Fort William railway station
Fort William  | |
|---|---|
| Scottish Gaelic: An Gearasdan | |
 | |
| Location | |
| Place | Fort William |
| Local authority | Highland |
| Coordinates | 56°49′15″N 5°06′17″W / 56.8207°N 5.1047°WCoordinates: 56°49′15″N 5°06′17″W / 56.8207°N 5.1047°W |
| Grid reference | NN105741 |
| Operations | |
| Station code | FTW |
| Managed by | Abellio ScotRail |
| Number of platforms | 2 |
|
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries | |
| Annual rail passenger usage* | |
| 2010/11 |
 0.135 million |
| 2011/12 |
0.139 million |
| 2012/13 |
 0.136 million |
| 2013/14 |
0.146 million |
| 2014/15 |
0.144 million |
| History | |
| Original company | British Rail |
| 13 June 1975 | Station opened[1] |
| National Rail – UK railway stations | |
| * Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Fort William from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year. | |
 UK Railways portal | |
Fort William railway station is a railway station serving the town of Fort William in the Highland region of Scotland.
History
The present Fort William station opened by British Rail on 13 June 1975. It replaced the original terminus which was further west and alongside Loch Linnhe at Station Square, at the time in close proximity to then location of Macbrayne's former bus station. The old station was a stone built construction featuring a turret and a double arched entranceway. The station had three platforms, and was demolished in 1975 to make way for the Fort William bypass.
The current station lies in the shadow of Ben Nevis. The present station buildings are a 1970s grey concrete construction.
The station is on the West Highland Line and the starting point for The Jacobite, the only scheduled steam hauled train to run on the mainline in Great Britain.
Refurbishment of the facilities at Fort William railway station was completed in 2007 thanks to a £750,000 investment.[2] The refurbishment includes new shower facilities and refurbished toilets. The shower facilities include two showers for ladies, two for gentlemen and one unisex shower facility for disabled people. Use of these shower facilities is free of charge for first class Caledonian Sleeper ticket holders and costs £3.50 for standard passengers and station users.
Services
As of the summer 2016 timetable, Fort William has three daytime trains per day in each direction on Mondays to Saturdays, running between Glasgow Queen Street and Mallaig. There is also a daily early morning service to Mallaig that starts at Fort William, with a similar return service in the evening (this connects into/out of the London sleeper). The Caledonian Sleeper operates six nights per week (not Saturdays) from London Euston, starting/terminating at Fort William. The sleeper also carries seated coaches and can thus be used as a regular service train to/from Glasgow (Queen Street Low Level) and Edinburgh Waverley.[3]
The regular Sunday service consists of one train per day each way between Glasgow and Mallaig, with the schedule in the peak season supplemented by an additional round trip (May to October) and one service between Fort William and Mallaig.
The Jacobite operates between Fort William and Mallaig, only stopping at Glenfinnan. This runs through the summer until late October, with a maximum of two trains per day Monday to Saturday and one on Sunday in the high season. A reduced Jacobite timetable is operated later in the summer.[4]
| Preceding station | National Rail |
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spean Bridge | Abellio ScotRail West Highland Line |
Terminus | ||
| Banavie | ||||
| Spean Bridge | Caledonian Sleeper Highland Caledonian Sleeper |
Terminus | ||
| Glenfinnan | West Coast Railway Company The Jacobite May–October |
Terminus | ||
| Historical railways | ||||
| Spean Bridge Line and station open |
North British Railway West Highland Railway |
Terminus | ||
| Banavie Pier Line mostly open; station closed |
North British Railway West Highland Railway |
|||
| Banavie Line and station open |
North British Railway Mallaig Extension Railway of West Highland Railway |
Terminus | ||
Signalling
Since its opening in 1975, the present Fort William station has been equipped with colour light signals. The signalling is controlled from an 'NX' (entrance-exit) panel in Mallaig Junction signal box (now named 'Fort William Junction'). The single line between the junction and the station is worked by the Track Circuit Block system, so no tokens are needed for that part of the route.
See also
References
Notes
- ↑ Butt (1995)
- ↑ "Full steam ahead for new transport hub". Lochaber News. 20 October 2007. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
- ↑ Table 227 National Rail timetable, May 2016
- ↑ "West Highland timetable" (PDF). ScotRail. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
Sources
- 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 1-8526-0508-1. 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 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137.
- Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 0-9068-9999-0. OCLC 228266687.
- RAILSCOT on West Highland Railway
- RAILSCOT on Mallaig Extension Railway
- Photographs of a steam train at the station
External links
Media related to Fort William railway station at Wikimedia Commons