West Wales lines
AClass 153 unit inHeart of Wales line livery crosses the viaduct nearTenby railway station c.2007.
Overview
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	Wales Swansea Carmarthenshire Pembrokeshire
Service
Type	Heavy Rail
System	National Rail
History
Opened	1868
Technical
Number of tracks	Double track Swansea to Clarbeston Road (remainder single line)
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge
Route map

v t e West Wales lines
Legend
South Wales Main Line Landore Junction Landore TMD Swansea Swansea Loop West Jn Cockett Tunnel Cockett Gowerton Llanelly Railway Loughor Loughor railway viaduct overRiver Loughor Heart of Wales line and Swansea District line Llanelli Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway Pembrey and Burry Port Burry Port Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway Lando Platform Kidwelly Flats Halt Kidwelly Carmarthen– Aberystwyth line Ferryside Carmarthen Carmarthen Junction (original) River Towy Sarnau St Clears Whitland Tunnel Whitland Narberth Whitland & Cardigan Rly Narberth Tunnel Clunderwen Templeton Narberth Road and Maenclochog Railway Kilgetty Clarbeston Road Saundersfoot Haverfordwest Tenby River Cleddau Penally Johnston Lydstep Halt Neyland Manorbier Waterston oil refinery Beaver's Hill Halt Robeston oil refinery Lamphey Milford Haven Golden Hill Platform Newton Noyes Llanion Halt Hakin Docks Pembroke Spittal Tunnel Pembroke Dock Wolf's Castle Halt Narberth Road and Maenclochog Railway Welsh Hook Halt RNAD Trecwn Mathry Road Halt Jordanston Halt Fishguard and Goodwick Fishguard Harbour

TheWest Wales lines (Welsh:Llinellau Gorllewin Cymru) are a group of railway lines fromSwansea throughCarmarthenshire toPembrokeshire,West Wales. The main part runs from Swansea toCarmarthen andWhitland, where it becomes three branches toFishguard,Milford Haven andPembroke Dock.

Before the rail cuts of the 1960s, there were routes to Cardigan, Newcastle Emlyn, Llandysul, and via Lampeter, cross-country from Carmarthen to Aberystwyth.

The railway to west Wales was first projected in 1844, and the proposal was for a line to run from theGreat Western Railway nearGloucester to Fishguard, with a branch from Whitland to Pembroke. The railway was called the South Wales Railway, and although it was in theory independent of the GWR, in practice it was very closely linked. This was shown by the fact thatIsambard Kingdom Brunel was the engineer, and the line was laid to the7 ft (2,134 mm)broad gauge.

Construction began in 1847, but the company ran into financial difficulties. In addition, theGreat Famine of Ireland reduced the prospective revenue from Anglo-Irish traffic. As a result, instead of completing the line to the proposed port at Fishguard, the Haverfordwest branch was extended toNeyland where the harbour would cost less.

The line from Swansea opened as far as Carmarthen on 11 October 1852, Haverfordwest on 2 January 1854, and to its terminus at Neyland on 15 April 1856. At first, the railway was leased to the GWR, but in 1863 the two companies were amalgamated.

The original powers for the branch to Pembroke lapsed, and so in 1859 thePembroke and Tenby Railway was authorised to build a4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm),standard gauge line from Pembroke Dock to Tenby. The line opened from Tenby to Pembroke on 30 July 1863 and to Pembroke Dock on 8 August 1864. The extension from Tenby to the GWR line at Whitland opened on 4 September 1866. There were two adjoining stations at Whitland with no physical connection between the two lines because they operated ondifferent gauges.^[1]

The line was engineered bySir James Szlumper.^[2] It had its own police force until 1897, due to the high-security of the Naval Dockyard at Pembroke Dock, and the munitions transported.^[3]

The Pembroke & Tenby Company obtained powers in 1866 to extend their standard-gauge line from Whitland to Carmarthen. This would have enabled the Pembroke & Tenby to link up with the standard-gauge network through theLlanelly Railway, theVale of Towy Railway and theCentral Wales line. Through a series of inter-company working agreements, this would have had the effect of giving theLondon & North Western Railway unrestricted access to west Wales. Within the Act for the extension to Carmarthen was a Schedule which allowed either party (the Pembroke & Tenby or the Great Western) to request the Great Western for running powers to the Pembroke company. In doing this the cost of adding a rail tomix the gauge and installing the necessary junctions at Whitland and Carmarthen was £20,000 to be paid to the Great Western within 18 months of the request. The request was made by the Pembroke company and consequently the Great Westernconverted the up line to standard gauge leaving the down line purely as broad. This was not what the Pembroke company was wanting but had to live with it. The Great Western maintained a crossing loop at St Clears for the broad gauge and this caused some hindrance to the Pembroke company. The conversion is noted as the first pure broad to standard gauge for the Great Western.

The Pembroke & Tenby ran the first goods trains to Carmarthen on 1 June 1868, and passenger services in August 1869. The G.W.R began leasing the line on 1 July 1896 before finally amalgamated it a year later.^[1]

In 1895, the Rosebush line was opened fromClynderwen toLetterston along the old Maenclochog line, and construction started on extending it to Goodwick and the proposed new harbour at Fishguard. A Bill was approved by Parliament for the railway to extend eastwards to Carmarthen, although this was stopped when the line was bought out by theGreat Western Railway in 1898. In 1906, the railway was extended from Letterston toFishguard & Goodwick followed in 1909 withFishguard Harbour.

The Rosebush line was closed duringWorld War I because its rails were shipped to theWestern Front in 1917 for use by the British Army. In 1923 the line was relaid. However, passenger services ceased in 1937. The entire line was closed in 1949.

Passenger services stopped on theWhitland and Cardigan branch in 1962, followed by freight in 1963. The line toNeyland followed in 1964. Pembrokeshire escaped lightly from the 1963Beeching cuts as none of the remaining three branches – to Fishguard, Milford Haven, and Pembroke Dock via Tenby – were proposed for closure. The Pembroke Dock branch survived a later closure proposal in the late 1960s.

The first freight line to the Oil Refineries was built in 1960 when Esso opened their first refinery in Milford Haven.

Until 2013, train services on the West Wales line were compromised by the existence of a stretch of single track on the otherwise double-track main line. This 5 miles (8 km) stretch of single track is between Cockett West Junction in the western suburbs of Swansea and Duffryn West Junction to the east of Llanelli. Within this section the River Loughor was crossed on a viaduct which required significant works to accommodate two tracks.^[4] Plans were advanced to replace the viaduct and restore double track, and this was completed in April 2013.^[5]

One intermediate station, Gowerton, also lies on this single-track stretch, with just the former Down (westbound) platform in use for trains in either direction. The disused former Up platform (without track) is still in existence. Less than half of all trains passing through Gowerton can be scheduled to make stops owing to pathing limitations. Additionally, this tight pathing compromised route performance which can amplify delays and hence impact connections into and out of the long-distance Intercity services between Swansea, Cardiff and London. This is important since there are many interchange passengers from the Pembroke Dock line (which is mainly served by trains terminating at Swansea) for Cardiff and English destinations.

The double tracking work between Cockett and Dyffryn was completed by July 2013 with a revamped Gowerton railway station having the disused platform brought back into use. This resulted in Gowerton railway station having an additional 95 trains stopping there every week.^[6] Additional problems are also found on the Single Lead Junction at Swansea Loop East junction (north ofSwansea station), which causes conflict between trains from west of Swansea and the eastbound mainline High Speed Train services. There are two passenger companies operating;Transport for Wales Rail andGreat Western Railway.

Great Western Railway introduced a new timetable in 2023, significantly increasing the service on the West Wales line. Their change added 65 trains every week on the line,^[7] extending services which previously started or terminated at Swansea to call at Llanelli, Pembrey & Burry Port and Carmarthen.

Transport for Wales,Iarnród Éireann andStena Line promotesSailRail^[8] using theFishguard Harbour toRosslare Europort service which links with theIarnród Éireann trains toDublin Connolly on theDublin–Rosslare railway line.

The cities, towns and villages served by the route are listed below. Towns initalics are served by InterCity express services.

Regular services

In May 2023, Great Western Railway added extra services for the first time since their reduction in the late 1990s.^[7] They now operate the following services:

• Monday to Saturday,Intercity Express Train every two hours fromCarmarthen toLondon Paddington, stopping atPembrey & Burry Port andLlanelli
• Monday to Saturday, Intercity Express Train every two hours fromLondon Paddington toCarmarthen, stopping atLlanelli andPembrey & Burry Port
• Sundays, three morning/afternoon Intercity Express Train fromLondon Paddington toCarmarthen, stopping atLlanelli andPembrey & Burry Port
• Sundays, three afternoon/evening High Speed Trains fromCarmarthen toLondon Paddington, stopping atPembrey & Burry Port andLlanelli

Summer period

• Additional daily services are provided betweenPembroke Dock andLondon Paddington. Two services run from Pembroke Dock to Paddington, one runs from Paddington to Pembroke Dock with a fourth service which runs between Swansea and Pembroke Dock only.

Cancelled services

The following services previously operated by Great Western Railway (and/or one or both of its predecessors First Great Western, Great Western Trains, British Rail and Great Western Railway) no longer operate:

• Daily services fromMilford Haven (and towards the latter years of operating,Haverfordwest) toLondon Paddington.^[9]
• Daily night time service fromFishguard Harbour toLondon Paddington, stopping only atWhitland,Llanelli andSwansea
• Daily daytime service fromFishguard Harbour toLondon Paddington, stopping only atWhitland andLlanelli, and also operating express to/from London stopping only atCardiff Central. This train was noted for its non-stop through-service to principal stations likeReading,Bristol Parkway andNewport
• Daily sleeper service fromMilford Haven to London^[9]

• Milford Haven toManchester Piccadilly viaSwansea – every two hours
• Pembroke Dock toSwansea – every two hours
  • A standard repeating departure time results in a 58-minute layover atPembroke Dock, with trains passing each other atTenby, the only passing loop betweenWhitland and Pembroke Dock
• Carmarthen toManchester Piccadilly viaSwansea – every two hours
  • Together with the Milford Haven–Manchester service this makes Carmarthen to Manchester hourly

Transport for Wales have proposed operating additional services to Tenby, from Swansea, in the Summer of 2025.

Most services are timed to provide a connection atSwansea to Great Western Railway services toLondon Paddington

• Fishguard Harbour toSwansea – one train per night, connecting with the night ferry toRosslare Europort,Ireland
• Fishguard Harbour toCardiff Central avoidingSwansea – one train per day (normally via theSwansea District Line), connecting with daytime conventional ferry toRosslare Europort,Ireland
• Heart of Wales Line services betweenShrewsbury andSwansea (four trains a day) travel over the Swansea to Llanelli section of the West Wales Lines.
• Irregular local trains to and fromFishguard Harbour (some going only as far east asClarbeston Road some coming all the way from Cardiff (viaSwansea)) which started on 12 September 2011, after a petition organised by two 15-year-olds.^[10] Funding will be provided by the Welsh Assembly Government at the cost of £1.4m per annum. One of these extra trains in each direction was expected to connect with the summer-only Stena Lynx fast ferry toRosslare Europort,Ireland in summer 2012, however Stena line then sold the Lynx fastcraft which means the summer 2012 Lynx service will no longer operate.^[11]

The junction on the Fishguard branch to the former North Pembrokeshire and Fishguard Railway, which now leads to the formerRNAD Trecwn site, has been refurbished.

• One of the oil refineries near Milford Haven generates daily long-distance freight trains.
• The Tata Trostre tinplate works generates some freight traffic

In August 2006,SWWITCH performed a case review of the Fishguard branch to decide whether it was economically viable to continue to operate a passenger service to the harbour given the very scant (boat-trains only) service. In 2011, a local campaign resulted in extra service being launched. A year later it was announced that the closedFishguard and Goodwick railway station would reopen.^[12][13]

In December 2008 theWelsh Assembly announced it had secured funding from theEuropean Fund for Strategic Investments to upgrade sections of the line between Gowerton andLoughor.^[14] The work, which was completed by 8 July 2013, included the replacement of the woodenLoughor Rail Viaduct with a concrete/steel structure across theRiver Loughor, the subsequent redoubling of the line betweenSwansea andLlanelli and the reopening on the old platform atGowerton railway station.^[15] The improvement work has allowed more trains to stop atGowerton while decreasing overall travel times, and an increase in the frequency of services between Swansea and Llanelli. In 2015,Network Rail made the proposal to reopenCockett in its annual Strategic Business Plan.^[16]

In 2018 community campaigning began to improve services and facilities atPembroke Dock.^[17]

• Traws Link Cymru

Wikimedia Commons has media related toWest Wales Line.

• Lewis, Deryck (4–17 May 1989). "Pembroke prospects".RAIL. No. 95. EMAP National Publications. pp. 44–45.ISSN 0953-4563.OCLC 49953699.

• Railway lines in Wales
• Rail transport in Swansea
• Rail transport in Carmarthenshire
• Rail transport in Pembrokeshire
• Railway lines opened in 1868
• Railway companies disestablished in 1897
• Standard gauge railways in Wales
• 1868 establishments in Wales

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