Bangor (Gwynedd) railway station

Bangor
265px
Location
Place	Bangor
Local authority	Gwynedd
Grid reference	SH575716
Operations
Station code	BNG
Managed by	Arriva Trains Wales
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	C1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	0.534 million
2005/06	0.538 million
2006/07	0.547 million
2007/08	0.564 million
2008/09	0.551 million
2009/10	0.592 million
2010/11	0.613 million
2011/12	0.676 million
- Interchange	1,487
2012/13	0.680 million
- Interchange	2,471
2013/14	0.663 million
History
Key dates	Opened 1 May 1848 (1 May 1848)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Bangor from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Bangor railway station is a railway station in Bangor, Gwynedd. The station, which is east of Holyhead, is the last mainland station on the North Wales Coast line between London Euston to Holyhead. It is the busiest in terms of passenger numbers in North Wales.

History

File:Bangor Gwynedd Station and Locomotive Shed 1752254 6d2f5f28.jpg

Bangor station in 1961.

The station, which cost £6,960 to build (about £21million in 2015), was opened on 1 May 1848 by the Chester and Holyhead Railway. Lying between two tunnels, the station was progressively expanded into a junction station as a number of branch lines were opened:

• From Menai Bridge to Caernarvon (Bangor and Carnarvon 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 station was renamed twice under British Railways: originally Bangor, it became Bangor (Caerns); then Bangor (Gwynedd). In some timetables it was shown as Bangor for Beaumaris.

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 were constructed on the site of the forecourt with a new frontage facing Deiniol Road. Ultimately there were four platforms and a small bay platform to serve the main line and branch lines.

By the 1950s there were 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 were 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 just two operational platforms, with the track and platform on the pre-1920s forecourt converted back to something like its original use. The station presently uses two large island platforms. The up line and a down line both have double tracks. Two further lines are reserved for goods traffic, particularly the carriage of nuclear fuel flasks to and from Wylfa nuclear power station on Anglesey.

In November 2009 the Welsh Assembly Government asked Network Rail to conduct a feasibility study on reopening the line between Llangefni on Anglesey and Bangor for passenger services. Network Rail was asked to assess the track bed before publishing its report in 2010. Work to clear away 21 years of vegetation began in April 2012.

Services

There is a basic hourly service to Wrexham General and Shrewsbury via Llandudno Junction, Colwyn Bay, Rhyl, Prestatyn Flint and Chester, as well as across Anglesey to Holyhead.

There are also through services to and from London Euston (six per day Monday-Friday, of which four run to and from Holyhead and two start and terminate here; two on weekends of which one runs to and from Holyhead and one starts and terminates here operated by Virgin Trains, Virgin also provide two services to/from Birmingham New Street and Crewe on weekdays. Services also run to/from Cardiff Central via Hereford (every two hours) and Birmingham International (every two hours). Since December 2012, there has also been a single weekday service to and from Manchester Piccadilly (from Manchester mid-morning, returning in the early afternoon).

On Sundays the service is also hourly each way from mid-morning, but runs to Holyhead and Crewe (apart from a single through service to Cardiff).

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Llanfairfechan		Arriva Trains Wales North Wales Coast Line		Llanfairpwll
Llandudno Junction		Arriva Trains Wales North-South "Premier" service		Holyhead
Llandudno Junction		Virgin Trains London Euston/Birmingham New Street/Crewe-Bangor/Holyhead		Holyhead
				Terminus

External links

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