Railway station in Conwy, Wales
Conwy railway station serves the town of Conwy, north Wales, and is located on the North Wales Main Line, between Crewe and Holyhead. It is served by Transport for Wales, on services from Holyhead to South Wales and Birmingham International.
History
The station was opened by the Chester and Holyhead Railway on 1 May 1848; it was closed as part of the Beeching cuts on 14 February 1966 but reopened on 29 June 1987[1] as a request stop. Upon reopening, the Welsh spelling Conwy was adopted, in contrast to the Anglicised form Conway used until closure in 1966.[1]
The original station had substantial decorated mock-Tudor style buildings on both sides (being sited within the town walls), along with canopies and a footbridge - this was however demolished soon after closure and no trace now remains.[2] The modern 1987 replacement has only basic amenities, no ticket office and shorter platforms.
From 6 July 2020, trains did not call at the station due to the short platform and the inability to maintain social distancing between passengers and the guard when opening the train door.[3] A limited service had returned by 29 March 2021.[4]
Facilities
The station platforms can only fully accommodate 2 coaches. Services operated by longer DMUs that call at this station do so under 'local door operation', whereby passengers may only board or alight through one door of the train, usually the leading door of the second coach. This avoids obvious safety risks presented by passengers alighting from doors that are not adjacent to the platform. Each platform has an open sided shelter for waiting passengers, a customer help point, timetable poster boards and digital CIS displays. There is no ticketing provision and the station is unmanned - tickets must be bought on the train or in advance of travel. Step-free access is available (via ramps) to both sides.[5]
Services
Conwy is served only by Transport for Wales Rail services.
The Monday to Friday service pattern is as follows:
Westbound:
Eastbound:
Service frequency varies between being 1 train per hour (tph), 1 train per 2 hours and 1 train per 3 hours.
On Saturdays there are 10 trains per day to Holyhead, and the Manchester Airport service does not run.
Eastbound services run to Birmingham and Cardiff via Chester and Shrewsbury.[6][7]
The Sunday service is infrequent (particularly in winter), with large gaps between trains. 9 services on a Sunday run to Holyhead, with 6 eastbound services. The first eastbound Sunday service runs to Manchester Piccadilly, the second Cardiff Central, with a five hour gap before the remaining 4 services run to Crewe.
Gallery
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Conwy railway station in May 2005
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View of the station in March 2008
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The station in 1962
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View westward, towards Bangor and Holyhead in 1962
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Conwy railway station in 1848
References
Further reading
External links