Cogan - New Station Needed on Penarth Line!

[Envoy]

A new station is surely needed on the Penarth Line at Cogan. It is regrettable that the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation gave permission for Tesco to build a store on land that would have been ideal for a Park & Ride to serve Penarth Marina. (They also permitted the filling in of an underpass from the Barry line Cogan station to the Bay side of the main road. Train passengers who arrive at Cogan (Barry line), must cross the main road by the mini roundabout if they wish to reach the Pont-Y-Werin footbridge over the Ely).

Now we have the massive Bay Pointe / Sports Village development taking place just over the Pont-Y-Werin footbridge and just a few minutes walk from Cogan Station (Barry Line). What is clearly needed is a direct walkway from the Cardiff bound platform at Cogan to the footpath leading to the Pont-Y-Werin bridge. This can be done relatively easily by utilising the abandoned underpass under the main road, (which was formally a rail track). Put in a new platform on the Penarth line alongside Tesco's car park and link that with such a footpath from the Barry line to the Pont-Y-Werin bridge and you also have a way in which passengers from say Rhoose, can get to Penarth without having to go via Grangetown.

The railway at Cogan is a way of delivering large numbers of people to and from the of the western part of Cardiff Bay. http://www.greenbankpartnerships.com/project/cardiff-pointe/

Furthermore, it is regrettable that the line from Penarth to Sully was closed.
Perhaps a new station with Park & ride could be built on the Barry line near the A4231/B4267/A4055 junction to serve Sully & east Barry? (Cadoxton is rather out of the way & has limited parking space).

 

[anthony263]

I do believe there has been at least 1 attempt to extend the Penath branch which has been defeated by local residents. I do think a station should be constructed at Cogan on the Penarth branch in the future with a connection to the current Cogan station on the Barry Line.

 

[krus_aragon]

A new station is surely needed on the Penarth Line at Cogan...

You seem to make three points at once in your post:

• Improved access from Cogan's current platforms to Pont-y-Werin and Penarth Marina
• New platform at Cogan on the Penarth Branch
• New Park&Ride station at the south end of the Docks Link Road

I used to live in the Penarth/Sully area, and used Cogan as a Park and Ride station myself. (After the Baron's Court roundabout was rebuilt as an intersection, I found Eastbrook was quicker to get to/from.)

Let me give my thoughts on them one at a time.

Better platform access to Pont-y-Werin from Cogan's platforms: certainly. Given the developments at that end of the Bay in recent years, this would be a good cause to pursue. Any planned spending would likely need to replace the current footbridge with a step-free access solution as well. This might be a contender for the National Station Improvement Programme.

A new platform on the Penarth Branch? This one isn't so obvious to me. One benefit would be the ability to travel to Cogan from Dingle Road or Penarth stations. I'd have thought that demand for such journeys would be well met by the 92, 93 and 94 buses toward Cardiff. The other argument is for improved frequency between the Cogan area and Cardiff. Stopping all the Penarth trains in the area would double the frequency from 4tph to 8tph. Cogan's limited P&R capacity would surely be overwhelmed by demand if that were done. Also, for travel in the Cardiff direction, do you walk to the current platform or the new one for the next train?

As for a new station for eastern Barry off the A4231 Dock Link Road, there's fields available where the road crosses the railway, and I could play crayonista and draw in some access roads to connect with the Link Road and roundabout. I couldn't say whether there's sufficient demand for such a station, or whether the road access would meet acceptable standards, though. (I recall traffic at the roundabout being quite heavy at rush hour, and the nearby junction with Coldbrook Rd E being quite the accident blackspot.)

 

[swcovas]

Until 1962 there were platforms on the Penarth line at Cogan but as a seperate station called Penarth Dock. Not sure but think the building is still there. Apart from that isn't Cogan well enough served with 4 trains an hour in each direction?

Can't see any great advantage in reopening Penarth to Cadoxton but it's a shame that when closed the Penarth stub remaining wasn't left intact to Alberta Place which is right in the middle of a residential part of the town. Anyone know the state of the trackbed?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Until 1962 there were platforms on the Penarth line at Cogan but as a seperate station called Penarth Dock. Not sure but think the building is still there.

I thought that station buildings of the former Penarth Dock station had been used by a variety of industrial and retail-type premises after its closure. Has anyone seen the area recently?

 

[Envoy]

Many thanks for the replies thus far to my post.

A new station along with large Park & Ride facility on the east side of Barry would clearly induce many commuters to leave their cars and use rail into Cardiff. (Once enough rolling stock becomes available).

The buses that run from Penarth to Cardiff get stuck in traffic jams.

The old stone building that was Cogan station on the Penarth branch is on the west side of the track. My suggestion for a new station on this line would be for the platform to be on the east side (Tesco side). This would be the nearest point by rail to serve Penarth Marina plus link with the Pont-Werin bridge to the massive new development going up at Bay Pointe/ Sports Village. From the platform, a new path could squeeze through (along side Penarth line) under the road bridge & then up to Pont-Y-Werin - joining new path from the present Cogan station (Barry Line).

Nobody can see demand for my suggested developments at Cogan because relatively few people actually cross the main road from the station, at present. (You could not think of a more dangerous place to cross a road). With a new ice rink/ski centre currently under construction at Bay Pointe plus the already open swimming pool & white water rafting centre, then, along with residential developments, clearly it would be desirable to provide access from the nearest rail station = Cogan.

The present Cogan station car park is full during the working week. All the more reason to fill in the cutting and increase the amount of parking. As I said in my initial post, it was plain stupid of Cardiff Bay Development Corporation to allow a supermarket to be built on land that could have been used for a new Cogan (Penarth line) station with P&R.

The trackbed between Penarth & Cosmeston has been turned into a cycle track. Some houses have also been built on the route. (You can see this on Google Earth).

The County boundary between Cardiff & the Vale of Glamorgan runs through the middle of the Ely creek - hence no joined up thinking on making the most of Cogan rail station.