, symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Port Talbot Parkway Rail Station August 2020 01.jpg , borough =

Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south ...

Neath Port Talbot Neath Port Talbot ( cy, Castell-nedd Port Talbot) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county borough in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. Its principal towns are Neath, Port Talbot, Briton Ferry and Pontardawe. The county bor ...

, country = Wales , coordinates = , grid_name =

Grid reference A projected coordinate system, also known as a projected coordinate reference system, a planar coordinate system, or grid reference system, is a type of spatial reference system that represents locations on the Earth using cartesian coordin ...

, grid_position = , manager =

Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; cy, Trafnidiaeth Cymru; cy, TrC, label=none) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consi ...

, platforms = 2 , code = PTA , classification = DfT category D , original =

South Wales Railway The South Wales Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd De Cymru) was a main line railway which opened in stages from 1850, connecting the Great Western Railway from Gloucester to South Wales. It was constructed on the broad gauge. An original aspiration was to ...

, pregroup =

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

, postgroup = Great Western Railway , years = , events = Station opened as ''Port Talbot'' , years1 = 5 June 1897 , events1 = Renamed ''Port Talbot and Aberavon'' , years2 = 1 July 1924 , events2 = Renamed ''Port Talbot General'' , years3 = April 1947 , events3 = Renamed ''Port Talbot'' , years4 = 3 December 1984 , events4 = Renamed ''Port Talbot Parkway'' , mpassengers = , footnotes = Passenger statistics from the

Office of Rail and Road The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the economic and safety regulation of Britain's railways, and the economic monitoring of National Highways. ORR regulates Network Rail by setting its ...

Port Talbot Parkway railway station is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. The station is located at street level near Station Road in Port Talbot town centre.

History

Early history

The first section of the

, that between and , which included the station originally named ''Port Talbot'', opened either on 18 June 1850, or on 19 June 1850. The station was renamed several times: to ''Port Talbot and Aberavon'' on 5 June 1897; to ''Port Talbot General'' on 1 July 1924 (the suffix distinguishing it from other stations in Port Talbot), later reverting to the original ''Port Talbot'' in April 1947, finally becoming ''Port Talbot Parkway'' on 3 December 1984. While it now bears the title ''Parkway'', it is not a parkway station ''per se''. It was named ''Parkway'' in the 1980s 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 rai ...

when the old goods shed and yard were converted to a large car park, with freight handling moved to

Margam Knuckle Yard Margam Knuckle Yard is a railway yard in Margam, South Wales, on the South Wales Main Line, operated by DB Schenker Rail (UK). The yard is the major freight yard of the region, handling all of the rail freight movements from Port Talbot Steelwork ...

, to encourage patronage of eastbound commuters from the

Neath Neath (; cy, Castell-nedd) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a po ...

and

Swansea Valley The Swansea Valley ( cy, Cwm Tawe) is one of the South Wales Valleys. It is the valley from the Brecon Beacons National Park to the sea at Swansea of the River Tawe in Wales. Administration of the area is divided between the City and County of Sw ...

areas. The idea was that overall travel time could be saved by catching the train at Port Talbot instead of Neath or

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

because of the low line speed west of Port Talbot and the limited parking at the other two stations. There were originally two stations near to the current site, one of which was Aberavon Town, which was on the old

Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway The Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway was a Welsh railway company formed to connect the upper end of the Rhondda Fawr with Swansea, with the chief objective of transporting coal and other minerals to Swansea docks. It was incorporated in 1882, but ...

route and the other being the nearby terminus of the Port Talbot Railway named Port Talbot Central.

21st century redevelopment

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

planned to vacate its current store site near the Aberafan Centre and build a new store beside the station featuring a superstore, petrol station and car park. However this was rejected by the local council and the land remains undeveloped. The resignalling activity in the Port Talbot area during 2006/2007 has provided a new signalled turnback facility in both directions. There are proposals for the present Transport for Wales' '' Swanline'' service, which has one train every two hours between Swansea and Cardiff Central service, to be altered to a service which terminates at Port Talbot Parkway and operate on an hourly basis between Swansea and Port Talbot Parkway. The council announced in early 2011 the plans for a new ticket office and platform bridge at the station, including a lift for disabled access and a 200 space car-park. Redevelopment work on the station began in May 2014 and was completed in late 2016, at a cost of £11 million.

Facilities

The station is of the island type and has 2 platforms: *Platform 1, for westbound trains towards

and West Wales Line. *Platform 2, for eastbound trains towards Cardiff Central, Newport,

London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a London station group, Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services pro ...

and

Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. Opened as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. Located to the south-east of Manchester city ...

The ticket office is open seven days per week, with a self-service ticket machine provided for use and collecting advance purchase tickets. A waiting room and toilets are located on the platform, with the platform and ticket hall linked by a fully accessible footbridge with lifts (installed in 2016). Train running information is offered via CIS displays, automatic announcements and timetable posters.

Services

The station is served by both

main line services between

and

(hourly each way with peak extras) and

regional trains between

Milford Haven Milford Haven ( cy, Aberdaugleddau, meaning "mouth of the two Rivers Cleddau") is both a town and a community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, an estuary forming a natural harbour that has ...

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , "Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, ...

and

via Cardiff Central, Newport and

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

(also hourly), plus the two-hourly Swansea to Cardiff stopping trains. On Sundays the London - Swansea Great Western Railway service runs hourly with a two hourly service extended to Carmarthen. Transport for Wales Milford Haven/Carmarthen - Manchester Piccadilly services are hourly .

References

External links

{{Transport in Neath Port Talbot Railway stations in Neath Port Talbot DfT Category D stations Former Great Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1850 South Wales Main Line Railway stations served by Transport for Wales Rail Railway stations served by Great Western Railway Port Talbot 1850 establishments in Wales