Gleneagles railway station

Gleneagles railway station serves the town of Auchterarder in Perth and Kinross, Scotland.

Gleneagles

Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Eagas[1]
LocationAuchterarder, Perth and Kinross
Scotland
Coordinates56.2750°N 3.7310°W / 56.2750; -3.7310
Grid referenceNN929105
Managed byAbellio ScotRail
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeGLE
History
Original companyScottish Central Railway
Pre-groupingCaledonian Railway
Post-groupingLMSR
Key dates
14 March 1856Opened as Crieff Junction
1 April 1912Renamed Gleneagles
Passengers
2015/16 66,698
2016/17 68,730
2017/18 73,066
2018/19 77,998
2019/20 87,772
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

The station was opened by the Scottish Central Railway on 14 March 1856 and was originally named Crieff Junction.[2] There was another station with the name of Crieff Junction to the north of this station which was only short-lived. The branch northwestward to Crieff was opened (by the Crieff Junction Railway company) on the same day. On 1 April 1912 it was renamed Gleneagles.[3]

The station was rebuilt and the junction remodelled by the Caledonian Railway in 1919 following their takeover of the Scottish Central Railway. The Caledonian Railway built the nearby Gleneagles Hotel, which opened in 1925. The hotel served as the location for the G8 summit in 2005 and is a well-known golf resort; Gleneagles hosted the 2014 Ryder Cup.

In anticipation of the 2014 Ryder Cup, Gleneagles railway station underwent a major refurbishment as part of a £7 million program to improve transport infrastructure in the area. Work was completed in April 2014, seeing the old station building regenerated with a lift, new platforms built upon the original ones, the fitting of Passenger information boards, additional regenerative paint work and a newly built car park built to connect with the new main road from the motorway.

The branch line to Crieff closed on 6 July 1964 due to the Beeching Axe.

Services

Gleneagles railway station

On weekdays and Saturdays there are 14 services to Glasgow Queen Street and two to Edinburgh Waverley southbound and 15 to Perth northbound; most of these continue to either Dundee or Aberdeen, though there are also a limited number of trains to/from Inverness via the Highland Main Line.[4] The service frequency is however somewhat irregular, with large gaps in the timetable at certain times of day.

Gleneagles is also served by the daily Highland Chieftain through service between Inverness and London King's Cross and the Caledonian Sleeper to London Euston each evening except Saturdays.

From 2018, services from the station will be increased as part of a timetable upgrade package backed by Transport Scotland. A regular hourly-interval each way service between Glasgow, Perth, and Dundee will be introduced that will stop here.[5]

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Dunblane   London North Eastern Railway
East Coast Main Line
  Perth
Dunblane   Abellio ScotRail
Highland Main Line
  Perth
Dunblane   Caledonian Sleeper
Highland Caledonian Sleeper
  Perth
  Historical railways  
Blackford
Line open; Station closed
  Caledonian Railway
Scottish Central Railway
  Auchterarder
Line open; Station closed
Terminus   Caledonian Railway
Crieff Junction Railway
  Tullibardine
Line and Station closed

References

  1. Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
  2. Butt 1995, p. 71
  3. Butt 1995, pp. 71,104
  4. GB National Rail Timetable May–December 2016, Table 229 (Network Rail)
  5. "‘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 18 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.
  • 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.
  • Marshall, Peter (1998). The Scottish Central Railway : Perth to Stirling. Usk, Monmouthshire: Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-8536-1522-5.
  • "Scottish Central Railway". RAILSCOT.
  • "Crieff Junction Railway". RAILSCOT.


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