Dundee railway station

Dundee railway station serves the city of Dundee on the east coast of Scotland. The station has two through platforms and two terminal platforms. It is situated on the northern, non-electrified section of the East Coast Main Line, 59 1⁄4 miles (95.4 km) northeast of Edinburgh. Dundee is the tenth busiest station in Scotland.[3] In January 2014, the former main station building was demolished to make way for a new building as part of the Dundee Waterfront Project which opened on 9 July 2018.

Dundee

Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Dè[1]
LocationDundee, Dundee City
Scotland
Coordinates56.4566°N 2.9710°W / 56.4566; -2.9710
Grid referenceNO402298
Managed byAbellio ScotRail
Platforms4
Other information
Station codeDEE
History
Original companyNorth British Railway
Post-groupingLNER
Key dates
1 June 1878Opened as Dundee Tay Bridge[2]
1965Renamed as Dundee[2]
Passengers
2015/16 1.890 million
 Interchange  69,568
2016/17 1.815 million
 Interchange  63,183
2017/18 1.866 million
 Interchange  65,557
2018/19 2.016 million
 Interchange  91,267
2019/20 1.945 million
 Interchange  73,721
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Dundee railway station is where the Edinburgh–Aberdeen line meets the Glasgow–Aberdeen line, which also serves Perth.

History

The station is the rebuilt Dundee Tay Bridge railway station, which had been built by the North British Railway in 1878 as part of the Tay Rail Bridge project. It was originally one of three main stations in Dundee, along with Dundee West station, the Caledonian Railway station for Perth which was rebuilt in 1889-1890 and closed in the 1960s, and Dundee East station on the Dundee and Arbroath Joint Railway which closed in 1959.[4] It is located in cutting at the south end of Camperdown tunnel, which passes beneath the town's former docks (now filled in) and required permanent pumping to keep dry. The station is consequently sited below sea level.[5]

The former station building which was demolished in 2013

In the nineteenth century plans were put forward to concentrate all Dundee's railway facilities in a new central station, with the idea first being mooted by John Leng in 1864 in his role as editor of the Dundee Advertiser. The idea re-emerged in 1872 following the start of work on the Tay Rail Bridge and again in 1896. Various sites for the scheme were suggested including building it between the High Street and the harbour and between the Murraygate and the Meadows. However none of these proposals were ever realised and the three distinct stations survived as independent entities.[6]

Today, the only other remaining station within Dundee City boundaries is Broughty Ferry.[7] Both Balmossie and Invergowrie stations are located very close to the city's boundaries, but lie in Angus and Perth and Kinross.[8]

As part of the redevelopment of Dundee city centre in the 1960s the original public entrance of Dundee Tay Bridge station was demolished to accommodate the new Tay Road Bridge offramps, with a new smaller structure replacing it. A footbridge connected the new station building to the city's Union Street to allow pedestrians to cross the busy inner ring road safely. In 2005, the footbridge was demolished in two phases as part of a regeneration project called the Dundee Central Waterfront Development Plan. This project, which has included removal of the 1970s public entrance to the station, will attempt to restructure the approach roads to the Tay Road Bridge and create a new civic space, as well as making way for the new railway station.[9]

New station

A new £38m railway station was built in 2018; it replaced the old station as part of the Dundee waterfront regeneration project. The designer of the station was Dundee-based architecture firm Nicoll Russell Studios in collaboration with Jacobs Engineering Group; construction work was carried out by Balfour Beatty.[10] Construction began in late 2015 and a temporary entrance was established on Riverside Drive. The new station was built over the site of the demolished old station. It includes a five-story curved building that houses the new station entrance, concourse and access points on the first and underground floors as well as a 120-room Sleeperz Hotel occupying the upper floors.[11]

The new railway station completed construction in early June and opened alongside the new Sleeperz Hotel on 9 July 2018 by Dundee West MSP & then Minister for Public Health and Sport Joe FitzPatrick, Lord Provost Ian Borthwick and representatives from Dundee City Council.[12]

Services
A service to London King's Cross

There are direct connections to London King's Cross, plus CrossCountry Trains along the Cross Country Route to Penzance via Leeds, Sheffield, Derby, Birmingham New Street, Bristol Temple Meads, Exeter St Davids and Plymouth. More frequent services run to Glasgow Queen Street, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

For a period of time, Dundee was the starting station of the longest direct rail journey in Britain - the 06:43 Virgin CrossCountry service to Penzance, which took just over 12 hours to complete. The station was the terminus of the reverse of this journey, the 08:30 CrossCountry service from Penzance which arrived at Dundee at 20:25. As of 14 December 2008, the longest through journey is now the 08:20 from Aberdeen to Penzance, arriving at Penzance at 21:50, 13.5 hours later. This still operates in the December 2019 timetable, departing from here at 09:33.

Services in 2016
3 trains per day to London Kings Cross from Aberdeen via Edinburgh, Newcastle and York.
3 trains per day to Aberdeen from London Kings Cross via Arbroath, Montrose and Stonehaven.
1 train per day to Leeds from Aberdeen via Kirkcaldy.
1 train per day to Aberdeen from Leeds via Arbroath, Montrose and Stonehaven.
Atmospheric view in 1966
  • CrossCountry Trains:[14]
1 train per day from Aberdeen to Penzance
1 trains per day to Plymouth starting here (extends to Newquay on summer Saturdays only)
1 train per day from Plymouth to Aberdeen
1 train per day from Plymouth terminating here
(On Sundays there is a train to Southampton Central)
  • Caledonian Sleeper:[15]
1 train per day to London Euston from Aberdeen via Edinburgh*, Preston and Crewe.
1 train per day to Aberdeen from London Euston via Crewe, Preston and Edinburgh*.
*Passengers can board or alight at Edinburgh Waverley. This is where the Sleepers to/from Fort William, Inverness and Aberdeen join/separate.
1 train per hour to Edinburgh from Aberdeen running via Leuchars, generally running fast, stopping only at Leuchars and Haymarket
1 train per hour to Edinburgh from Arbroath via Leuchars, Kirkcaldy, Inverkeithing and Haymarket
1 train per hour to Glasgow Queen Street via Perth and Stirling.
2 trains per hour to Aberdeen via Arbroath, Montrose and Stonehaven.
1 train per hour to Arbroath from Edinburgh, calling at Broughty Ferry, Monifieth and Carnoustie

Future service improvements

Transport Scotland and Scotrail plan to improve services here from 2018 as part of a major timetable re-cast across Scotland. This will see an hourly regional service to Perth & Glasgow being introduced (along similar lines to that already in operation to Edinburgh) serving the primary intermediate stations en route, with the existing Glasgow - Aberdeen becoming a limited stop express. A regular local stopping service to Broughty Ferry, Monifieith, Carnoustie & Arbroath is also to be reintroduced, almost 30 years after its predecessor was withdrawn by British Rail. Refurbished Intercity 125 sets will replace the existing DMU stock on Aberdeen to Glasgow & Edinburgh routes and a number of these will be extended to/from Dyce & Inverness.[17]

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Leuchars   London North Eastern Railway
East Coast Main Line		   Arbroath
Leuchars   CrossCountry
Cross Country Network		   Arbroath
Leuchars   Abellio ScotRail
Edinburgh–Dundee line		   Terminus
Invergowrie   Abellio ScotRail
Glasgow–Dundee line		   Terminus
Terminus   Abellio ScotRail
Dundee–Aberdeen line		   Broughty Ferry
Leuchars   Caledonian Sleeper
Highland Caledonian Sleeper		   Carnoustie

Station facilities

There is a taxi stand immediately outside of the station building, and the main bus interchange is a five-minute walk from the station in the city centre. There is a "Travel Office" for information and ticket purchasing, as well as an automatic ticket machine outside the office. The office often closes well before the last trains have departed.

There is also a café adjacent to the automatic ticket gates on the concourse. The café, operated by WHSmith, mainly serves cold food such as sandwiches and hot and cold drinks. Like the ticket office, the café does not open in the late evening.[18] A Costa Coffee branch opened in 2020, located in the former Tay Bar.

References

Notes
  1. Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
  2. Butt (1995), page 85
  3. "Estimates of station usage | Office of Rail and Road". orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  4. McKean, Charles; Whatley, Patricia; with Baxter, Kenneth (2013). Lost Dundee. Dundee's Lost Architectural Heritage (2nd ed.). Edinburgh: Birlinn. pp. 228 & 242.
  5. Railscot - Tay Bridge and Associated Lines Railscot; Retrieved 2014-01-31
  6. McKean, Charles; Whatley, Patricia; with Baxter, Kenneth (2013). Lost Dundee. Dundee's Lost Architectural Heritage (2nd ed.). Edinburgh: Birlinn. pp. 233–235.
  7. "Broughty Ferry | ScotRail". www.scotrail.co.uk. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  8. "Invergowrie | ScotRail". www.scotrail.co.uk. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  9. "Welcoming the world – Dundee's grand new railway station | netMAGmedia Ltd". www.architectsdatafile.co.uk. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  10. "Dundee Station Redevelopment, Scotland". Railway Technology. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  11. "New £38m Dundee railway station opens". 9 July 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  12. https://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/news/article?article_ref=3233
  13. GB eNRT May 2016, Table 26 (Network Rail)
  14. GB eNRT 2016, Table 51 (Network Rail)
  15. GB eNRT May 2016, Table 402 (Network Rail)
  16. GB eNRT May 2016, Table 229 (Network Rail)
  17. "‘Rail revolution’ means 200 more services and 20,000 more seats for Scots passengers" Archived 2016-08-20 at the Wayback MachineTransport Scotland press release 15 March 2016; Retrieved 19 August 2016
  18. "State-of-the-art Dundee station opened after 20 years of planning". www.railtechnologymagazine.com. Retrieved 7 March 2019.

Sources
  • 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. (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.
  • 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.
  • Yonge, John (May 1987). Gerald Jacobs (ed.). British Rail Track Diagams - Book 1: ScotRail (1st ed.). Exeter: Quail Map Company. ISBN 0-9006-0948-6.
  • Yonge, John (February 1993). Gerald Jacobs (ed.). Railway Track Diagams - Book 1: Scotland and the Isle of Man (2nd ed.). Exeter: Quail Map Company. ISBN 0-9006-0995-8.
  • Yonge, John (April 1996). Gerald Jacobs (ed.). Railway Track Diagams - Book 1: Scotland and the Isle of Man (3rd ed.). Exeter: Quail Map Company. ISBN 1-8983-1919-7.
  • Yonge, John (2007). Gerald Jacobs (ed.). Railway Track Diagams - Book 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (Quail Track Plans) (fifth ed.). Bradford on Avon: Trackmaps (formerly Quail Map Co). ISBN 978-0-9549866-3-6. OCLC 79435248.
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