Barry Railway Station

Barry Train Station is the setting where my colleague and I would depart from every weekday evening, Metro newspapers ready in anticipation for our 24-​minute journey back to Cardiff.
My biggest issue with the station is the lack of wheelchair access for those arriving from the Cardiff direction. I imagine the staircase and small bridge connecting one platform to the other would present a huge obstacle for anyone struggling with a physical disability, or even those with pushchairs or prams.
In the morning, the smell emanating from the on-​site café is just like the one found lingering outside the Brains Brewery, which is a plus or a minus, depending on your perception.
In any case, it serves its purpose as a spot to grab your morning coffee or quick bite to eat before you head to work.
The only time I’ve seen the station crowded is on Friday afternoons, when a few revellers make their way from Barry to the Big Smoke. Other than that, most weekday mornings and afternoons are quite calm, enabling you to find an empty seat and sit unbothered.

Barry Railway Station is a key station between Cardiff and Bridgend. Trains run every 15 minutes into Cardiff from where conections can be made to everywhere else. Every half hour trains go from Cardff through Barry to Bridgend which includes Rhoose (with a connection to the airport). Every other train from Cardiff (i.e. also every half hour) goes through Barry to Barry Island terminus. The trains are usually on time and are reasonably clean. They can get very crowded during rush hour as a lot of people who live in Barry, commute to work in Cardiff. There is a café on the platform which sells hot snacks and drinks. Very welcome on a cold winter’s day! It also sells newspapers. The ticket office is only open in the morning, at other times tickets can be bought on the train.

For a medium-​sized town, Barry does well for railway stations, with no fewer than four: Cadoxton, Barry Docks, Barry and Barry Island. Barry is the town’s main station, used mostly by commuters and shoppers, although it is a fair walk to the main shopping area. It handles just under half a million passengers a year.
Opened as the terminus of the Barry Railway from Trehafod in 1884, (principally as a freight line transporting coal), additional lines were opened to Cardiff via Cogan in 1888, to Barry Island in 1896 and to Bridgend in 1897. Today, the main service is on the direct line from Cardiff to Barry Island.
The line to Bridgend, closed to passengers in 1964, reopened in 2005. There are four trains an hour to Cardiff, most of which continue onwards to the Cardiff valleys, three an hour to Barry Island and one an hour via Rhoose (for Cardiff Airport) and Llantwit Major to Bridgend.
Facilities have been much reduced over the years, although it still retains a small building with ticket office (open mornings only), cafeteria and toilets, a large car park, and a slightly dodgy looking platform canopy, supported by what must have been temporary scaffolding at one time, but now seems to be a permanent fixture.
Most recently (in 2014) a new platform face was opened (actually re-​opened) on the island platform, exclusively for Barry Island trains, now numbered platform 3. Bridgend trains still use platform 2. The platform also has a modern waiting shelter.
There is step free access to the Cardiff-​bound platform, but not to the Bridgend and Barry Island platforms (which means wheelchair users can go to Cardiff but not come back!). Buses run from the nearby Barry Hotel into the main shopping area and other parts of Barry.