Bargoed railway station explained

Bargoed
Native Name:Welsh: Bargod
Symbol Location:gb
Symbol:rail
Borough:Bargoed, Caerphilly
Country:Wales
Grid Name:Grid reference
Manager:Transport for Wales
Platforms:2
Code:BGD
Classification:DfT category E
Opened:1858
Years:September 2013
Events:Signal box closed[1]
Footnotes:Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road
Mapframe:yes
Mapframe-Zoom:13

Bargoed railway station serves the town of Bargoed in the county borough of Caerphilly, South Wales. It is a stop on the Rhymney branch of the Valley Lines network. It is located close to the Bargoed Interchange bus station.

History

The station was opened on 31 March 1858 by the Rhymney Railway and was once a busy junction, serving lines to (via Bedwas) and Brecon (the Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway) as well as the current route, but the latter pair were both closed to passengers on 31 December 1962 and completely in 1963–5. The junction site and trackbed of the old Brecon line is still visible north of the station.

In 1905 it was renamed Bargoed and Aber Bargoed reverting to its original name in 1924[2] There was another similarly name station, Aber Bargoed, opened by the Brecon & Merthyr Junction Railway & located on the now defunct Newport line north of Bargoed South Junction.

Services

On Mondays to Saturdays there are departures every 15 minutes southbound to Cardiff Central and Penarth, with an hourly service in the evenings. Sunday trains run every two hours and serve rather than Penarth.[3]

Northbound there is an hourly service to Rhymney on Mondays to Saturdays with a two-hourly Sunday service. The ongoing re-signalling scheme on the Valley Lines network[4] has seen the signal box here closed and a new passing loop constructed at . The plan for a half-hourly service through to/from Rhymney was due to be implemented at the December 2013 timetable change, but this has been postponed due to there being insufficient rolling stock available.

The station, which is the northernmost on the double-track section of the branch, has recently seen the reinstatement of a second platform (although it did at one time have three).

Bus station

See also: Bargoed Interchange. Bargoed Interchange, opened in 2011, is a three-minute walk from the railway station.

The redeveloped bus station building was funded through the European Union Regional Development Fund, and through the Welsh Government's Targeted Match Funding, Transport Grant programme, and the Heads of the Valleys Programme.

Bus services run to Newport, Merthyr Tydfil, Blackwood, Caerphilly, Pontypridd, and Ystrad Mynach

Notes and References

  1. Guppy. Anthony. The privatisation years. Feature Pictorial News. . 1005. 20 March 2024. 50-55.
  2. Butt, R.V.J. (1995), The Directory of Railway Stations, Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd
  3. GB National Rail Timetable December 2015 - May 2016, Table 130 (Network Rail)
  4. http://www.therailengineer.com/2012/08/31/cardiff-area-resignalling/ The Rail Engineer - Cardiff Area Resignalling Scheme