Cardiff Queen Street!
This railway station was originally opened by the Taff Vale Railway all the way back in October 1840. Back then, the station was known as “Cardiff Taff Vale” and was originally a single-platform station. Of course, the demand for rail would grow and, with it, so too did Cardiff Queen Street, which would become one of the busiest stations in Cymru and the wider United Kingdom.
It wouldn’t be until 1887 that the station would come to be known as Cardiff Queen Street. One might argue that it is a separate station entirely to the original Cardiff Taff Vale, which was demolished to make way for the old Cardiff Queen Street station. Given it was rebuilt on top of the site of the Vale, however, makes it easier to conclude that they are the same station, just with a different name.
Another old railway company, known as Rhymney Railway, built a rival station (Adam Street, later known as Cardiff Crockherbtown and then Cardiff Parade) slightly east of Cardiff Queen Street. When the Great Western Railway (GWR) absorbed both the Taff Vale and Rhymney railway companies in 1922, Cardiff Queen Street would become the dominant station whilst Parade would be closed and its services diverted to Queen Street (1928), which would now become a five platform station.
The next significant chapter in the station’s history wouldn’t come until 1973, by which time it was under British Rail. The station was modernised to fit with the times, though the number of platforms was reduced to just three. Dark times indeed.
Finally, in 2014, £220m was invested to boost train capacity in Caerdydd (Cardiff) and its surrounding areas. This saw many transformations to Queen Street, including:
A brand new entrance building
The introduction (or reintroduction) of two new platforms, bringing the number up to pre-1973 numbers
Cardiff Area Signalling Renewal project, which was a major initiative to replace life-expired signalling and power equipment across 309 km (192 miles) of track between Newport and Port Talbot
To this day, Cardiff Queen Street remains one of the most important railway stations in all of Cymru and the United Kingdom.
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Niklas is the founder, owner, manager, editor, writer, video creator, voice over artist, and so forth, of Welsh Histories. He is passionate about the preservation of Welsh culture; the rejuvenation of the Welsh language and the promotion of Welsh history. Niklas currently resides in Pune, Maharashtra, with his beloved wife.