Cardiff Queen Street railway station

Cardiff Queen Street railway station (Welsh: Caerdydd Heol y Frenhines) is a railway station serving the north and east of Central Cardiff, Wales. It is the fourth busiest railway station in Wales. It is located near the major thoroughfare of Queen Street and is one of 20 stations in the city. Along with Cardiff Central, it is one of the two major hubs of the Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes local rail network. The station and its services are run by Transport for Wales.

Cardiff Queen Street Welsh: Caerdydd Heol y Frenhines
Cardiff Queen Street seen from the north.
General information
Location	Cardiff, City and County of Cardiff Wales
Coordinates	51°28′55″N 3°10′13″W / 51.4819°N 3.1703°W / 51.4819; -3.1703
Grid reference	ST188765
Managed by	Transport for Wales
Platforms	5
Other information
Station code	CDQ
Classification	DfT category C1
Key dates
9 October 1840	Opened as Cardiff Taff Vale
1887	Rebuilt and renamed Cardiff Queen Street
1928	Enlarged
1973	Rebuilt
2014	Redeveloped
Passengers
2018/19	2.919 million
Interchange	1.366 million
2019/20	2.694 million
Interchange	1.311 million
2020/21	0.473 million
Interchange	74,733
2021/22	1.366 million
Interchange	0.271 million
2022/23	1.714 million
Interchange	0.395 million
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

In 2014, a reconstruction of the station was completed in order to reduce bottlenecks. Two extra platforms were put in (a previously existing platform, opposite platform 4, and a new platform next to platform 2 for the line to Cardiff Bay), taking the total number of platforms to 5.

History

Early history

 

The station frontage seen in 1966

The first station close to the current site was opened by the Taff Vale Railway in October 1840 and was known as Cardiff Taff Vale. This station initially had one platform; a second was added in 1862 and, at the same time, the head office of the Taff Vale Railway was moved alongside the station. In 1887, Taff Vale station was demolished and replaced by a new station with the current name Cardiff Queen Street. At the time, it comprised two through platforms and a south facing bay, all covered by a large overall roof.^[1]

In 1858, the Rhymney Railway built its own terminus just to the east of Queen Street called Adam Street. This was replaced in 1871 by a new station called Cardiff Crockherbtown, a short distance to the north-east of Queen Street. Crockherbtown station was renamed Cardiff (Rhymney) in 1888 and then Cardiff Parade in 1924.^[1]

The Taff Vale and Rhymney railways became part of the Great Western Railway (GWR) in 1922. As there was no longer any need for two rival stations in close proximity, on 15 April 1928, the GWR opened a short connection just north of Queen Street connecting the Rhymney line to the Taff Vale line. This allowed Parade station to be closed and its services diverted to into Queen Street. To accommodate the extra Rhymney line services, Queen Street was enlarged from three to five platforms, with the addition of a new island platform.^[1]

1973 rebuild

 

The station seen in 2001

The station remained fairly unaltered until 1973, when it was completely rebuilt by British Rail.^[2] The station's overall roof was removed, the original Taff Vale station frontage and booking hall demolished and replaced with a modern structure, and the number of platforms reduced to three: a central island platform and a south facing bay. Modern electric lifts were installed to take passengers from the subway to the new platforms. On the east side of the station, a large office block called Brunel House was constructed; until 1984, it was the headquarters of the Cardiff division of British Rail's Western Region.^[1][3]

In 1988, the entrance building was refurbished. In March 1990, platform 3 was turned into a through platform.^[1]

In 2005, the station was fitted with new ticket gates, operational when the station is staffed, which allow easier access in both directions. In 2006, LED screens replaced the old information display monitors.

The old station car park is now dedicated for private use by residents of a nearby modern apartment block, The Aspect.

2014 redevelopment

 

The station seen after redevelopment in 2015

As part of a £220m regeneration scheme to boost train capacity in Cardiff and the surrounding areas, Cardiff Central and Cardiff Queen Street stations were redeveloped from April 2013 and June 2014 respectively. The Cardiff Area Signalling Renewal project was completed by early 2017, funded by the UK Government's Department for Transport, Welsh Government and Network Rail.^[4][5]

As part of the scheme, a new entrance building and two new platforms were constructed at Queen Street. This brought the number of platforms back up to the pre-1973 number of five, allowing the number of trains running through the station to be increased from 12 to 16 per hour.^[6] These included a second northbound through platform, and a south facing platform reserved for the shuttle service to Cardiff Bay. The new platforms were brought into use on 14 December 2014.^[7]

In the spring of 2016, a roll of honour of those who served the armed forces between 1914 and 1919 from the Taff Vale Railway was put on display in the ticket hall. In November 2017, a QR code was added to give more information about those commemorated in the roll call.^[8]

Services

 

Map of the south-east Wales rail network

Queen Street is the main hub of the Valley Lines network – a railway system serving Cardiff, the Vale of Glamorgan, Bridgend and the South Wales Valleys – and has the solitary connection to Cardiff Bay. The station is located at the eastern end of the city centre, near the Capitol and St David's shopping centres, and sees heavy volumes of commuter rail traffic during the rush hour.

The station has five platforms at a level raised above the surrounding roads:

Platform	Direction	Line	Destination	Frequency
1	Southbound	Butetown Branch Line Shuttle	Cardiff Bay	5t/h [12 min]
2		Rhymney Line	Penarth	4t/h [15 min]
		Cardiff City Line	Radyr	2t/h [30 min]
3		Vale of Glamorgan Line	Bridgend via Rhoose	1t/h [60 min]
			Barry Island	3t/h [15-30 min]
4	Northbound	Coryton Line	Coryton	2t/h [30 min]
		Rhymney Line	Rhymney	1t/h [60 min]
			Bargoed	3t/h^[I] [15 min]^[II]
5		Rhondda Line	Treherbert	2t/h [30 min]
		Cynon Line	Aberdare	2t/h [30 min]
		Taff Line	Merthyr Tydfil	2t/h [30 min]

v t e Railway lines in Cardiff
Legend
Rhymney line       Coryton line             Heath Low Level│High Level           Merthyr line & Rhondda line         Llandaf           Cathays         Danescourt       Fairwater     Waun-Gron Park         South Wales Main Line to Bridgend       Cardiff Queen Street         South Wales Main Line to Newport & Ebbw Valley line             Ninian Park                   Cardiff Central               Cardiff Riverside                 Canal Parade goods depot               Bute West docks             Bute East docks (Atlantic Wharf)             East Moors depot             Cardiff Bay               Grangetown                     Roath docks             Cardiff Bay quayside             Queen Alexandra docks         Penarth Flats docks                 Penarth Moors docks     Vale of Glamorgan line   Penarth branch

The typical Monday – Saturday service per hour (as of March 2016) is as follows:^[9]

Northbound (towards Coryton and the Valleys):

• 6 trains per hour (tph) to Pontypridd via Cathays and Radyr, of which
  • 2 tph continue to Aberdare
  • 2 tph continue to Merthyr Tydfil
  • 2 tph continue to Treherbert
• 4 tph to Ystrad Mynach, of which
  • 4 tph continue to Bargoed
  • 1 tph continues to Rhymney
• 2 tph to Coryton

Southbound (towards Cardiff Central, Cardiff Bay, The Vale and to Radyr via the City Line):

• 12 tph to Cardiff Central, of which
  • 8 tph continue to Grangetown via the Vale of Glamorgan Line of which
    • 4 tph continue to Penarth
    • 4 tph continue to Barry, of which
      • 3 tph continue to Barry Island
      • 1 tph continues to Bridgend via Rhoose Cardiff International Airport
  • 2 tph continue to Radyr via the Cardiff City Line
  • 2 tph terminate
• 5 tph to Cardiff Bay via the Butetown Branch Line

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Terminus		Transport for Wales Cardiff Bay branch line		Cardiff Bay
Heath Low Level		Transport for Wales Coryton Line		Cardiff Central
Heath High Level		Transport for Wales Rhymney Line
Cathays		Transport for Wales Merthyr Line		Cardiff Central
		Transport for Wales Rhondda Line
	Future services
Cathays		Transport for Wales Rail Cardiff Bay branch line		Butetown

See also

• Rail transport in Cardiff
• List of railway stations in Wales
• Transport in Wales
• Commuter rail in the United Kingdom

Notes

1. 3t/h terminate at Bargoed,...
2. ...but the 1t/h travelling to Rhymney covers the exact same route, but continues for 4 more stops, so passengers travelling from Queen Street to Bargoed could get one of 4t/h.

References

1. Walters, Laurence (1995). Railways of Cardiff. Ian Allan Ltd. pp. 72–86. ISBN 0-7110-2380-8.
2. Hutton, John (2006). The Taff Vale Railway, vol. 1. Silver Link. ISBN 978-1-85794-249-1.
3. "Cardiff Queen Street station gets its old platforms back as part of £220m rail improvement scheme" 3 April 2016 at the Wayback MachineUrban 75 Blog article 27 February 2014; Retrieved 24 March 2016
4. "£220m Cardiff and Valleys rail congestion scheme starts". BBC News. 6 August 2012. from the original on 24 November 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
5. "Regenerating Cardiff Central & Queen Street". Premier Construction News. from the original on 24 November 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
6. "Cardiff rail stations set for revamp". walesonline. 9 February 2011. from the original on 28 April 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
7. "Early Christmas present for commuters as Network Rail says new platform at Cardiff Queen Street will be ready before the end of the year". Wales Online. 15 September 2014. from the original on 24 November 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
8. "Rail workers' deaths in WW1 remembered". BBC. 9 November 2017. from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
9. GB National Rail Timetable 2015–16 Edition, Table 130 (Network Rail)

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cardiff Queen Street railway station.