Laurencekirk railway station

Laurencekirk railway station is a railway station serving the communities of Laurencekirk and The Mearns in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The station was reopened on 18 May 2009 at a cost of £3 million.[3]

Laurencekirk

Scottish Gaelic: Eaglais Labhrainn[1]
Laurencekirk station after restoration and reopening
LocationLaurencekirk, Aberdeenshire
Scotland
Coordinates56.8368°N 2.4653°W / 56.8368; -2.4653
Grid referenceNO717718
Managed byAbellio ScotRail
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeLAU
ClassificationDfT category F1
History
Original companyAberdeen Railway
Pre-groupingCaledonian Railway
Post-groupingLMS
Key dates
1 November 1849Opened
4 September 1967Closed
18 May 2009Re-opened
Passengers
2015/16 0.104 million
2016/17 96,002
2017/18 95,848
2018/19 86,332
2019/20 88,566
Listed Building – Category B
Designated8 March 2001
Reference no.LB47653[2]
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

The station was opened on 1 November 1849[4] by the Aberdeen Railway, which ran from Aberdeen in the north to Guthrie (just outside Arbroath) to the south. The line joined the North British, Arbroath and Montrose Railway north of Montrose at Kinnaber Junction and Arbroath and Forfar Railway at the triangular junctions at Friockheim and Guthrie.[5][6][7] The station was closed in September 1967[4] by British Railways.

Re-opening
Laurencekirk station in 2008 before re-opening

The residents of Laurencekirk, many of whom now commute to Aberdeen and Dyce had successfully campaigned for the station to be reopened – the official announcement being made during December 2006 that the station would open in December 2007, to be funded by Transport Scotland and the Regional Transport Partnership Nestrans.[8] The announcement of December 2007 for the re-commencement of services to and from Laurencekirk was ultimately overly ambitious and it was announced in early 2008 that the station would be finished and ready for the December 2008 timetable change.[9] However, in a New Release from Transport Scotland, the opening date was given at Spring 2009.[10] The station was reopened by the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure & Climate Change, Stewart Stevenson on 18 May 2009.

The station building, which had fallen into poor overall condition was refurbished during Spring 2008, and a new car park with 70 parking spaces was built by Aberdeenshire Council and Nestrans, across the railway line from the station building, together with a small number of disabled parking spaces next to the station building.[9] First ScotRail made provisional plans for 19 trains to serve the station each day, made up of 10 northbound services and 9 southbound services, with southbound services serving both Edinburgh and Glasgow.[9] ScotRail will also be responsible for gritting and snowclearing at the station. On the first anniversary of the reopening of the station, it was revealed that almost double the expected number of passengers had used it – 64,000 people as opposed to a projection of 36,000.[11] By 2014/15, passenger numbers exceeded 112,000.

Services

Since the December 2018 timetable change, Laurencekirk has been served by an hourly stopping service which runs between Montrose and Inverurie.[12] In the morning, Laurencekirk is served by a Dundee to Inverness service and an Edinburgh to Inverurie service. In the late evening, an Aberdeen to Perth service calls.

On Saturdays, there is an hourly stopping service south to Montrose and north to Aberdeen (with some services extended to Inverurie), with longer gaps in the evening. There is one evening service to Glasgow Queen Street and another evening service to Dundee.

A limited service operates on Sundays, northbound to Aberdeen and southbound to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Perth.

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Montrose   Abellio ScotRail
Dundee–Aberdeen line		   Stonehaven
  Historical railways  
Marykirk
Line open; station closed		   Caledonian Railway
Aberdeen Railway
   Fordoun
Line open; station closed

References

Notes
  1. Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
  2. "LAURENCEKIRK RAILWAY STATION INCLUDING CANOPY". Historic Scotland. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  3. "Rail station finally back on line". BBC News. 18 May 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  4. Butt (1995), page 139
  5. Awdry (1990)
  6. Jowett (1989)
  7. RAILSCOT
  8. "Rail Network (Local Railway Stations) (PE629)". Public Petitions Committee. Scottish Parliament. 3 September 2003. Archived from the original on 24 April 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2008.
  9. Wallace, Charles (20 March 2008). "Station plans on course". Kincardineshire Observer. Johnston Press. Retrieved 6 April 2008.
  10. "Minister celebrates 25 years of ScotRail network by announcing major boost to east coast services". Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
  11. Cruden, Gary (17 May 2010). "Town's reopened station proves to be popular platform with travellers". The Press and Journal. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
  12. "Passengers urged to check new train times". 9 December 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2020.

Sources
  • Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0049-7. OCLC 19514063. CN 8983.
  • 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.
  • "RAILSCOT on the Aberdeen Railway". Retrieved 6 April 2008.
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