Treherbert railway station serves the village of

Treherbert Treherbert () is a village and community (Wales), community situated at the head of the Rhondda Fawr valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Historic counties of Wales, Historically part of Glamorgan. Treherbert is the upper mo ...

Rhondda Cynon Taf Rhondda Cynon Taf (; RCT; also spelt as Rhondda Cynon Taff) is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. It consists of five valleys: the Rhondda Fawr, Rhondda Fach, Cynon, Taff () and Ely valleys, ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. It is the northern terminus of the Rhondda Line.

History

A station was first opened on this site 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 ...

on 12 January 1863, and was the connecting point of the

Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway The Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway was a Welsh railway company formed to connect the upper end of the Rhondda Fawr with Swansea, with the main objective of transporting coal and other minerals to Swansea docks. It was incorporated in 1882, but at ...

with the collieries of the

Rhondda Fawr Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley ( ), is a former coal mining, coalmining area in South Wales, historically in the county of Glamorgan. It takes its name from the River Rhondda, and embraces two valleys – the larger Rhondda Fawr valley (, 'la ...

via a 1-mile 1683 yard tunnel (completed in 1890) which was one of the longest in South Wales. The TVR had opened its Rhondda Fawr branch from Dinas (north of ) in 1856 (to serve the Marquess of Bute's newly opened colliery)"Treherbert"
'Rhonndda Cynon Taf Library Service''; Retrieved 24 March 2016 and began running passenger trains to the town seven years later. Services over the R&SB via

Aberavon Aberavon () is a town and community in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. The town derived its name from being near the mouth of the river Afan, which also gave its name to a medieval lordship. Today it is essentially a district of Por ...

to Swansea ended in December 1962, but the route through the

Rhondda Tunnel The Rhondda Tunnel is an abandoned railway tunnel that runs between the Rhondda and the Afan Valleys in South Wales. It is long, making it the third longest railway tunnel in Wales, and the seventeenth longest in the United Kingdom. The tun ...

and on to and via a connection at Cymmer Afan (over the

Llynvi and Ogmore Railway In 1861 the Llynvi Valley Railway was opened in Glamorganshire, Wales, to convey mineral products to the Bristol Channel at Porthcawl. It adopted an earlier tramroad, the Duffryn Llynvi and Porthcawl Railway. The Llynvi and Ogmore Railway (L& ...

) remained open until 1968, when the tunnel was closed due to roof distortion caused by mining subsidence. A replacement bus service then operated to Cymmer until the L&O route was formally closed to passenger traffic in June 1970. The tracks northwards remained in use for mineral traffic to the collieries at

Blaenrhondda Blaenrhondda is a village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, lying at the head the Rhondda Fawr valley. Blaenrhondda is a village and is part of the community of Treherbert. History The earliest evidence of people inhabiting th ...

until 1978, but have since been lifted. The TVR route towards Porth was singled in stages between 1972 and 1981 (with the portion from here as far as Cwmparc signal box the first to be so treated) and one platform removed. There is no longer a run round loop still in existence north of the station (part of the old line to Cymmer Afan). There are four carriage sidings for the Transport for Wales DMU fleet (several of which are stabled & serviced here overnight & at weekends).

Services

The basic service pattern on the route provides a departure every 30 minutes during the day Mondays to Saturdays, dropping to hourly in the evening. Trains run to (and terminate at) via , and , serving all stations except en route. One early morning service continues to . On Sundays, the frequency is two-hourly, but services run through to . On 20 July 2018, previous franchise operator

Arriva Trains Wales Arriva Trains Wales (ATW; ) was a British train operating company owned by Arriva UK Trains that operated the Wales & Borders franchise. It ran urban and inter-urban passenger services to all railway stations in Wales, including , , , , and , ...

announced a trial period of extra Sunday services on the Rhondda Line to Cardiff and Barry Island. This was in response to a survey by

Leanne Wood Leanne Wood (born 13 December 1971) is a Welsh politician who served as the leader of Plaid Cymru from March 2012 to September 2018, and served as a Member of the Senedd (MS) from 2003 to 2021. Born in the Rhondda, she was elected to the th ...

and the success of extra Sunday services on the Merthyr Line and the Rhymney Line. Services are operated using Class 150 Diesel Multiple Units. The service from this station was suspended from April 2023 to February 2024, due to major route upgrade work being carried out at multiple locations as part of the Valley Lines electrification scheme. A replacement bus service was in operation from here to Pontypridd, calling at all local stations.South Wales Metro - Changes to train services (TfW)
'Transport for Wales'' website; Retrieved 2023-07-11 Rail services resumed on 26 February 2024, ahead of the introduction of new rolling stock later in the year. A second platform and passing loop was added at this time.

References

Bibliography

External links

{{Transport in Rhondda Cynon Taf Railway stations in Rhondda Cynon Taf DfT Category F1 stations Former Taff Vale Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1863 Railway stations served by Transport for Wales Rail