls here on Monday to Fridays but the southbound service does not call here.

Two trains per day in the early morning on weekdays to London Paddington, via Hereford and the Cotswold Line, commenced operation in December 2007. However, they were short lived, being withdrawn in December 2008; they were deemed pointless as changing at Newport was quicker. These services were operated by First Great Western.

References

1. "Abergavenny railway station". transportheritage.com. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
2. MacDermot, E.T. (1927). History of the Great Western Railway, vol. I: 1833–1863. Paddington: Great Western Railway. pp. 543, 553.
3. Abergavenny station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 10 April 2017
4. https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/abergavenny-station-footbridge-refurbishment-completed-residents-and-passengers-thanked
5. GB eNRT December 2015 Edition, Table 131

External links

• Train times and station information for Abergavenny railway station from National Rail
• Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.