Trehafod railway station explained

Trehafod
Symbol Location:gb
Symbol:rail
Borough:Trehafod, Rhondda Cynon Taf
Country:Wales
Coordinates:51.6101°N -3.3806°W
Grid Name:Grid reference
Manager:Transport for Wales
Platforms:2
Code:TRH
Classification:DfT category F2
Original:Taff Vale Railway
Pregroup:Taff Vale Railway
Postgroup:Great Western Railway
Events:First Station opened as Havod
Years1:November 1890
Events1:Renamed Hafod
Years2:17 October 1892
Events2:resited
Years3:1 January 1905
Events3:Renamed Trehafod
Footnotes:Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road
Mapframe:yes
Mapframe-Zoom:13

Trehafod railway station is a railway station serving the township of Trehafod in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It is located on the Rhondda Line.

It was first opened on this site by the Taff Vale Railway in 1892.[1]

History

The first station was opened by the Taff Vale Railway on 30 August 1861, and was originally named Havod. The Welsh spelling Hafod was adopted in November 1890. It was resited in 1892, and altered to Trehafod on 1 January 1905.[2]

On 18 July 1889, the Barry Railway opened their main line between Hafod Junction and their new docks at Barry and immediately began carrying coal from the Rhondda pits along the new line.[3] The route was not served by passenger trains until 16 March 1896, the new service running between and via Hafod and the Barry Railway's newly opened station at Pontypridd.

Passenger services along the Barry route were diverted via the former Taff Vale station at from 10 July 1930, but coal trains to Barry Docks continued to use the ex-Barry Railway route until June 1951 when they were diverted via .

Services

Monday-Saturday, there is a half-hourly daytime service to southbound and to northbound, dropping to hourly in the evening. There is a two-hourly service in each direction on Sundays, with southbound trains running through to .[4] On 20 July 2018, previous franchise operator Arriva Trains Wales announced a trial period of extra Sunday services on the Rhondda Line to Cardiff and Barry Island. This was in response to a survey by Leanne Wood and the success of extra Sunday services on the Merthyr Line and the Rhymney Line.[5]

The service from this station is currently (summer 2023) suspended, due to major route upgrade work being carried out at multiple locations as part of the Valley Lines electrification scheme. A replacement bus service is in operation from here to Pontypridd and to Treherbert, calling at all local stations until February 2024[6]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Hutton, John. The Taff Vale Railway, vol. 2. Silver Link. 2006 . 978-1-85794-250-7 .
  2. Book: Butt, R.V.J. . The Directory of Railway Stations . 1995 . Patrick Stephens Ltd . Yeovil . 1-85260-508-1 . R508 . 115, 111, 234 .
  3. Book: Barrie, D.S.M. . The Barry Railway . Oakwood Library of Railway History . 1983 . 1962 . Oakwood Press . Salisbury . 0-85361-236-6 . OL57 . 165–6 .
  4. GB eNRT December 2015 Edition, Table 130 (Network Rail)
  5. Web site: Extra Sunday services between Treherbert and Barry Island . 19 July 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180722125917/https://arrivatrainswales-newsroom.prgloo.com/news/extra-sunday-services-between-treherbert-and-barry-island-for-the-summer . 22 July 2018 . dead .
  6. https://tfw.wales/projects/metro/service-changes South Wales Metro - Changes to train services (TfW)