Cardiff Bay railway station (), formerly ''Cardiff Bute Road'', is a station serving the

Cardiff Bay Cardiff Bay (; colloquially "The Bay") is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it is the river mouth of the River Taff and River Ely, Ely. The body of water was converted into a lake as part ...

and

Butetown Butetown (or ''The Docks'', ) is a district and community (Wales), community in the south of the city of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. It was originally a model housing estate built in the early 19th century by John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marqu ...

areas of

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, Wales. It is the southern terminus of the Butetown branch line 1 mile (1.5 km) south of . Currently one platform is in use, Platform 2, which opened 26th May 2025. The existing Platform 1, which closed on the same day, is being redeveloped. The station building lies on Bute Street, although access to the station is from the nearby Lloyd George Avenue. For various reasons, including it being the origin of the first steam-powered passenger train service in Wales, the station is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. Passenger services are provided by Transport for Wales.

History

The line to the docks was opened on 9 October 1840 but the station was not mentioned in Bradshaw's railway timetables until December 1844. It was opened as Cardiff Bute Dock but the name was changed to Cardiff Docks in 1845 by the

Taff Vale Railway The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in stage ...

(engineer:

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel ( ; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history", "one of the 19th-century engi ...

). The station building came into use in 1843 and was the head office of the TVR until 1862, when new offices were built at Queen Street. After this it was let to the consulates of the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal and Brazil, with separate flagpoles provided for each nation. The station was renamed Cardiff Bute Road by the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

on 1 July 1924 and given its present name in 1994.

Renovation of station building

Use as a railway museum

The building was restored in the 1980s and served for a time as a railway museum under the auspices of the National Museums and Galleries of Wales and the Butetown Historical Railway Society (which in 1997 relocated its activities to the Vale of Glamorgan Railway). Following this, the station building had become derelict, with train passengers using a temporary shelter.

Residential and commercial property

In August 2017, plans were approved to renovate and convert the derelict 1840s building, and construct a four-storey building alongside it. The new building would house 10 flats, offices and a cafe. The Victorian Society said the Bute Street station was one of the oldest and most significant railway structures in Wales and in the previous year appeared on its list of the 10 most endangered buildings. It said it supported a sensitive restoration scheme but the current proposal would cause a "high degree of harm to the building and its setting". The first stage of the development opened in June 2019.

Services

There was a shuttle service between Cardiff Queen Street and Cardiff Bay every 12 minutes Monday to Saturdays (between 0630 and 2330) and every 12 minutes on Sundays (between 1100 and 1630) using Class 153 Sprinters. Some services were operated by a Class 121 "bubble car" until it was withdrawn in June 2013. Since the June 2024 timetable change, the trains now operates between Cardiff Bay and Pontypridd every 30 minutes and every 30 minutes from between Cardiff bay and Cardiff Queen Street every Monday to Saturday. Sundays services operates three trains per hour between Cardiff bay and Cardiff Queen street and one train per hour operate between Cardiff Bay and Pontypridd. These are operated with Class 150 Sprinters.

Modernisation

In June 2018, the then future Welsh train operating company

KeolisAmey Wales Keolis Amey Operations (), Full legal name is bilingual including the Welsh name, as "Keolis Amey Operations / Gweithrediadau Keolis Amey Limited". trading as Transport for Wales Rail Services (TfW Rail Services) was a Welsh train operating c ...

announced plans to build a line extension and a terminus station, ''The Flourish'' (since renamed back to Cardiff Bay) for the Butetown Branch, along with an intermediate station at Loudoun Square. This station would have completely replaced the existing station, which would have closed. Plans have since been revised, and in August 2022 it was proposed to construct the two-platform Loudoun Square station further to the north, and to retain Cardiff Bay station in its present location, but to add a second platform. The station will be served by more frequent tram-train vehicles from spring 2024. The line will form part of the South Wales Metro. In September 2024 it was announced that Cardiff Bay would gain a third platform as part of Cardiff Crossrail, which would link the Butetown branch line with Cardiff Central. Work on Cardiff Crossrail is anticipated to start in Autumn 2025

References

External links

{{South Wales Metro Grade II* listed buildings in Cardiff Grade II* listed railway stations in Wales Bay Former Taff Vale Railway stations DfT Category F1 stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1844 Railway stations served by Transport for Wales Rail Butetown 1844 establishments in the United Kingdom