Inverness railway station

Inverness National Rail
Scottish Gaelic: Inbhir Nis

Inverness railway station
Location
Place Inverness
Local authority Highland
Coordinates 57°28′48″N 4°13′23″W / 57.4800°N 4.2230°W / 57.4800; -4.2230Coordinates: 57°28′48″N 4°13′23″W / 57.4800°N 4.2230°W / 57.4800; -4.2230
Grid reference NH667454
Operations
Station code INV
Managed by Abellio ScotRail
Owned by Network Rail
Number of platforms 7
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2002/03  0.721 million
2004/05 Increase 0.823 million
2005/06 Increase 0.873 million
2006/07 Increase 0.916 million
2007/08 Increase 0.976 million
2008/09 Increase 1.089 million
2009/10 Decrease 1.071 million
2010/11 Increase 1.128 million
2011/12 Increase 1.180 million
2012/13 Increase 1.213 million
2013/14 Increase 1.282 million
2014/15 Increase 1.304 million
– Interchange  72,055
History
Original company Inverness and Nairn Railway
Pre-grouping Highland Railway
Post-grouping LMS
5 November 1855 Opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Inverness from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Inverness railway station is the railway station serving the Scottish city of Inverness.

History

Inverness railway panorama in 1948

Opened on 5 November 1855[1] as the western terminus of the Inverness and Nairn Railway to designs by the architect, Joseph Mitchell.[2] The platform roofs were extended in 1876 by Murdoch Paterson. Between 1966 and 1968 under British Rail the station buildings were replaced, the new design by Thomas Munro and Company.

It is now the terminus of the Highland Main Line, the Aberdeen-Inverness Line (of which the Inverness and Nairn Railway is now a part), the Kyle of Lochalsh Line and the Far North Line.

Description

The main circulation area

Inverness is owned by Network Rail. However, it is operated by Abellio ScotRail who run most of the services using the station. Caledonian Sleeper and Virgin Trains East Coast run the only non-ScotRail services.

The station itself sits at one apex of a triangular junction in the centre of Inverness, with each half of the station connected to one line. The Highland Main and Aberdeen Lines both approach the station from the east and use Platforms 1-4, while the Far North Line (which also carries traffic heading for the Kyle Line) approach from the north-west and use Platforms 5-7. Platform 5 also has a connection from the east side, but it is only usable by a two car train, and even then, it must not be in passenger service and movements from Platform 5 to the east line are not allowed.

A single parliamentary train is run along the third chord of the triangle each weekday, as part of a through Kyle-Elgin service, which runs across the chord before reversing into the station. In the 2013 timetable, this is currently the 1714 Kyle-Elgin service.

The third chord runs between Rose Street Junction on the Far North Line and Welsh's Bridge Junction on the Aberdeen/Perth line. The Aberdeen and Perth lines diverge at Millburn Junction a short distance beyond Welsh's Bridge. Signalling for the entire area is controlled from a panel box near the station built in 1988. This supervises the station area & approaches and also houses the Radio Electronic Token Block (RETB) control desk that monitors the full length of the Kyle & Far North lines. RETB was installed by British Rail.

Platform destination LED screens are installed, along with a main departures and arrivals information board. Each of Platforms 1-7 has its own screen showing departures from that platform. Screens are also present behind the wall for all platforms from 3-6. In addition, several other screens are also visible for general information.

Inverness approaches

Legend
Up arrow Far North and Kyle of Lochalsh Lines
Inverness station:
Ness Viaduct over River Ness
Platforms 6 & 7

Rose Street Junction
Platform 5
Inverness TMD on both sides of railway
Platforms 1 to 4

Welsh's Bridge Junction
Millburn Junction
Highland Main Line LowerLeft arrow

LowerRight arrow Aberdeen to Inverness Line

Services

Air

Stagecoach in Inverness route 11 runs every 30 minutes between Inverness city centre and Inverness Airport. The bus leaves from Strothers Lane, just around the corner from the station. Journey time to the airport is 25 minutes.

Bus

The main coach and bus station is located in Margaret Street, 150 m northwest of and just around the corner from the railway station. Many services can also be joined at the stop on Milburn Street outside Marks and Spencer, closer to the station.

Aside from local buses, there are also long-distance coach services which allow rail passengers to continue their journey to areas of the Highlands not on the rail network:

Rail

Current services

As of May 2016:

Future Planned Improvements

From 2018, this station will be one of those to benefit from a package of timetable enhancements to be introduced by Transport Scotland and Scotrail. The current Perth to Inverness timetable will be increased to hourly each way, with trains south of there running on alternate hours to Edinburgh & Glasgow. Journey times will be reduced by 10 minutes to both cities. The service to Nairn, Forres & Elgin will also be enhanced to hourly and some Aberdeen trains extended through to Dundee and beyond.[8]


Preceding station National Rail Following station
Aviemore   Virgin Trains East Coast
East Coast Main Line
(Highland Chieftain)
  Terminus
Carrbridge   Abellio ScotRail
Highland Line
  Terminus
Nairn   Abellio ScotRail
Aberdeen to Inverness Line
  Terminus
Terminus   Abellio ScotRail
Far North Line
Kyle of Lochalsh Line
  Beauly
Aviemore   Caledonian Sleeper
Highland Caledonian Sleeper
  Terminus
Historical railways
Culloden Moor
Line open; station closed
  Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway   Terminus
Allanfearn
Line open; station closed
  Inverness and Nairn Railway   Terminus
Terminus   Inverness and Ross-shire Railway   Clachnaharry
Line open; station closed

Previous service patterns

Summer 2008

A train from the north
The Highland Chieftain to Edinburgh and London Kings Cross
Destination Mon-Fri Sat Sun
Aberdeen 10 10 6
(2 additional services terminate at Elgin)
Dingwall 11 11 2
Edinburgh 6 6 3
Glasgow Queen Street 3 3 2
Kyle of Lochalsh 3 3 1
London Euston (Caledonian Sleeper) 1 - 1
London King's Cross (Highland Chieftain) 1 1 1
Wick/Thurso 3 3 1

Winter 2008

Destination Mon-Fri Sat Sun
Aberdeen 10 10 6
(2 additional services terminate at Elgin)
Dingwall 11 11 6
Edinburgh 6 6 3
Glasgow Queen Street 3 3 2
Kyle of Lochalsh 4 4 1
London Euston (Caledonian Sleeper) 1 - 1
London King's Cross (Highland Chieftain) 1 1 1
Wick/Thurso 4 4 1

Summer 2009

Destination Mondays-Fridays Saturdays Sundays
Aberdeen 11
(1 additional service
terminates at Elgin)
11
(1 additional service
terminates at Elgin)
5
Dingwall 13 13 7
Edinburgh 7
(Including Highland Chieftain
and 1 service via Aberdeen )
7
(Including Highland Chieftain
and 1 service via Aberdeen )
3
(Including Highland Chieftain )
Glasgow Queen Street 3 3 2
Kyle of Lochalsh 4 4 2
London Euston
(Caledonian Sleeper)
1 nil 1
London King's Cross
(Highland Chieftain)
1 1 1
Wick/Thurso 4 4 2

References

  1. Butt (1995)
  2. The Buildings of Scotland, Highland and Islands. John Gifford. Yale University Press. 1992. ISBN 0-300-09625-9
  3. GB eNRT May 2016 Edition, Table 229
  4. GB eNRT May 2016 Edition, Table 240
  5. GB eNRT May 2016 Edition, Table 239
  6. GB eNRT May 2016 Edition, Table 26
  7. GB eNRT May 2016 Edition, Table 403
  8. "‘Rail revolution’ means 200 more services and 20,000 more seats for Scots passengers"Transport Scotland press release 15 March 2016; Retrieved 18 August 2016

Sources

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