Swansea railway station
Swansea 
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| Welsh: Abertawe | |
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| Location | |
| Place | Swansea |
| Local authority | City and County of Swansea |
| Coordinates | 51°37′31″N 3°56′27″W / 51.6253°N 3.9409°WCoordinates: 51°37′31″N 3°56′27″W / 51.6253°N 3.9409°W |
| Grid reference | SS657936 |
| Operations | |
| Station code | SWA |
| Managed by | Arriva Trains Wales |
| Number of platforms | 4 |
| DfT category | C1 |
| Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries |
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| Annual rail passenger usage* | |
| 2011/12 |
 2.148 million |
| 2012/13 |
 2.162 million |
| 2013/14 |
2.116 million |
| 2014/15 |
2.166 million |
| 2015/16 |
2.159 million |
| History | |
| Original company | South Wales Railway |
| Pre-grouping | Great Western Railway |
| Post-grouping | Great Western Railway |
| 19 June 1850 | Opened as Swansea High Street |
| 6 May 1968 | Renamed Swansea |
| National Rail – UK railway stations | |
| * Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Swansea from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year. | |
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Swansea railway station is a railway station serving Swansea, Wales, and is the fourth busiest in Wales after Cardiff Central, Cardiff Queen Street and Newport.
The station opened in 1850. It was built by the South Wales Railway, which amalgamated with the Great Western Railway (GWR) in 1863, but it was not originally on the South Wales Railway main line, planned to connect London with the port of Fishguard, and Swansea passengers had to change at Landore, two miles to the north until at least 1879. The station has been renovated and extended several times in its lifetime - most notably in the 1880s, when the stone-built office block facing High Street, on the west side of the station, was added, and in 1925-7 when the platforms were lengthened. The present-day frontage block, facing Ivey Place, was completed in 1934. Nothing now remains of the original wooden station with its two platforms and galvanised iron roof.
The majority of the rebuilt station remains intact, although the facilities have been reduced. The umbrella-type platform roofing which replaced the 1880s train-sheds in the 1920s is mostly intact although the canopy on platform 4 has been shortened. The number of platforms was reduced from five to four in 1973 under British Rail when the old Platform 1 was eliminated, along with the loading bays and fish dock that once stood beyond it. The remaining platforms were renumbered at the same time, so that what were platforms 2 to 5 are now platforms 1 to 4, respectively. On the east side of the station there was a connecting line which bypassed the platforms and ran at one time to coal tips on the North Dock (closed in 1929 and subsequently infilled) and on to a junction with the high-level line from Eastern Depot to Victoria station (closed in 1965). Part of the route of this line, alongside the station itself, is now a staff car park and the remainder, which was carried on viaducts alongside the Strand, has been obliterated by modern development. High Street goods station was on the west side of the line, just north of the passenger station. The site has been completely cleared and used for housing and also the dedicated bus road that runs from the Landore park-and-ride facility into the city centre. On the opposite side of the line were extensive carriage sidings (Maliphant sidings), large areas of which are, as of 2014, being redeveloped as the Hitachi IEP (Intercity Express Programme) rail service depot.
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Wikipedia