, symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Through Whitland railway station (geograph 4487831).jpg , caption = The station as seen from footbridge (2015) , borough =

Whitland Whitland (Welsh: , lit. "Old White House", or ''Hendy-gwyn ar Daf'', "Old White House on the River Tâf", from the medieval ''Ty Gwyn ar Daf'') is both a town and a community in Carmarthenshire, Wales. Description The Whitland community is ...

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...

, 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 Rail Transport for Wales Rail Limited, branded as Transport for Wales and TfW Rail ( and ), is a Welsh publicly owned train operating company, a subsidiary of Transport for Wales (TfW), a Welsh Government-owned company. It commenced operations of t ...

, platforms = 3 , code = WTL , classification = DfT category F1 , 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 , postgroup = Great Western Railway , years = , events = SWR station opened , years1 = 4 September 1866 , events1 = P&T station opened , years2 = August 1869 , events2 = P&T station closed , 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 ...

Whitland railway station serves the town of

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. It is located on the West Wales Line from Swansea. To the west of the station, a branch line diverges towards Pembroke; the main line continues to Milford Haven and

Fishguard Harbour Goodwick (; cy, Wdig) is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, immediately west of its twin town of Fishguard. Fishguard and Goodwick form a Community (Wales), community that wraps around Fishguard Bay. As well as the two towns, it consists o ...

. The

Whitland and Cardigan Railway The Whitland & Cardigan Railway was a long branch line in West Wales. It was built in two stages, at first as the Whitland and Taf Vale Railway from the South Wales Main Line at Whitland to the quarries at Glogue. It opened in 1873, at first onl ...

(closed in 1962) diverged from the Fishguard/Milford Haven line west of Whitland. Passenger services are operated by

using a mixture of Class 150, Class 153 and Class 175s, and Great Western Railway who run services using Class 800 trains on summer Saturdays from

London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a 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 provided by the Great ...

to Pembroke Dock.

History

The station was opened by the

on 2 January 1854 as part of their route from

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

to and to two years later. A branch line to Milford Haven followed in 1863 and the Pembroke and Tenby Railway (P&T) arrived from

Tenby Tenby ( cy, Dinbych-y-pysgod, lit=fortlet of the fish) is both a walled seaside town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, on the western side of Carmarthen Bay, and a local government community. Notable features include of sandy beaches and the Pembroke ...

in 1866; their route was built as standard gauge, rather than the SWR's broad gauge, and so initially the P&T had to terminate at its own station next to the main line one, which by now was owned by the Great Western Railway. This separate P&T station had opened on 4 September 1866 and was closed in August 1869. A single line was converted to dual gauge in 1868 to allow P&T trains to reach . Full-through-running trains between the two routes was made possible in 1872 with the conversion of the main line to standard gauge. The network in the area was completed when the Cardigan branch was opened in stages between 1873 and 1886. From 1957 the station was rebuilt. On the up side it had a ticket hall, waiting room with refreshments, ladies waiting room, toilets, stationmaster's office, district inspector's office, parcels office, central heating, and a steel and aluminium platform canopy. On the down side it had a canopy, refreshment room and toilets.

Services

The station has an approximately hourly service (including Sundays) to and from and eastbound and every two hours westbound to each of and . Certain eastbound services continue onwards to , and Manchester Piccadilly. The services between and Carmarthen (and stations further afield) also call (eight trains per day Mon-Sat, with 1 on Sundays, plus a 6-days-a-week night time service). Summer Saturday Class 800 services between

and Pembroke Dock also serve Whitland.

Rail and sea corridor to Ireland

boat train A boat train is a passenger train operating to a port for the specific purpose of making connection with a passenger ship, such as a ferry, ocean liner, or cruise ship. Through ticketing is normally available. __NOTOC__ Notable named boat tr ...

s to and from

serve the station. These connect with the Stena Line ferry to

Rosslare Europort Rosslare Europort ( ga, Europort Ros Láir) is a modern seaport located at Rosslare Harbour in County Wexford, Ireland, near the southeasternmost point of the island of Ireland. The port is the premier Irish port serving the European Contin ...

in Ireland with a daily morning and evening service in both directions. This route has been in existence since 1906.

Facilities

Despite being a once-major junction, the facilities at Whitland station are limited. There are neither toilet nor waiting room facilities available. The main building located on the eastbound platform once contained a waiting room and ticket office, but is now closed and boarded up (tickets must therefore be purchased on board the train or prior to travel). Most of this platform is covered by a canopy, and west of the building rusting rails remain in one of the former bay platforms. Across the footbridge, waiting shelters are provided on the westbound platform. There is in fact a serviceable bay platform behind this, accessed from the Pembroke Dock branch, but this is seldom used for passenger trains as services from the branch do not normally terminate at Whitland. Train running information is provided by timetable posters, digital display screens and a customer help point on each side. Step-free access is available to both operational platforms, though the eastbound one is via a steep ramp.Whitland station facilities
''National Rail Enquiries''; Retrieved 5 April 2017

References

External links

{{Transport in Carmarthenshire Railway stations in Carmarthenshire DfT Category F1 stations Former Great Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1854 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1866 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1869 Railway stations served by Great Western Railway Railway stations served by Transport for Wales Rail 1866 establishments in Wales Whitland