Place Fishguard Harbour Station code FGH | Grid reference SM951389 DfT category E Number of platforms 1 | |
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Similar Clarbeston Road railway st, Fishguard and Goodwick, Pembrey and Burry Port railw, Clunderwen railway station, Swansea railway station |
Fishguard Harbour railway station serves the port of Fishguard Harbour, Wales. It is the terminus of one of the branches of the West Wales Line from Swansea. The area is also now served (since it reopened on 14 May 2012) by Fishguard & Goodwick railway station.
Contents
History
The station opened on 30 August 1906 when the Waterford and Cork ferry services were transferred from Neyland to Fishguard Harbour. Three years later, Fishguard Harbour was developed as a port of call for Atlantic liners, and on 30 August 1909 the first Cunard liner to call at Fishguard was the RMS Mauretania.
Facilities
A large area inside the station/port building, which contains seating and toilets, is open to rail passengers. However, there are no railway ticket machines and the station is staffed only by Stena Line personnel, no rail staff are employed there. This means there is no rail ticket office and passengers travelling from Fishguard by train must purchase their tickets in advance by post, at a different station, or onboard their train. The station has step-free access throughout and the station's owners, Stena Line, permit smoking on the platform. The station also has both long and short stay parking. The minimum connection time from Fishguard Harbour is seven minutes, and when bus replacement services are operating, the buses leave from the car park adjacent to the level crossing.
Current ownership
The station is unusual in that it is not owned by Network Rail but privately by Stena Line. Stena Line allows people to smoke on the platform because it is too dangerous to smoke at the only other possible place, where there is a level crossing over a busy road. The public smoking ban only applies to stations owned by Network Rail.
Rail services
Since the station is located in the harbour, its primary purpose has always been providing links with sea going transport. As such, there have always been daily services to and from Fishguard Harbour which coincide with the ferry services to Rosslare in Ireland.
1949
April 1964 to May 2003
May 2003 to September 2003
2003 saw the remaining First Great Western Fishguard services withdrawn, with the Wales & Borders franchise taking over. This meant there were no longer any through trains to or from London Paddington, but through services to and from a wide range of other stations appeared instead.
From September 2003 to September 2011
Arriva Trains Wales took over from Wales & Borders in December 2003
Current service
All services are currently operated by Arriva Trains Wales. The level of service was greatly enhanced from 12 September 2011 when five extra services per day in each direction commenced running to and from Fishguard Harbour Mondays to Saturdays. The five extra services are as follows:
Outbound
Inbound
These are provided on a trial basis until September 2014 and are in addition to the two daily 'boat-trains', one at lunch time and one in the dead of night, which provide the traditional ferry connections. The extra services are the first regular timetabled services to Fishguard Harbour that have not been provided solely for connection with ferries since local services were withdrawn in 1964. Since the additional services only run Monday to Saturday, only the two trains connecting with ferry services serve the station on a Sunday.
The decision to introduce additional trains has been credited to two teenagers from Moylegrove who collected a 1,440 signature petition in support of the move. A consultation was held in May/June 2011 on the planned services, but did not result in much adjustment to the times. The additional trains for Fishguard initiative has guaranteed funding until 2014, during which a review will be carried out to identify demand and passenger numbers and future funding. The extra services, with trains to and from Cardiff and Clarbeston Road, are not quite what was expected when the Welsh Assembly Government announced it would be funding up to £1.4m annually to provide extra services between Carmarthen and Fishguard.