Arbroath railway station

Arbroath

Scottish Gaelic: Obar Bhrothaig[1]
National Rail
Arbroath railway station
General information
LocationArbroath, Angus
Scotland
Coordinates56°33′34″N 2°35′21″W / 56.5594°N 2.5892°W / 56.5594; -2.5892
Grid referenceNO638409
Managed byScotRail
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeARB[2]
History
Original companyDundee and Arbroath Railway
Key dates
1 February 1848Opened[3]
Passengers
2019/20Increase 0.378 million
 Interchange Decrease 17,952
2020/21Decrease 53,058
 Interchange Decrease 1,137
2021/22Increase 0.229 million
 Interchange Increase 8,605
2022/23Increase 0.293 million
 Interchange Increase 14,504
2023/24Increase 0.359 million
 Interchange Decrease 2,142
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Arbroath railway station serves the town of Arbroath in Angus, Scotland. The station is 17 miles (27 km) east of Dundee on the line between Dundee and Aberdeen, between Carnoustie and Montrose. There are two crossovers at the north end of the station, which can be used to facilitate trains turning back if the line south to Carnoustie is blocked.[4] ScotRail, who manage the station, provide most of the services, along with CrossCountry, London North Eastern Railway and Caledonian Sleeper.

History

A northbound inter-city train arriving in 1981

There have been three stations called Arbroath, two of which closed in 1848: Arbroath Catherine Street served the Arbroath and Forfar Railway and Arbroath Lady Loan (or Arbroath West) was on the Dundee and Arbroath Railway. The current station was originally opened by the Dundee and Arbroath Railway on 1 February 1848,[3] albeit temporarily, as it was opened permanently on 14 December 1858 [5] as a link station to connect the Arbroath and Forfar Railway with the Dundee and Arbroath Railway. On 1 October 1880,[6] the North British, Arbroath and Montrose Railway opened north towards Montrose.

Until 1990, the station had 3 active platforms and was the terminus of a regular local service from Perth and Dundee that called at all of the intermediate local stations between the latter station and here.[citation needed]

Facilities

The station seen in 2020

The station building is built above the railway line and platforms,[7] and contains the ticket office, lifts to platforms and toilets. Outside is a taxi rank drop-off point. Each of the platforms has a waiting room, a help point and a bench, whilst platform 1 also has a ticket machine, which is adjacent to the car park.[8]

Passenger volume

The main origin or destination station for journeys to or from Arbroath in the 2022–23 period was Dundee, making up 115,522 of the 293,274 journeys (39.4%).[9]

Passenger Volume at Arbroath[9]
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 284,392 373,219 396,979 393,408 427,820 410,162 393,310 404,212 398,892 388,320 388,612 392,994 383,102 361,038 367,468 369,906 377,582 53,058 229,364 293,274
Interchanges [nb 1] 171 195 96 473 117 75 104 188 527 777 800 916 1,185 2,396 27,230 17,952 1,137 8,605 14,504

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

There are generally two or three trains per hour westbound to Dundee and eastbound to Aberdeen, with hourly services onwards from Dundee towards Edinburgh and Glasgow Queen Street. London North Eastern Railway services to London King's Cross and CrossCountry routes towards England also stop at Arbroath. On Sundays there is generally an hourly service in each direction.[10]

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Dundee   CrossCountry
Cross Country Route
  Montrose
Carnoustie   ScotRail
Dundee–Aberdeen line
  Montrose
Carnoustie   Caledonian Sleeper
Highland Caledonian Sleeper
  Montrose
Dundee   London North Eastern Railway
Northern Lights
(London – Aberdeen)
  Montrose
  Historical railways  
Elliot Junction
Line open; Station Closed
  CR & NBR
Dundee and Arbroath Railway
  Link line station
Link line station   Caledonian Railway
Arbroath and Forfar Railway
  Colliston
Line partially open; Station closed
Link line station   North British Railway
North British, Arbroath and Montrose Railway
  Letham Grange
Line open; Station closed

Notes

  1. ^ No data available.

References

  1. ^ Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
  2. ^ Deaves, Phil. "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  3. ^ a b Butt 1995, p. 17.
  4. ^ 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. 95. ISBN 978-1909431-26-3.
  5. ^ Quick 2022, p. 53.
  6. ^ Awdry 1990, p. 152.
  7. ^ Brown, Graham (26 March 2021). "'Do they think we're going to be invaded?': Arbroath railway station bollards backlash". The Courier. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  8. ^ "National Rail Enquiries -". www.nationalrail.co.uk. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  9. ^ a b "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  10. ^ eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 214

Bibliography