History
In the early 1840s the South Wales Railway was trying to find a suitable site for a railway station, but the area that is now Cardiff Central railway station was prone to flooding. It was Isambard Kingdom Brunel's solution to divert the River Taff to the west, creating a larger and safer site for the station.
The station was opened by the South Wales Railway in 1850. Its successor, the Great Western Railway (GWR), rebuilt it in 1932 as is marked by the name carved onto the façade (larger than the name of the station). As a result of representations by the GWR, a nearby working-class district, Temperance Town, was cleared during the late 1930s in order to improve the outlook of the rebuilt station. The formerly separate Cardiff Riverside suburban station of 1893 was integrated into the main station in 1940 but its platforms ceased to be used for passenger traffic in the 1960s.
Initially named Cardiff, the station was renamed Cardiff General in July 1924 and Cardiff Central in May 1973.
Read more about this topic: Cardiff Central Railway Station
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