Ninian Park railway station

Ninian Park
Welsh: Parc Ninian
Location
Place	Ninian Park
Local authority	Cardiff
Grid reference	ST166759
Operations
Station code	NNP
Managed by	Arriva Trains Wales
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11	67,782
2011/12	69,938
2012/13	82,964
2013/14	99,936
2014/15	0.100 million
History
1939	opened for special trains
1987	regular public services
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Ninian Park from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Ninian Park railway station serves the Leckwith and South Canton areas of Cardiff, just outside Cardiff city centre.

The station opened in 1939 on football match days only for special trains.^[1] It appeared on Ordnance Survey maps from at least as early as 1946 until the early 1980s as a white circle, denoting that it was closed to regular passenger services. Ninian Park is the white circle west of the city centre:

Part of 1946 1:63360 Ordnance Survey map of Cardiff, showing Ninian Park railway station

The station, is 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Cardiff Central. It was fully opened to regular passenger service in 1987 when the City Line reopened to passenger services . As the station was built for main line special trains it has the longest platforms on the line, accommodating up to nine coaches, rather than two coaches as at the other three stations opened at the same time. The station is near the former Cardiff City F.C. stadium and is next to the South Wales Main Line, but trains on this route do not stop. Cardiff Canton Traction Maintenance Depot is adjacent to the station.

Stadium

Cardiff City Stadium is within five minutes' walk of the station, over the road from the station's namesake Ninian Park Stadium. However, trains do not run to the station within three hours of a match due to fears that platforms cannot safely accommodate large numbers of passengers attending.

Services

Trains run every half-hour in each direction Mondays - Saturday daytimes, eastbound to Coryton via Cardiff Central and westbound to Radyr (where connections are available for stations further north). This drops to hourly during the evenings. There is no Sunday service.^[2]

From December 2015 a limited number of mainline trains (Maesteg Line and West Wales Line services) call at Ninian Park, rejoining the mainline at Leckwith Junction to the west of the station.^[3][4] This route is also occasionally used as a diversionary route for GWR services. Additionally, Vale of Glamorgan Line trains terminate here when Cardiff Central is unavailable due to engineering works.

See also

• List of railway stations in Cardiff
• Rail transport in Cardiff

References

1. Private and Untimetabled Railway Stations by G.Croughton and others
2. GB eNRT December 2015 Edition, Table 130 (Network Rail)
3. Network Rail Electronic Working Timetable December 2015 Edition, Table PB03: Hullavington and Gloucester to Maesteg & Swansea (Network Rail)
4. "Passenger Train Services over Unusual Lines 2016 - Wales" Maund, R; Passenger Train Services over Unusual Lines website; Retrieved 5 April 2016

External links

• Train times and station information for Ninian Park railway station from National Rail

Coordinates: 51°28′35″N 3°12′04″W / 51.47639°N 3.20111°W