Place Knighton Station code KNI DfT category F1 Number of platforms 2 | Grid reference SO291723 Managed by Arriva Trains Wales 2011/12 25,094 | |
 | ||
Address Knighton LD7 1DY, United Kingdom Similar Hopton Heath railway st, Bucknell railway station, Llangynllo railway station, Craven Arms railway st, Broome railway station | ||
Knighton railway station serves the market town of Knighton in Powys, Wales, although the station itself is located in Shropshire, England (the border is immediately adjacent to the south side of the station). It lies 32 1⁄2 miles (52.3 km) south west of Shrewsbury (by railway line) on the Heart of Wales Line.
Contents
The railway station is located below street level at Station Road beside the River Teme and about 1⁄2 mile (0.8 km) from the centre of the town. All trains serving the station are operated by Arriva Trains Wales, who also manage the station.
History
The station was built in 1865, although the Knighton Railway route from Craven Arms had reached here four years previously. The present station dates from the opening of the Central Wales Railway to Llandrindod Wells. From here the line begins to climb as it heads west into Wales (on gradients that reach 1 in 60 in places), eventually reaching a summit near Llangynllo some 980 ft (270 m) above sea level.
In 2004 the station was partially refurbished, with visual display units installed to display train departure times, and enhanced disabled access on the northbound platform.
There are two platforms at the station today, although from 1964 until 1990 only a single line and platform (the current southbound one) was used. The 30 miles (48 km) long block section between Craven Arms and Llandrindod Wells was considered to be a capacity bottleneck (even on such a lightly used line) however and following the modernisation of the route signalling in 1986, an additional passing loop was installed here to provide extra capacity, with the disused second platform being refurbished and returned to use by British Rail. The northbound loop (and platform) was out of action for more than two years but was put back into use by Network Rail in September 2010 following the replacement of the old automatic points (which were obsolete) with new electrically-worked ones.
Services
There are four trains a day in each direction (to Shrewsbury northbound and Swansea southbound) from Monday to Saturday; a fifth early morning service runs to Llandrindod Wells and then back to Shrewsbury for commuters except on Saturdays; two services each way call on Sundays.