Aviemore railway station
Aviemore railway station serves the town and tourist resort of Aviemore in the Highlands of Scotland. The station, which is owned by Network Rail (NR) and managed by ScotRail, is on the Highland Main Line, 83 miles 31 chains (134.2 kilometres) from Perth, between Kingussie and Carrbridge, and is also the southern terminus of the Strathspey preserved railway.[5]
 | |
|---|---|
 Aviemore railway station in 2018 | |
| General information | |
| Location | Aviemore, Highland Scotland |
| Coordinates | 57.1886°N 3.8288°W |
| Grid reference | NH895123 |
| Owned by | Network Rail |
| Managed by | ScotRail |
| Platforms | 3 (2 National Rail, 1 Strathspey Railway) |
| Other information | |
| Station code | AVM[2] |
| History | |
| Original company | Inverness & Perth Junction Railway |
| Pre-grouping | Highland Railway |
| Post-grouping | LMS |
| Key dates | |
| 3 August 1863 | Station opened[3] |
| Passengers | |
| 2017/18 |  0.148 million |
| Interchange |  44 |
| 2018/19 | 0.138 million |
| Interchange | 52 |
| 2019/20 | 0.133 million |
| Interchange | 177 |
| 2020/21 | 25,492 |
| Interchange | 8 |
| 2021/22 | 92,240 |
| Interchange | 147 |
Listed Building – Category A | |
| Designated | 18 August 1986 |
| Reference no. | LB257[4] |
| Notes | |
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road | |
History
The station was opened by the Inverness & Perth Junction Railway (I&PJR) on 3 August 1863,[3] to designs by the architect William Roberts,[6] when the "direct" line to Inverness via Slochd was built,[7] making Aviemore an important junction.
The original I&PJR line to Forres fell victim to the Beeching cuts, closing to passengers in October 1965.[8]
In 1998 the station was restored and refurbished, and the Strathspey Railway was allowed to use the island platform.[9] Following the moving of services, the Strathspey Railway closed their Aviemore (Speyside) railway station.
Facilities
The new building on the northbound platform of the main line comprises a ticket hall, booking office and shop, and the three original buildings are waiting rooms (with historical displays), staff offices, and toilets. Parking is on the station's west side, and passenger access to the Strathspey part of the station is via a foot-crossing across the junction spur. This foot crossing also provides disabled access to platform 2.[10] As there are no ticket machines, if the ticket office is closed, passengers must buy one in advance.
Platform layout
The station has a passing loop 40 chains (800 m) long, flanked by two platforms. Platform 1 on the down (northbound) line can accommodate trains having fourteen coaches, whereas platform 2 on the up (southbound) line can hold fifteen.[11] The junction between the Strathspey Railway and Network Rail lies to the south of the station and was controlled from the station signal box, which also controlled a large portion of the main line either side of here (from Kingussie all the way to Culloden Moor since 1979) as well as the immediate station area.[12] The station was resignalled and the loop extended in 2019, which also saw the signal box closed with control transferring to Inverness.[13]
Services
Services are provided by ScotRail, Caledonian Sleeper, and London North Eastern Railway on the Highland Main Line, and Strathspey Railway on the former Inverness & Perth Junction Railway to Boat of Garten and Broomhill.
In the May 2022 timetable, there are five trains each weekday to Edinburgh Waverley (including the Highland Chieftain to London King's Cross) and seven to Glasgow Queen Street southbound, plus the overnight sleeper to London Euston (the latter does not run southbound on Saturday nights or northbound on Sundays). Northbound there are eleven departures to Inverness.
On Sundays there are five trains to Edinburgh (including the King's Cross service) and two to Glasgow, along with seven to Inverness, two of which extend to Elgin.[14]
| Preceding station | National Rail |
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingussie | ScotRail Highland Main Line |
Carrbridge or Inverness | ||
| Kingussie | London North Eastern Railway East Coast Main Line |
Carrbridge or Inverness | ||
| Kingussie | Caledonian Sleeper Highland Caledonian Sleeper |
Carrbridge or Inverness | ||
 Heritage railways |
||||
| Terminus | Strathspey Railway | Boat of Garten | ||
| Historical railways | ||||
| Kincraig Line open; station closed |
Highland Railway Inverness & Perth Junction Railway  |
Boat of Garten Line and station open | ||
| Highland Railway Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway |
Carrbridge Line and station open | |||
Future proposals
In the future, this station will be one of those to benefit from a package of timetable enhancements introduced by Transport Scotland and Scotrail. The current Perth to Inverness timetable will increase to hourly each way, with trains south of there running on alternate hours to Edinburgh and Glasgow. Journey times will be reduced by 10 minutes to both cities.[15] As of May 2022, this has still not taken place.[14]
References
- Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
- Deaves, Phil. "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
- Quick 2022, p. 60.
- "AVIEMORE RAILWAY STATION WITH ISLAND PLATFORM, FOOTBRIDGE AND FENCING". Historic Scotland. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
- Bridge, Mike, ed. (2017). TRACKatlas of Mainland Britain: A Comprehensive Geographic Atlas Showing the Rail Network of Great Britain (3rd ed.). Sheffield: Platform 5 Publishing Ltd. p. 94. ISBN 978-1909431-26-3.
- The Buildings of Scotland, Highland and Islands. John Gifford. Yale University Press. 1992. ISBN 0-300-09625-9
- Butt (1995), page 21
- "Railway History – The Dava Way". davaway.org.uk. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
- "Aviemore station reopens after £2.2m restoration". RAIL, No. 333. EMAP Apex Publications. 17–30 June 1998. p. 10.
- "National Rail Enquiries -". www.nationalrail.co.uk. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
- Brailsford 2017, map 19D.
- Jessop, R. "Scottish Signal Boxes". "Ronrail". Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
- Scotrail. "Highland Mainline Journey Time Improvements Phase 2" (PDF). p. 5.
- eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 213
- "Transport Scotland". Archived from the original on 20 August 2016.
Bibliography
- Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. ISBN 978-0-9549866-9-8.
- Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
- Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.
- Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
- Quick, Michael (2022). Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain: A Chronology (PDF) (5th ed.). London: Railway and Canal Historical Society.
