Железнодорожная станция Абергавенни: история и современность

Grade II listed railway station in south Wales

Abergavenny railway station (Y Fenni) is situated south east of the town centre of Abergavenny, Wales. It is part of the British railway system owned by Network Rail and is operated by Transport for Wales. It lies on the Welsh Marches Line between Newport and Hereford. Abergavenny lies at the eastern edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park and provides an access point to local services and public transport into the park. The station is Grade II listed in a local pink semi ashlar sandstone with natural slate roofs and stone stacks. The down platform building is stone with a timber framed front and a natural slate roof. The line then passed on to the Western Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. In 1950, the station was renamed Abergavenny Monmouth Road, but reverted to its simple name in 1968. When sectorisation was introduced, the station was served by Regional Railways until the privatisation of British Railways.

A branch line to Brynmawr was opened in 1862 starting at Abergavenny Junction station north of the current station, constructed by the Merthyr, Tredegar and Abergavenny Railway (MT&AR). The line also had a station in the town called Abergavenny Brecon Road, making three stations in all. This company was acquired by the London and North Western Railway in 1866. In 1958 the MT&AR passenger trains ceased and Abergavenny Junction was closed.

A GWR Castle class locomotive, number 5013, was named after Abergavenny Castle.

The station is staffed in the daytime, with the ticket office open seven days per week. It has disabled access to platforms, a cafeteria and toilets, plus large waiting rooms on both platforms. Train running information is provided via automated announcements, digital CIS displays and timetable posters, along with a customer help point on platform 1. Step free access is available on the northbound platform at all times, but to the southbound one only when the ticket office is staffed (as this requires the use of a barrow crossing with locked gates). There is also a footbridge linking the two platforms. Proposals for an accessible footbridge at the station were put forward in 2010 but cancelled as Network Rail failed to obtain listed building consent. The footbridge was temporarily replaced whilst Network Rail took down and restored the original footbridge between December 2018 and July 2019. The bridge was restored at a specialist company in Cardiff. Works involved adding anti slip material to the deck and refurbishing the trestle support columns and staircases. Future works include providing the station with step free access throughout as part of the Department of Transport Access for All fund, which will be match funded by Transport for Wales.

With a few exceptions, the weekday daytime service pattern typically sees one train per hour in each direction between Manchester Piccadilly and Cardiff Central, with most trains continuing beyond Cardiff to Swansea and West Wales. There is also a two hourly service between Cardiff and the North Wales Coast Line to via These services are all operated by Transport for Wales. The northbound Premier service from Cardiff to Holyhead calls here on Monday to Fridays but the southbound service does not call here. Two trains per day in the early morning on weekdays to London Paddington, via Hereford and the Cotswold Line, commenced operation in December 2007. However, they were short lived, being withdrawn in December 2008; they were deemed pointless as changing at Newport was quicker. These services were operated by First Great Western.