Fantasy: Port Talbot Parkway Platform 3

[Topological]

There are no plans for a third platform at Port Talbot, but should there be?

My suggestion is that a third platform be added to the south of the existing two suitable for platforming the longest EMU that could ever be imagined running services in South Wales. The current length would probably need to be 5-car 197. This platform would serve two purposes:

1. A looping point for Swanline services (Cardiff - Swansea would not need to cross, Swansea to Cardiff would need to cross). This could even be scheduled in.
2. A potential terminating point for a local "Swansea Metro" train.

The platform would be more effective as the middle of the 3, but that would mean making the new platform suitable for 10car 80x and that may be prohibitively expensive.

Track-wise, there is a rusty line in place with associated S&C. However, that is presumably not at passenger standards and would need replacing.

 

[aar0]

My suggestion is that a third platform be added to the south of the existing two suitable for platforming the longest EMU that could ever be imagined running services in South Wales.

Build the be platform and track changes and then sneak in electrification to Swansea under “sundries” in the budget?

 

[Jez]

There was talk at one point of terminating Swanline in Port Talbot with connections to Bridgend and Cardiff on the fast trains. This was back when they planned a 2nd Maesteg-Cardiff that would take a path between Bridgend and Cardiff and call at Pencoed etc. Obviously this didnt happen and instead we have Pencoed added to the swanline for their extra services. And to be honest i dont think it would be a good idea. The majority of Swanline customers are going to Cardiff. Also Pyle would need to be added to every fast TFW service to make up for it.

Its a good idea having an extra platform at Port Talbot however if only to loop trains to mitigate any delays. The times of trains leaving Cardiff are far too close together as I found to my cost yesterday when only a 7 minute delay into Cardiff resulted in the Swanline going ahead of the fast train and having to wait for the next Swanline. The only good thing is delay repay but I dont know how many Cardiff-Swansea-Carmarthen passengers were also entitled to delay repay as a result of it being over 15 minutes late at some stations. it could have been avoided so easily and kept both trains under a 15 minute delay not to mention breaking connections.

 

[Topological]

Build the be platform and track changes and then sneak in electrification to Swansea under “sundries” in the budget?

Relatively, electrification would be a sundry.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Feb 2025 ==

There was talk at one point of terminating Swanline in Port Talbot with connections to Bridgend and Cardiff on the fast trains. This was back when they planned a 2nd Maesteg-Cardiff that would take a path between Bridgend and Cardiff and call at Pencoed etc. Obviously this didnt happen and instead we have Pencoed added to the swanline for their extra services. And to be honest i dont think it would be a good idea. The majority of Swanline customers are going to Cardiff. Also Pyle would need to be added to every fast TFW service to make up for it.

Its a good idea having an extra platform at Port Talbot however if only to loop trains to mitigate any delays. The times of trains leaving Cardiff are far too close together as I found to my cost yesterday when only a 7 minute delay into Cardiff resulted in the Swanline going ahead of the fast train and having to wait for the next Swanline. The only good thing is delay repay but I dont know how many Cardiff-Swansea-Carmarthen passengers were also entitled to delay repay as a result of it being over 15 minutes late at some stations. it could have been avoided so easily and kept both trains under a 15 minute delay not to mention breaking connections.

It is always said that delay repay hardly touches the sides when it comes to a justification for expenditure on infrastructure. In that case simply holding the Swanline was the answer to saving the delay repay.

Pyle is something of an awkward one, but it could be added to the fast TfW.

A model where the Swanline arrives and then passengers can transfer to the fast before the same Swanline train then carries on to Cardiff would work as well. A little more planning, but would cater for those who prefer the direct train. I suspect we would soon see all the "direct" favouring passengers transferring to the faster journey option though.

It would be interesting to know what the cost of such a platform would be.

 

[anthony263]

Extra platform should have been added when station was rebuilt.

Swanline needs to run through to Cardiff

 

[SynthD]

It would be interesting to know what the cost of such a platform would be.

It depends on whether you want to buy private property, how you want to connect to the overbridge. The car park is 250ft long, which is a tight fit for a 3-car train. It would be cheaper to close that car park entirely, and use ramps to go from the existing ground floor lift to the new platform, where only 2/3-car trains can stop.