Llanfairpwll train station closes because platform is too short
Video report by ITV Wales reporter Rob Shelley
A village train station with the longest name in the UK is being forced to shut because the platform is too short for social distancing.
Thousands visit Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerych-wyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch to see and take pictures next to the train station name.But Transport For Wales has stopped trains going to the station on Anglesey because the platform is too small for social distancing.
Services will no longer stop at the village - known as Llanfairpwll, Llanfair or LlanfairPG for short - along with other stations in Wales due to moves to make platforms Covid-secure.A Transport for Wales spokesman said risk assessments had found two train doors had to be in operation to allow a safe distance between customers and conductors.
Trains will no longer stop at Llanaber, Llanbedr, Llandanwy, Tygwyn, Aberech and Conwy.
Local councillor Alun Mummery said: "The move is quite ridiculous when you consider that services, albeit limited, have been running through Llanfair all through the pandemic."Yet now that restrictions are slowly being lifted, we're told that trains will no longer stop here. It makes no sense to be honest."
Anglesey Welsh Parliament member Rhun ap Iorwerth said: "Safety is vitally important of course, but to say that the only safety measure possible is to effectively stop the service for many rail users seems unreasonable to me."Rail links to and from these Anglesey stations are essential for many users including key workers, who have kept Wales going throughout this pandemic."The village, population 3,000, has the tongue-twisting Welsh names meaning "St Mary's church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the fierce whirlpool of St Tysilio of the red cave" in English.