Gowerton railway station

Gowerton railway station (originally Gower Road and later Gowerton North) serves the village of Gowerton, Wales. It is located at street level at the end of Station Road in Gowerton 5 ¹⁄₂ miles (8.9 km) west of Swansea. The station is unmanned but has a ticket machine, shelters on each platform and live train running information displays.

Gowerton Welsh: Tre-gŵyr
Location	Gowerton, Swansea Wales
Coordinates	51.6487°N 4.0353°W
Grid reference	SS592964
Managed by	Transport for Wales
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	GWN
Classification	DfT category F2
Passengers
2015/16	0.143 million
2016/17	0.167 million
2017/18	0.174 million
2018/19	0.209 million
2019/20	0.178 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Background

Gowerton station was opened as Gower Road by the South Wales Railway on Tuesday 1 August 1854[1] It was later renamed Gowerton, following a request to the railway company by the parish vestry, and from 1950 became known as Gowerton North to distinguish it from the Gowerton South railway station which served the now closed Pontarddulais to Swansea Victoria section of the Heart of Wales line until 1964.[2]

History

Gowerton station in June 2006

The station originally had two platforms, sited on the section between Cockett station and Duffryn, but the track was singled in 1986 as an economy measure. Network Rail planned to re-double the section of railway through this station and re-instate the disused east-bound platform in May 2012. Work commenced in March 2013 and was completed a month later.[3][4]

This has increased the capacity of this section of line and allowed more trains to stop at this station.[5] The re-doubling work was completed in July 2013 with the disused platform brought back into use. This resulted in an additional 95 services stopping at Gowerton every week[6] and this has also helped to increase passenger usage at the station, which has risen by 2,100% since 1998.[7]

Services

Gowerton is served approximately every hour by Transport for Wales services heading westbound towards Llanelli, where they continue to either West Wales or to Shrewsbury via the Heart of Wales line; and eastbound towards Swansea, with many continuing further east to Cardiff Central, Hereford and Manchester Piccadilly.[8] The station was originally a request stop, but on 9 September 2013, it was no longer listed as one.

References

1. Wassell, N.T. (c. 1986). "Gowerton North (Part One)". the Railway Club of Wales. Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help) Article cites a contemporary report in The Cambrian newspaper.
2. Clinker's Register of Closed Passenger Stations and Goods Depots in England, Wales and Scotland, 1830-1977. Bristol: AvonAngliA Publications. 1978.
3. South Wales Evening Post. May 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)
4. "Loughor viaduct brings more trains to Gowerton". BBC News. Archived from the original on 6 June 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
5. "Network Rail Wales RUS" (PDF). Network Rail. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2008.
6. Youle, Richard (15 July 2013). "Revamped Gowerton train station is on track to fine future". This is South Wales. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015.
7. Johnston, Howard (13 April 2016). "Regional News". Rail Magazine. No. 798. p. 25. ISSN 0953-4563.
8. Table 128 & 129 National Rail timetable, December 2016

External links

• Train times and station information for Gowerton railway station from National Rail
• Gowerton station after track redoubling in 2013