Elgin railway station

Elgin railway station is a railway station serving the town of Elgin, Moray in Scotland. The station is managed by Abellio ScotRail and is on the Aberdeen to Inverness Line.

This article is about the railway station in Scotland. For the station in Illinois, see Elgin station (Illinois).

Elgin

Scottish Gaelic: Eilginn[1]
Elgin railway station, looking towards Inverness
LocationElgin, Moray
Scotland
Coordinates57.6428°N 3.3110°W / 57.6428; -3.3110
Grid referenceNJ218621
Managed byAbellio ScotRail
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeELG
Key dates
10 August 1852GNSR station opened
25 March 1858Highland station opened
6 May 1968GNSR station closed
1990Highland station rebuilt
Passengers
2015/16 0.344 million
2016/17 0.317 million
2017/18 0.299 million
2018/19 0.306 million
2019/20 0.304 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

The station has two platforms linked by a footbridge, and a booking office/waiting room with a vending machine. One of the route's passing loops is located here, under the control of Inverness Signalling Centre (which also supervises an adjacent level crossing through CCTV). Elgin West signal box was the most northerly manual box on the UK railway network (all those to the north of Inverness having been closed back in the 1980s when the station area was resignalled and RETB working introduced on the Kyle and Far North lines),[2] until it closed along with other boxes on the line on 7 October 2017.

History
Main article: Morayshire Railway

Elgin was formerly served by two stations, one owned by the Highland Railway (first opened by the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway and known as Elgin West) and one by the Great North of Scotland Railway (GNSR), which was first opened by the Morayshire Railway. The latter's lines to Lossiemouth and Craigellachie (where it joined the Strathspey Railway (GNoSR)) were subsequently joined by the GNSR Morayshire Coast line in 1886/7. All three of the GNSR routes were closed in the 1960s as a result of the Beeching Axe, with the Lossiemouth branch the first to go in April 1964 and the other two routes following in May 1968.[3]

Both stations were located about one mile to the south of Elgin town centre, which made them inconvenient for local journeys, e.g. to Lossiemouth, and bus services soon eliminated much of the local passenger traffic - passengers would generally only use the train service if they were connecting to long-distance trains. The stations were less than 500 metres apart and linked by a footpath.

The present station, formerly the West (ex-Highland) station, opened on 25 March 1858[4] was retained and was rebuilt in a modern style by British Rail in 1990.

The GNSR station (known as Elgin East), opened on 10 August 1852, was closed with the end of services on the coast and Craigellachie lines on 6 May 1968.[4] The GNSR station building is still used as office accommodation and stands on the site of the original Morayshire Railway station. A sizeable goods yard is still in operation on this site.

Services

The basic service at the station is (roughly) two-hourly in each direction (with peak extras) - west to Inverness and east to Aberdeen, though a small number of trains also start/terminate here from the Inverness direction. The first eastbound train each weekday continues through to Dundee and Edinburgh Waverley, with a balancing service in the opposite direction in the late evening. A single train per day terminates at Elgin having come from Kyle of Lochalsh on the west coast via Inverness.

On Sundays, there are five trains each way to the main termini (one of which runs through to Glasgow Queen Street via Aberdeen) and two from Glasgow via Inverness that terminate here.[5]

Transport Scotland and Scotrail have plans to improve service levels to Forres, Nairn and Inverness (to an base hourly frequency) from 2018.[6]

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Keith   Abellio ScotRail
Aberdeen to Inverness Line		   Forres
  Historical railways  
Lhanbryde
Line open; station closed		   Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway   Mosstowie
Line open; station closed

Infrastructure improvements

As well as the aforementioned timetable improvements, Transport Scotland agreed in 2014 to fund a £170 million infrastructure upgrade project for the line. This included signalling improvements, a longer loop and platform extensions for Elgin.[7]

A 10-day engineering blockade between Keith and Inverness saw the signalling and track improvements both here and in Forres completed, with the Elgin loop extended by 400 m (440 yd) and new colour light signals commissioned under the control of the signalling centre at Inverness. The level crossing was also converted to remote operation by CCTV from the location. The line reopened as scheduled on 17 October 2017.

References

Notes
  1. Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
  2. Railscot - Elgin West signal box www.railbrit.co.uk; Retrieved 2013-12-22
  3. Railscot: Chronology - Morayshire Railway www.railbrit.co.uk; Retrieved 2013-12-22
  4. Butt (1995). Page 90.
  5. GB National Rail Timetable May 2017 Edition, Table 240
  6. "‘Rail revolution’ means 200 more services and 20,000 more seats for Scots passengers" Archived 20 August 2016 at the Wayback MachineTransport Scotland press release 15 March 2016; Retrieved 19 August 2016
  7. "Millions to be spent on rail line upgrade" Paterson, Laura, The Press and Journal news article 29 March 2014; Retrieved 19 August 2016

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.
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