Port Talbot Parkway railway station
Port Talbot Parkway 
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| Welsh: Parcffordd Port Talbot | |
Platform 2 in November 2008
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| Location | |
| Place | Port Talbot |
| Local authority | Neath Port Talbot |
| Coordinates | 51°35′31″N 3°46′52″W / 51.592°N 3.781°WCoordinates: 51°35′31″N 3°46′52″W / 51.592°N 3.781°W |
| Grid reference | SS766896 |
| Operations | |
| Station code | PTA |
| Managed by | Arriva Trains Wales |
| Number of platforms | 2 |
| DfT category | D |
| Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries |
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| Annual rail passenger usage* | |
| 2011/12 |
 0.478 million |
| 2012/13 |
 0.514 million |
| 2013/14 |
0.510 million |
| 2014/15 |
0.500 million |
| 2015/16 |
0.503 million |
| History | |
| Original company | South Wales Railway |
| Pre-grouping | Great Western Railway |
| Post-grouping | Great Western Railway |
| 19 June 1850 | Station opened as Port Talbot |
| 5 June 1897 | Renamed Port Talbot and Aberavon |
| 1 July 1924 | Renamed Port Talbot General |
| April 1947 | Renamed Port Talbot |
| 3 December 1984 | Renamed Port Talbot Parkway |
| National Rail – UK railway stations | |
| * Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Port Talbot Parkway from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year. | |
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Port Talbot Parkway railway station is a railway station in Port Talbot, Wales. The station is located at street level near Station Road in Port Talbot town centre.
The first section of the South Wales Railway, that between Chepstow and Swansea, which included the station originally named Port Talbot, opened either on 18 June 1850, or on 19 June 1850. The station was renamed several times: to Port Talbot and Aberavon on 5 June 1897; to Port Talbot General on 1 July 1924 (the suffix distinguishing it from other stations in Port Talbot), later reverting to the original Port Talbot in April 1947, finally becoming Port Talbot Parkway on 3 December 1984.
While it now bears the title Parkway, it is not a Parkway station per se. It was named Parkway in the 1980s by British Rail when the old goods shed and yard were converted to a large car park, with freight handling moved to Margam Knuckle Yard, to encourage patronage of eastbound commuters from the Neath and Swansea Valley areas. The idea was that overall travel time could be saved by catching the train at Port Talbot instead of Neath or Swansea because of the low line speed west of Port Talbot and the limited parking at the other two stations.
There were originally two stations near to the current site, one of which was Aberavon Town, which was on the old Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway route and the other being the nearby terminus of the Port Talbot Railway named Port Talbot Central.
The station is of the island type and has 2 platforms:
Tesco planned to vacate its current store site near the Aberafan Centre and build a new store beside the station featuring a superstore, petrol station and car park. However this was rejected by the local council and the land remains undeveloped. The resignalling activity in the Port Talbot area during 2006/2007 has provided a new signalled turnback facility in both directions. There are proposals for the present Arriva Trains Wales Swanline service, which has one train every two hours between Swansea and Cardiff Central service, to be altered to a service which terminates at Port Talbot Parkway and operate on an hourly basis between Swansea and Port Talbot Parkway.
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Wikipedia