Cwmbran railway station ( cy, Gorsaf Rheilffordd Cwmbrân) is in the northeast of

Cwmbran Cwmbran ( ; cy, Cwmbrân , also in use as an alternative spelling in English) is a town in the county borough of Torfaen in South Wales. Lying within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, Cwmbran was designated as a New Town in 1949 to pr ...

town centre, within five minutes' walking distance. It is part of the British railway system owned by

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

and is managed by Transport for Wales, who operate all trains serving it. It lies on the Welsh Marches Line from

Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on the ...

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a populatio ...

. The station was opened at this site in 1986 to serve the commuter route to Newport and

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

, and shoppers to the town centre.

History

Historically, a number of railway stations served

. The first station was opened by the

Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company The Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company was a canal and railway company that operated a canal and a network of railways in the Western Valley and Eastern Valley of Newport, Monmouthshire. It started as the Monmouthshire Canal Navigation and o ...

in July 1852 or April 1878. This closed on 11 March 1880 and a new station was opened on the same day by the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 mill ...

. The station was located on a spur which linked the Monmouthshire Railway with the

Pontypool, Caerleon and Newport Railway The Pontypool, Caerleon & Newport Railway was promoted independently to relieve congestion on the heavily worked Eastern Valley Line of the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company. The Great Western Railway put up half the capital, making it in ...

. This closed to passengers on 30 April 1962 and to goods on 17 May 1965. The first station, which had remained open for goods traffic, also closed on 17 May 1965. The Monmouthshire Railway line to

Blaenavon Blaenavon ( cy, Blaenafon) is a town and community in Torfaen county borough, Wales, high on a hillside on the source of the Afon Lwyd. It is within the boundaries of the historic county of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent. Th ...

ran to the west of the town. The section between Pontypool and Blaenavon closed to passengers 30 April 1962, the mineral branches followed on 7 April 1969 and the branch to Talywain on 3 May 1980. The section from Pontypool as far as Oakfield Siding near Cwmbran saw coal traffic until 1980.

New station

Cwmbran station geograph-3859536-by-Ben-Brooksbank

The present station was opened by

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...

on 12 May 1986. It is situated around to the south of

Lower Pontnewydd railway station Lower Pontnewydd railway station was a railway station in the village of Pontnewydd in Torfaen, South Wales, UK, originally opened by the Pontypool, Caerleon and Newport Railway. History The station was opened as "Pontnewydd" by the Pontypool ...

which closed to passengers on 9 June 1958 and to goods on 25 January 1965.

Facilities

Valentines in Cwmbran railway station (geograph 6308680)

Refurbished facilities at the station were officially opened by Rhodri Morgan AM on Friday 14 March 2008. This included a larger car park, a new ticket hall, modern sheltered seating areas and new live departure boards like those seen at

. The booking office is open six days per week; there is also a self-service ticket machine on offer for use or to collect advance purchase tickets. Automatic announcements and timetable poster boards offer train running information in addition to the CIS displays mentioned. Level access is on offer to each side, though for the southbound platform, this requires a long detour via public roads (the footbridge linking the platforms has steps). In addition to this, Torfaen County Borough Council have funded a limited Number 4 bus that serves the town centre and suburbs of Cwmbran, which is currently operated by Stagecoach in South Wales.

Service

Services that stop at Cwmbran in both directions are all operated by Transport for Wales and include the hourly service between , Cardiff Central and

West Wales West Wales ( cy, Gorllewin Cymru) is not clearly defined as a particular region of Wales. Some definitions of West Wales include only Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, which historically comprised the Welsh principality of '' Deheu ...

and the two hourly service between and .GB eNRT December 2016 Edition, Table 131 Most Sunday services only run on the former route (there are only two services each way to/from Holyhead).

References

Notes

Sources

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External links

Pictures of Cwmbran Station from Railway Photography by 37430
{{Transport in Torfaen Railway stations in Torfaen DfT Category E stations Railway stations opened by British Rail Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1986 Railway stations served by Transport for Wales Rail Cwmbran