THE QUIETEST RAIL STATION IN WALES
WITH just one passenger every three days or so, this is officially the quietest railway station in Wales. In fact just 132 people passed through Sugar Loaf railway station last year.
Sitting on the Heart of Wales line, which connects Swansea and Shrewsbury, it is a far cry from the country’s busiest station, Cardiff Central, which saw almost 13 million people pass through it in the same period.
According to Dixe Wills’ recent book Tiny Stations, the little Powys station is named after a nearby hill that isn’t even the famous Sugar Loaf in Monmouthshire, and it was built to serve four railway workers’ cottages, the foundations of which can still be made out.
It closed in 1965, and was reopened 19 years later to cater for ramblers and cyclists, albeit not many of them.
Dr Alan Gilchrist, owner of the Carlton Riverside Restaurant in Llanwrtyd Wells, said he was not surprised the station had come out as Wales’ least busy when figures were released this week.
At just over two miles away from Sugar Loaf, his restaurant is one of the closest buildings to the station.
“It’s a stop-off that people use only if they are out walking or cycling,” he said.
“There are absolutely no buildings anywhere near it.”
Dr Gilchrist, who said he has never used the station himself and hasn’t heard of anyone using it in a while, added: “It doesn’t surprise me at all that it’s the least used in Wales.
“It’s a request stop, so in that respect this station works more like a bus stop.”
The station, on the A483 between the small town and Cynghordy, usually has four services running in each direction every weekday, with fewer services on weekends.
And although it had just 132 entries or exits between 2015-16, that period still saw 22 more passengers than the previous year.
Emma Wilson, from Ammanford, works in retail and said she uses the Heart of Wales line regularly.
She said: “I have not seen anyone use the Sugar Loaf station in many months, the train normally goes quickly past it and you hardly no- tice it as a station. I remember the last time I saw someone request to the conductor for the train to be stopped there, the guard looked a bit surprised.”
A Network Rail spokeswoman said: “This has been the quietest station in Wales for a while now.
“Sugar Loaf station has relatively few passengers and as such is a ‘request stop’.
“While Network Rail does not have direct authority to close railway stations – this lies with the Department for Transport – we are not aware of any plans to close the station at this time.”
Each of the stations that came out busiest in Wales were in the south, with seven of the top 10 located in or around Cardiff.
Neath, Swansea and Newport were the others.
UK-wide, Shippea Hill station in Cambridgeshire had only 12 entries and exits during the period and was named as the country’s least busy station. Sugar Loaf came 12th in the UK list.
The busiest in the UK was London Waterloo, with a 99.1 million passengers. The rest of the top 10, aside from Birmingham New Street, were also London-based.
The figures also showed passenger numbers have doubled in the past 20 years.
The Rail Delivery Group, representing train operators and Network Rail, said the figures demonstrated the need to “invest and plan long-term for increasing demand”. 1. Sugar Loaf – 132 (entries or exits) 2. Roman Bridge – 544 3. Llangynllo – 958 4. Llanbister Road – 978 5. Pont–y–Pant – 1,050 6. Garth (Powys) – 1,058 7. Cynghordy – 1,104 8. North Llanrwst – 1,220 9. Tal–y–Cafn – 1,358 10. Dolau – 1,432 1. Cardiff Central – 12,744,582 2. Cardiff Queen Street – 2,643,568 3. Newport (Gwent) – 2,560,868 4. Swansea – 2,158,992 5. Bridgend – 1,540,674 6. Cardiff Bay – 1,190,780 7. Cathays – 903,646 8. Neath – 837,116 9. Treforest – 800,548 10. Pontypridd – 777,508