Llanelli railway station


Llanelli railway station is the railway station serving the town of Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is located on the West Wales line and the Heart of Wales line west of by rail. The station and the majority of trains calling are operated by Transport for Wales. It is located between two level crossings that were previously upgraded in the 1970s. In 2015, Network Rail carried out a further upgrade which saw the control of these level crossings pass from the Grade-II listed Llanelli West signal box to Port Talbot Panel Signal Box using CCTV.

Facilities

The station is staffed, with the ticket office on platform 2. A self-service ticket machine is provided for use when the booking office is closed and for collecting advance purchase/pre-paid tickets. The main buildings on this platform also house a newsagents shop, toilets, help point and post box. Platform 1 has canopies, bench seating and a customer help point. Digital CIS displays, timetable posters and automated announcements provide train running information. The platforms are linked by a footbridge with steps, but level access is possible to both platforms using the east level crossing and nearby road.

Services

operate an approximately hourly service in each direction along the West Wales Line, from and via to Carmarthen, with two-hourly extensions to. There is a separate between Swansea and via that calls, along with the twice-daily service to and from that runs to connect with the ferry to/from Rosslare.
The daily Great Western Railway service between Carmarthen and London Paddington also calls here. Great Western Railway also operates a summer Saturday service between London and Pembroke Dock.
There are four trains a day in each direction on the Heart of Wales line to, plus a fifth morning peak train to/from. Two trains each way operate on the line on Sundays. As the line from Swansea also enters Llanelli from the east, these trains must reverse direction here to continue their journeys.

Rail and sea corridor to Ireland

Transport for Wales' boat trains to and from serve the station. These connect with the Stena Line ferry to Rosslare Europort in Ireland with a daily morning and evening service in both directions. Two other services to and from there also call since the branch service was improved in 2011. This route has been in existence since 1906.

History

Llanelli railway station was the scene for the Llanelli Riots of 1911. The Llanelli Riots took place on 19 August 1911. Their immediate cause was the very first railway strike which lasted only two days. The strike started on Thursday evening, and by Saturday evening two young men had been shot dead by the military. One man was killed when a railway truck exploded and, on the following day, three more people died from their injuries. The story of the Riots is set in a period of great industrial unrest, and involves prominent figures on the international scene such as Lloyd George, Winston Churchill, King George V, and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany.

Routes