Why is Conwy a request stop?

[Trackman]

Only trains with two carrages are stopping at Conwy.

Three car 175's stop there, they have SDO I believe rather than local door entry/exit . Also checked on RTT there was one today, so it's still going on.

 

[norbitonflyer]

Conwy does come up on the rail websites. However, if you type in the English spelling “Conway" - you get Conway Park. So, we could have a situation where many people would like to go direct to Conway but think it does not have a station.

By the time you've typed in "Conw " the National Rail website suggests three stations, so it should be obvious that Conwy has a station. (The others are Conway Park and Glan Conwy).

 

[Djgr]

Presumably Conwy's platforms could be extended?

 

[Taunton]

This is the sort of thing that bedevills reopenings. Someone looks at it initially, closed, reopen just for local 2-car trains would cost ... £100k (such were the costs once upon a time; don't laugh). Platform for 2 cars just fits nicely, especially as when it opened they were probably 57' long Met-Cams. Local authority chips in, gets done, is quite successful. That should be good. However as this, plus other stations, do well, the trains become overcrowded. Longer platforms? Oh, we'd have to rebuild the road bridge. That's £10m for a start. That the platforms used to go under it is by the by, apparently. Meanwhile we have much longer trains (though apparently with less seats). Maybe we can have more trains, at least? No, that increases the likelihood that we might delay the Avanti. They would charge us for any delay more than the extra fare revenue would be worth. So No all round.

 

[zwk500]

Presumably Conwy's platforms could be extended?

Post #3.

In short, not very - there's the Walls on one end and a tunnel on the other. See the Wikipedia page for photos of either end.

 

[_toommm_]

Three car 175's stop there, they have SDO I believe rather than local door entry/exit . Also checked on RTT there was one today, so it's still going on.

Conwy is still local door only due to social distancing requirements being more stringent in Wales. The 09:14 had its Conwy stop cancelled today, as will the 15:20. Both were three carriages at the point that they canned at Conwy.

 

[zwk500]

This is the sort of thing that bedevills reopenings. Someone looks at it initially, closed, reopen just for local 2-car trains would cost ... £100k (such were the costs once upon a time; don't laugh). Platform for 2 cars just fits nicely, especially as when it opened they were probably 57' long Met-Cams. Local authority chips in, gets done, is quite successful. That should be good. However as this, plus other stations, do well, the trains become overcrowded. Longer platforms? Oh, we'd have to rebuild the road bridge. That's £10m for a start. That the platforms used to go under it is by the by, apparently. Meanwhile we have much longer trains (though apparently with less seats). Maybe we can have more trains, at least? No, that increases the likelihood that we might delay the Avanti. They would charge us for any delay more than the extra fare revenue would be worth. So No all round.

Genuine question, what are they meant to do here?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Looks to me like if you lopped some trees you could extend to 3-car, possibly even 4.

 

[zwk500]

Looks to me like if you lopped some trees you could extend to 3-car, possibly even 4.

The Eastbound platform possibly, although you might have to get a width derogation to avoid shifting the retaining wall. but any extension of the westbound platform will mean moving the stairs, and probably some quite serious work to the retaining wall to get it to fit, even with a reduced width from that required by the standards.

 

[Dai Corner]

Genuine question, what are they meant to do here?

Stop twice; once for the front two cars, once for the rear two.

 

[Andrew*Debbie]

Conwy is full of listed buildings and structures. Their are substantial stairs at Conwy too. Are we going to put in a lift?

Spending public money knocking down things to put in longer platforms would be exactly what we don't need.


Llandudno Junction has long platforms, lifts and it is in walking distance.


-------------

The railway tunnel portal is listed.
Many buildings adjacent to the station are listed.

The wall is listed.

 

[Taunton]

Genuine question, what are they meant to do here?

My point was to put the points rather than have an easy and glib solution. It was a similar issue on the DLR here in London. When they initially went from one car to two car trains, the extensions of course went the "easy" way. About £200k each. When they went from two to three car extensions it needed going the "difficult" way now. ten times as much.

 

[6Gman]

Conwy is staycation central at the moment. It is a genuinely pleasant small town.

If Llandudno Junction wasn't what it is i.e. a junction for Llandudno and Blaenau I would seek to shift the stopping patterns away from there to Conwy.

The three through platforms at the Junction have capacities ranging from 11-15 20m carriage lengths; Conwy can accommodate 2. Only so much SDO can do!

But to (sort of) respond to the original question on the occasions I have used Conwy there have always been people (other than myself and family) boarding/alighting so it does seem a bit pointless for it to be a request stop. On one westbound service it seemed half the train wanted to get off there!

 

[Parallel]

Having used the station a couple of times previously (but not knowing the area that well), I did wonder if the platforms could be extended for three carriages. As others have said, the stairs would need to be reconfigured on the Holyhead-bound platform for the platform to be extended, but there also seems to be access via a slope from the Llandudno Junction side of this platform.

I wonder if it would just be easier/more cost efficient to close and re-build the station to the west of the existing one on the other side of the tunnel.

 

[geoffk]

Nearby Deganwy is another urban station which is only a request stop. Wikipedia lists both Conwy and Deganwy as request stops, not the most reliable source, and there have may have been changes since the list was compiled.

 

[wobman]

Three car 175's stop there, they have SDO I believe rather than local door entry/exit . Also checked on RTT there was one today, so it's still going on.

The class 175 doesn't have SDO, they have local door operation if it's a 3 car but a 2 car fits so all doors are opened with all 2 car units booked to stop at Conwy.

During covid restrictions anything longer that a 2 car gained a not to stop order for Conwy station if the service was booked to stop. Things are changing now as covid restrictions are easing as of 12th September all services will be stopping at Conwy if booked to stop, unless the service is to busy to enable local door operations.

As said the class 197's are equipped with SDO operation, so things may be easier in the future.

 

[Parallel]

Nearby Deganwy is another urban station which is only a request stop. Wikipedia lists both Conwy and Deganwy as request stops, not the most reliable source, and there have may have been changes since the list was compiled.

Both Deganwy and Conwy are currently request stops. From my experience, the train nearly always stops at Deganwy however as there is usually someone waiting to board/alight.

 

[craigybagel]

It might be easier when the 197s are in service, as those have selective door opening. Not the Mk4s, though I suppose "local door" could be used.

The MKIVs are getting SDO fitted in the future, as part of their extension to 5 + DVT sets, but I doubt we'll see them stop at Conwy even then.

Three car 175's stop there, they have SDO I believe rather than local door entry/exit . Also checked on RTT there was one today, so it's still going on.

175s don't have SDO. It's local door or everything on those units, with the exception that on the rare occasions they run in multiple, the trailing unit can be locked out.

 

[Eccles1983]

Conwy isn't nearly as busy as is made out.

Nightfall and for about 8mths of the year it is sparse to say the least.

It's also a nasty little station to stop at, no room for error on downhill approach that is pretty slippy.

 

[Llandudno]

There are already lots of buses, several per hour.

Most of which don‘t actually call into the station bus stop, the more frequent services to Conwy call at one or two different stops on the main road which are not signposted from the actual station!

and as for bus timetables on display at the station or on one of the three bus stops where Conwy buses depart from, forget it!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Aug 2021 ==

Both Deganwy and Conwy are currently request stops. From my experience, the train nearly always stops at Deganwy however as there is usually someone waiting to board/alight.

Deganwy passenger figures would be even higher if:

Advance tickets were made available, they are from Llandudno Junction but rarely from Deganwy.

Journey planners not showing reasonable connections to/from Deganwy and Llandudno at the Junction.
Some trains have 4 minute connections which, of course, is ample as a cross platform connectio at the Junction, but journey planners show on occasions an hour wait instead.

SInce Covid, most Deganwy and Llandudno trains just shuttle to/from the Junction instead of running through to Chester and beyond

Frequent cancellations of Llandudno branch trains and Bleanau services due to ‘resource availability…’

 

[Dai Corner]

Journey planners not showing reasonable connections to/from Deganwy and Llandudno at the Junction.
Some trains have 4 minute connections which, of course, is ample as a cross platform connectio at the Junction, but journey planners show on occasions an hour wait instead.

The Minimum Connection Time at Llandudno Jn is five minutes so journey planners should not be showing itineraries with shorter ones. I'm not familiar with the station but perhaps it could be reduced

BR Times - Train Times & Station Platform Finder

Alternative journey planner featuring full schedule details including platforms and connection times, for every passenger train on the National Rail network.

www.brtimes.com

 

[323235]

The Eastbound platform possibly, although you might have to get a width derogation to avoid shifting the retaining wall. but any extension of the westbound platform will mean moving the stairs, and probably some quite serious work to the retaining wall to get it to fit, even with a reduced width from that required by the standards.

You don't need the stairs, as there is level access to both platforms.

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

You don't need the stairs, as there is level access to both platforms.

To get into Conwy from the West bound platform you have to climb a steep set of stairs or take an extremely long de tour.

 

[Djgr]

So before its original Beeching closure, did it have short platforms then?

 

[Dai Corner]

So before its original Beeching closure, did it have short platforms then?

I can't imagine that all trains that stopped there were fully platformed, but it wasn't regarded as a problem then. Passengers just walked through the train, climbed/jumped down onto the ballast or were over-carried and had to get the next train back.

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

So before its original Beeching closure, did it have short platforms then?

No and nothing has moved.

 

[nw1]

Must admit when visiting Conwy Castle just walked to and from Llandudno Junction station seeing as it wasn't very far. Didn't even think to bother looking at whether there would be trains at a suitable time at Conwy station.

I remember one day (in winter) doing just that but not particularly wanting to.

I had been staying in Llandudno with friends (aborted climbing trip, it was winter and the weather was both wet and cold) but we visited Conwy Castle one morning. The friends then headed back home whereas I needed to return to Chester (after doing a walk on the hills in the afternoon).

There was no suitable Conwy stopper at the right time (around 1700) so walked to Junction. Wasn't too far but would have used Conwy with a better service.

One wonders why it closed in the first place.

 

[zwk500]

No and nothing has moved.

Well the canopies etc have, but more importantly Standards have changed.

 

[nw1]

View attachment 101688


No and nothing has moved.

Now if they could have just kept that open...

Also note the anglicised spelling. (EDIT I see this has been discussed up-thread)

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

Well the canopies etc have, but more importantly Standards have changed.

I meant as in anything moving that could make the platforms need to be made shorter. The 800 year old arch and the slightly newer tunnel were all there when the original station and longer platforms where there.