at Penydarren and outside the fire station at Abercynon. The village developed as a transport interchange being at the junction of the Merthyr and Aberdare branches of the Glamorganshire Canal and the Merthyr and Aberdare branches of the Taff Vale Railway. For a time it was known as "Navigation" and the Navigation Hotel, which was originally the headquarters of the Glamorganshire Canal, still bears this name. Unusually for a village, until early 2008, it had two railway stations. One was on the line from Cardiff to Aberdare, namely Abercynon North. The other, Abercynon South, was on the Cardiff to Merthyr Tydfil line. Following major work, the North station was closed and its services moved to the South station, now named simply Abercynon. Trains are operated by Transport for Wales as part of the Merthyr Line service. A park and ride scheme funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and the European Regional Development Fund and delivered by Rhondda Cynon Taf Council with capacity for 160 cars and free parking was opened in 2010. Designed by Capita Glamorgan Consultancy and supported by the then Arriva Trains Wales rail franchise and Network Rail, the park-and-ride facility was built on former scrubland situated between the River Taff and Abercynon Station. A new bridge with paved footways either side was built to link the park and ride with Navigation Business Park. A direct access through a new upgraded subway was also provided to Abercynon Station. In 2018 Rhondda Cynon Taf Council announced proposals to expand the Park and Ride scheme at Abercynon Railway Station to provide more than 300 new parking spaces. A new parking facility will be built at Navigation Park, on the former Abercynon Colliery site a short walk from Abercynon Railway Station. It will include 310 new spaces including seven disabled bays and 15 motorcycle spaces and a bus stop will be added to the existing car park adjacent to the train station to encourage integration between bus and rail services. Rhondda Cynon Taf Council secured £787,000 from the Welsh Government's Local Transport Fund towards the overall cost of £1.2m. Abercynon lies just off the A470 road between Pontypridd and Merthyr Tydfil. Other road links include the A472 road which provides a cross valley link to Ystrad Mynach and the A4059 road to Mountain Ash and Aberdare. Local collieries Abercynon Colliery was sunk by the Dowlais Ironworks in 1889 to supply a