Bangor (Gwynedd) railway station

Bangor
Bangor Station looking north, viewed from Bangor Mountain
Location
Place	Bangor
Local authority	Gwynedd
Operations
Station code	BNG
Managed by	Arriva Trains Wales
Platforms in use	2
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail
Annual rail passenger usage
2004/05 *	0.534 million
2005/06 *	0.538 million
2006/07 *	0.547 million
2007/08 *	0.564 million
History
Opened May 1, 1848 (May 1, 1848)
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Bangor from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.
UK Railways Portal

Bangor railway station in Bangor, Gwynedd is the last mainland station on the London Euston to Holyhead North Wales Coast line. The station is 40 km (24¾ miles) east of Holyhead.

The station occupies a rather exposed site with the wind channeled between high ground on both sides and exposed to the prevailing wet westerly winds. A full platform length canopy on Platform 1 provides protection for travellers heading east and south to Chester and beyond. Travellers heading north towards Holyhead on Platform 2 have only two bays of canopy to shelter under. An enclosed pedestrian bridge links the two platforms. For cyclists there are a row of cycle kennels at the northern end of Platform 1.

History

The station was opened on May 1, 1848 by the Chester and Holyhead Railway, built at a cost of £6,960 and lies between two tunnels, each of which has two running lines, an up line and a down line. Through the station there are also two further lines used for goods traffic, particularly the carriage of nuclear fuel flasks to and from Wylfa nuclear power station on Anglesey.

The station was expanded as branch lines were opened:

• From Menai Bridge railway station to Caernarfon (Carnarvonshire Railway) (1848)
• From Gaerwen to Amlwch (Anglesey Central Railway) (1866)
• From Holland Arms to Red Wharf Bay and Benllech (Red Wharf Bay branch line) (1909)
• To Bethesda (Bethesda Branch) (1884)

The present building on platform 1 was the main building with a forecourt on the site of the present car park. Between 1924 and 1927 an additional loop line and platform was constructed on the site of the forecourt with a new frontage facing Deiniol Road. Ultimately there were four platforms and a small bay to serve the main line and branch lines.^[1][2]

By the 1950s there was an extensive goods yard, a five-road engine shed (on the site of the steel mill), a turntable, three-road goods shed, two signal boxes, an extra footbridge and a subway connecting platforms. There was a total of nine separate through routes from one tunnel to the other.

With the closure of the branch lines in the 1960s and 1970s, the station was reduced to having two operational platforms only, with the track and platform on the pre-1920s forecourt being converted back to something like its original use.

Announced in November 2009 the Welsh Assembly Government has asked Network Rail to conduct a feasibility study on reopening the line between Llangefni on Anglesey and Bangor for passenger services. Network Rail is expected to clear the line of vegatation and assess the track bed before publishing its report in 2010, before any business cases to reopen the line is then developed.^[3]

Services

There is a basic hourly service to Chester via Llandudno Junction, Colwyn Bay, Rhyl, Prestatyn and Flint, as well as across Anglesey to Holyhead. There are also through services to London Euston (seven per day Monday-Friday, five on Saturdays, three on Sundays), Cardiff Central railway station (every two hours) and Birmingham International (every two hours).

Notes

External links

• Train times and station information for Bangor (Gwynedd) railway station from National Rail
• Postcard of Bangor railway station in 1909

Coordinates: 53°13′19″N 4°08′10″W / 53.222°N 4.136°W / 53.222; -4.136