St Clears | |
---|---|
General information | |
Location | St Clears, Carmarthenshire Wales |
Coordinates | 51°49′42″N 4°29′32″W / 51.8283°N 4.4923°W |
Grid reference | SN283173 |
Platforms | 2 |
Other information | |
Status | Disused |
History | |
Original company | South Wales Railway |
Pre-grouping | Great Western Railway |
Post-grouping | Great Western Railway |
Key dates | |
2 January 1854 | Station opened |
15 June 1964 | Station closed |
St Clears railway station served the town of St Clears, Carmarthenshire, Wales between 1854 and 1964. It was on the West Wales Line.
History
The station opened on 2 January 1854.[1] It was on the section of the South Wales Railway which opened that day between the temporary station near Carmarthen and Haverfordwest,[2] and was situated between Sarnau and Whitland.[3]
The station closed on 15 June 1964.[1] An attempt to reopen the station in 1973 was made by five local authorities and organisations, together with the Department of the Environment, which jointly agreed to fund construction of a new station at a total cost of £5,400 (equivalent to £27,000 in 2021[lower-alpha 1]).[4] The new station would have consisted of concrete platforms adjoining both tracks and timber waiting shelters provided with electric lighting.[4] It had been hoped that works would be swiftly completed so that the first trains could call at St Clears by the end of Summer 1973, but this did not materialise.[4]
New reopening proposals
There has long been a local campaign for the reopening of the station, supported by Angela Burns AM and William Powell AM.[5][6]
Locals started a Facebook campaign to reopen the station in 2010 which drew in thousands of supporters. The St Clears Times ran a community poll from 2010 and 95% of people who voted were in favour of opening the station.
There have been recent proposals to reopen the station as part of the Welsh Governments Rail infrastructure investment.[7] In 2019 it was shortlisted by Welsh Government for further assessment, along with three other stations (from an original longlist of 12) as part of a national strategy to improve transport links.[8] In 2020, funding was secured to reopen the station by 2024.[9] Some initial activities (groundwork and surveying) were carried out in February and March 2022.[10]Final design work has not been completed and a timetable for construction of the new station has yet to be announced.[11]
Routes
Preceding station | Historical railways | Following station | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Sarnau Line open, station closed |
Great Western Railway South Wales Railway |
Whitland Line and station open | ||
Future services | ||||
Carmarthen | Transport for Wales West Wales line |
Whitland |
See also
References
- 1 2 Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 203. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
- ↑ MacDermot, E.T. (1927). History of the Great Western Railway, vol. I: 1833-1863. Paddington: Great Western Railway. pp. 572–3, 865.
- ↑ Conolly, W. Philip (January 1976). British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazetteer (5th ed.). Shepperton: Ian Allan. p. 7, section A1. ISBN 0-7110-0320-3. EX/0176.
- 1 2 3 "Topics: St. Clears to reopen". The Railway Magazine. 119 (866): 269. June 1973.
- ↑ "Station campaign picks up steam". BBC News Online. 4 February 2009. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
- ↑ "Fresh support for calls to reopen town's rail station". Carmarthen Journal. 25 January 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
- ↑ "Two New Railway Stations Planned for Wrexham as Part of Welsh Government Rail Infrastructure Improvements".
- ↑ Mosalski, Ruth (28 August 2019). "The new railway stations which could be built in Wales". walesonline. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
- ↑ Ruth Davies (3 December 2020). "St Clears' new rail station welcomed by Carmarthenshire County Council". Tivyside Advertiser. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ↑ "Work begins to re-open mainline railway station closed for over 50 years". Western Telegraph. 4 February 2022.
- ↑ Davies, Ruth (20 January 2023). "New St Clears station at Pembrokeshire gateway is 'long overdue'". Western Telegraph. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
- ↑ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
External links