Aber railway station

For the disused station of the same name on the North Wales Coast Line, see Aber (LNWR) railway station.
Aber National Rail

Aber railway station
Location
Place Trecenydd, Caerphilly
Local authority Caerphilly
Coordinates 51°34′30″N 3°13′48″W / 51.5749°N 3.2299°W / 51.5749; -3.2299Coordinates: 51°34′30″N 3°13′48″W / 51.5749°N 3.2299°W / 51.5749; -3.2299
Grid reference ST148869
Operations
Station code ABE
Managed by Arriva Trains Wales
Number of platforms 2
DfT category F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11 Increase 0.202 million
2011/12 Increase 0.203 million
2012/13 Increase 0.209 million
2013/14 Increase 0.220 million
2014/15 Decrease 0.213 million
History
April 1908 Station opens as Beddau Halt
17 September 1926 Renamed Aber Junction Halt
6 May 1968 Renamed Aber Halt
5 May 1969 Renamed Aber
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Aber from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Aber railway station is a railway station serving the town of Caerphilly, south Wales. It is a stop on the Rhymney Line 8¼ miles (13 km) north of Cardiff Central on the Valley Lines network.

The station is located in the Bondfield Park and Trecenydd areas of Caerphilly.

History

Opened in April 1908 by the Rhymney Railway as Beddau Halt, it became part of the Great Western Railway during the Grouping of 1923, and renamed Aber Junction Halt on 17 September 1926. The line then passed on to the Western Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. It was renamed Aber Halt on 6 May 1968, then Aber on 5 May 1969.

When Sectorisation was introduced, the station was served by Regional Railways until the Privatisation of British Railways.

Another station also called Beddau Halt existed on the Llantrisant and Taff Vale Junction Railway and should not be confused with this station.

The 'Junction' suffix refers to the fact that until the early 1980s, there were two junctions near here - one to the south between the current line via Caerphilly (which opened in 1871) and the original route down the Big Hill via Penrhos Junction to Walnut Tree Junction near Taffs Well on the Taff Vale Railway route from Cardiff to Merthyr Tydfil and another to the north for the branch line to Senghenydd. The former opened in 1858 and provided the Rhymney company with its original access to Cardiff General and the docks. It was freight-only for most of its life, but was heavily used in post-grouping and BR days by coal trains originating from the various collieries on the Rhymney line heading to the marshalling yard at Radyr. This avoided the need for such trains to use the busy section through Cardiff Queen Street, even though the 3½ mile line was steeply graded (hence the nickname - the 1 in 48 ruling gradient was however favourable for loaded trains). The latter opened in 1894 and was used for both freight (to Windsor Colliery near the terminus) and passenger services.

The Senghenydd branch passenger service ended in June 1964 as a result of the Beeching Axe, but it remained in use for colliery traffic until 1977[1] whilst the Taffs Well route closed in June 1982[2] - both have since been dismantled.

Services

Spring 2016

During Spring 2016 Aber railway station is served by 4 trains per hour each way, off peak, Monday to Friday:

Apart from Gilfach Fargoed, the station before Bargoed, which is served just once an hour, there is a train every 15 minutes calling at all stations between Bargoed and Penarth.[3] In the evenings, the service drops to hourly and on Sundays to two-hourly (with southbound trains running to Barry Island).

Travel times to...

Cardiff Central : 22 minutes

Penarth : 39 minutes

Bargoed : 20 minutes

Rhymney : 38 minutes

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Caerphilly   Arriva Trains Wales
Rhymney Line
   Energlyn & Churchill Park
or Llanbradach
Historical railways
Caerphilly
Station and Line open		   Great Western Railway
Rhymney Line
   Pwll-y-pant
Station closed; Line open
Taffs Well
Station open; Line closed		     Penyrheol
Station and Line closed

References

  1. ↑ Senghennyd - The Town, The Colliery, The Disasters And More www.MW0GKX.co.uk; Retrieved 2013-09-12
  2. ↑ Body, G (1983). PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Western Region. Wellingborough: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 34. ISBN 0-85059-546-0.
  3. ↑ GB eNRT 2015-16 Edition, Table 130 (Network Rail)

Further reading

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