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Aviemore railway station

Coordinates: 57°11′19″N 3°49′44″W / 57.1886°N 3.8288°W / 57.1886; -3.8288
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Aviemore

Scottish Gaelic: An Aghaidh Mhòr[1]
National Rail
Aviemore railway station in 2018
General information
LocationAviemore, Highland
Scotland
Coordinates57°11′19″N 3°49′44″W / 57.1886°N 3.8288°W / 57.1886; -3.8288
Grid referenceNH895123
Owned byNetwork Rail
Managed byScotRail
Platforms3 (2 National Rail, 1 Strathspey Railway)
Other information
Station codeAVM[2]
History
Original companyInverness & Perth Junction Railway
Pre-groupingHighland Railway
Post-groupingLMS
Key dates
3 August 1863Station opened[3]
Passengers
2019/20Decrease 0.133 million
 Interchange Increase 177
2020/21Decrease 25,492
 Interchange Decrease 8
2021/22Increase 92,240
 Interchange Increase 147
2022/23Increase 0.112 million
 Interchange Decrease 69
2023/24Increase 0.130 million
 Interchange Increase 79
Listed Building – Category A
Designated18 August 1986
Reference no.LB257[4]
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Aviemore railway station serves the town and tourist resort of Aviemore in the Highlands of Scotland. The station, which is owned by Network Rail (NR) and managed by ScotRail, is on the Highland Main Line, 83 miles 31 chains (134.2 kilometres) from Perth, between Kingussie and Carrbridge, and is also the southern terminus of the Strathspey preserved railway.[5]

History

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Strathspey railway services have operated from this station since 1998.

The station was opened by the Inverness & Perth Junction Railway (I&PJR) on 3 August 1863,[3] to designs by the architect William Roberts,[6] when the "direct" line to Inverness via Slochd was built,[7] making Aviemore an important junction.

The original I&PJR line to Forres fell victim to the Beeching cuts, closing to passengers in October 1965.[8]

In 1998 the station was restored and refurbished, and the Strathspey Railway was allowed to use the island platform.[9] Following the moving of services, the Strathspey Railway closed their Aviemore (Speyside) railway station.

Facilities

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The new building on the northbound platform of the main line comprises a ticket hall, booking office and shop, and the three original buildings are waiting rooms (with historical displays), staff offices, and toilets. Parking is on the station's west side, and passenger access to the Strathspey part of the station is via a foot-crossing across the junction spur. This foot crossing also provides disabled access to platform 2.[10] As there are no ticket machines, if the ticket office is closed, passengers must buy one in advance.

Platform layout

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The station has a passing loop 40 chains (800 m) long, flanked by two platforms. Platform 1 on the down (northbound) line can accommodate trains having fourteen coaches, whereas platform 2 on the up (southbound) line can hold fifteen.[11] The junction between the Strathspey Railway and Network Rail lies to the south of the station and was controlled from the station signal box, which also controlled a large portion of the main line either side of here (from Kingussie all the way to Culloden Moor since 1979) as well as the immediate station area.[12] The station was resignalled and the loop extended in 2019, which also saw the signal box closed with control transferring to Inverness.[13]

Passenger volume

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Passenger Volume at Aviemore[14]
2002–03 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23
Entries and exits 70,272 80,977 91,456 101,294 115,431 121,090 124,972 132,336 132,052 136,456 141,311 150,724 152,082 145,200 147,964 138,490 132,618 25,492 92,240 112,090
Interchanges –[nb 1] 36 58 45 113 86 72 72 14 59 82 37 56 50 44 52 177 8 147 69

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

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Services are provided by ScotRail, Caledonian Sleeper, and London North Eastern Railway on the Highland Main Line, and Strathspey Railway on the former Inverness & Perth Junction Railway to Boat of Garten and Broomhill.

In the May 2022 timetable, there are five trains each weekday to Edinburgh Waverley (including the Highland Chieftain to London King's Cross) and seven to Glasgow Queen Street southbound, plus the overnight sleeper to London Euston (the latter does not run southbound on Saturday nights or northbound on Sundays). Northbound there are eleven departures to Inverness.

On Sundays there are five trains to Edinburgh (including the King's Cross service) and two to Glasgow, along with seven to Inverness, two of which extend to Elgin.[15]

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Kingussie   ScotRail
Highland Main Line 		  Carrbridge or
Inverness
Kingussie   London North Eastern Railway
East Coast Main Line 		  Carrbridge or
Inverness
Kingussie   Caledonian Sleeper
Highland Caledonian Sleeper 		  Carrbridge or
Inverness
Heritage Railways  Heritage railways
Terminus   Strathspey Railway   Boat of Garten
  Historical railways  
Kincraig
Line open; station closed 		  Highland Railway
Left arrow Inverness & Perth Junction Railway Right arrow
   Boat of Garten
Line and station open
  Highland Railway
Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway Right arrow
   Carrbridge
Line and station open

Accidents and incidents

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On 29 September 2023, 60103 Flying Scotsman collided with stationary carriages at 6:05pm. Two people were injured.[16][17]

Future proposals

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In the future,[when?] this station will be one of those to benefit from a package of timetable enhancements introduced by Transport Scotland and Scotrail. The current Perth to Inverness timetable will increase to hourly each way, with trains south of there running on alternate hours to Edinburgh and Glasgow. Journey times will be reduced by 10 minutes to both cities.[18] As of May 2022, this has still not taken place.[15]

Notes

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  1. ^ No data available.

References

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  1. ^ Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
  2. ^ Deaves, Phil. "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Archived from the original on 27 September 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  3. ^ a b Quick 2022, p. 60.
  4. ^ "AVIEMORE RAILWAY STATION WITH ISLAND PLATFORM, FOOTBRIDGE AND FENCING". Historic Scotland. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  5. ^ Bridge, Mike, ed. (2017). TRACKatlas of Mainland Britain: A Comprehensive Geographic Atlas Showing the Rail Network of Great Britain (3rd ed.). Sheffield: Platform 5 Publishing Ltd. p. 94. ISBN 978-1909431-26-3.
  6. ^ The Buildings of Scotland, Highland and Islands. John Gifford. Yale University Press. 1992. ISBN 0-300-09625-9
  7. ^ Butt (1995), page 21
  8. ^ "Railway History – The Dava Way". davaway.org.uk. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  9. ^ "Aviemore station reopens after £2.2m restoration". RAIL, No. 333. EMAP Apex Publications. 17–30 June 1998. p. 10.
  10. ^ "National Rail Enquiries -". www.nationalrail.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 September 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  11. ^ Brailsford 2017, map 19D.
  12. ^ Jessop, R. "Scottish Signal Boxes". Ronrail. Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  13. ^ Scotrail. "Highland Mainline Journey Time Improvements Phase 2" (PDF). p. 5. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 September 2022. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  14. ^ "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2 February 2024. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  15. ^ a b eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 213
  16. ^ "Injuries in Scotland rail crash, Flying Scotsman involved". 29 September 2023. Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  17. ^ "Flying Scotsman crash: Two people taken to hospital after collision in Scotland". Sky News. 30 September 2023.
  18. ^ "Transport Scotland". Archived from the original on 20 August 2016.

Bibliography

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