Swansea railway station

Swansea railway station is a British railway station that serves Swansea, Wales. The station is one of four in the City and County of Swansea and is the fourth busiest in Wales after Cardiff Central, Cardiff Queen Street and Newport.

Train services
To the east, trains operate along the South Wales Main Line. Swansea is the western terminus for First Great Western inter-city services to London Paddington that do not terminate at Cardiff Central, with the majority of local train services west of Swansea timed to connect with London services. Arriva Trains Wales provides the Swanline service to Cardiff Central and services to Manchester Piccadilly.

To the west, Arriva Trains Wales trains run along the West Wales Line to Carmarthen and then to Pembroke Dock, Milford Haven or Fishguard Harbour. Swansea is the eastern terminus for a few of the services from West Wales. Services on the Heart of Wales Line between Llanelli and Shrewsbury often start from Swansea.

Facilities
The station is a terminus, at the end of a short branch off the South Wales Main Line and the West Wales Line, so that all through passenger trains must either reverse at Swansea or omit calling there. In practice, almost all passenger services do call there.

The station has four platforms. First Great Western trains from London almost always enter the station standard carriages first, usually at platform 2. The platforms are covered for part of their length.

The manned ticket hall is at the southern end of the platforms. A rail travel office, café, newsagent and automatic ticket machines are in the hall. Automatic ticket barriers are used only when the station is staffed, for safety reasons and due to the inability to handle some ticket types.

Until January 2004, the mail train to London was a regular service from the station.

History
The station opened in 1850. It was built by the South Wales Railway, which amalgamated with Great Western Railway in 1863, but it was not originally on the South Wales Railway trunk line, planned to connect London with ferries to Ireland, and Swansea passengers had to change at Landore, two miles to the north until at least 1879. The station has been renovated and extended several times in its lifetime. Nothing now remains of the original wooden station with its two platforms and galvanised iron roof.

The majority of the rebuilt station remains intact, although the facilities have been reduced. The platform roof is mostly intact although the Platform 1 canopy has been shortened. Platform 5 is no longer present and neither are the loading bays and fish dock that once stood beyond it. On the other side of the station there was a connecting line bypassing the station and following the edge of what was the dock behind Wind Street and down to the dock and yards alongside former Swansea Victoria. The route alongside the station is now the car park and the remainder of the route down the docks has been obliterated, like most of the dock itself, by redevelopment. Most of the freight yard has also been lifted although some parts remain, and one siding is currently (2009) used to store trains for the morning services.

There was great competition between the different railway companies in the Victorian period. Swansea had seven stations in 1895, built by five different railway companies: High Street, St Thomas, East Dock, Riverside, Victoria, Swansea Bay, and Rutland Street (the town terminus of the Mumbles Railway). Only this station now remains in the city centre.

Name of the station
For most of its history the station was known as Swansea High Street to distinguish it from other stations in the area. Following Beeching's cuts in the 1960s and the closure of Swansea Victoria, the name was shortened to Swansea. Today the station is called Abertawe/Swansea on platform signs, the facade, public timetables, by the National Assembly of Wales and by Swansea County Council. However a sign above the station entrance says High Street Station, as does Network Rail route documentation.

Future plans
Swansea station is to be revamped with new facilities including new waiting rooms, bike racks and digital information boards. The first phase is said to be completed by 2011, and the second by 2014, when the whole project for the other stations is said to be completed as well.