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Falls of Cruachan Railway Viaduct
Falls of Cruachan Railway Viaduct
Coordinates	56°23′40″N 5°06′51″W / 56.3945°N 5.1142°W
Carries	West Highland Line
Crosses	Falls of Cruachan
Characteristics
Material	Concrete
Longest span	24 feet (7.3 m)
No. of spans	3
History
Engineering design by	John Strain
Opened	1880
Location

Notes
	Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Falls of Cruachan

Scottish Gaelic: *Eas Chruachain*^[1]
Falls of Cruachan; Scottish Gaelic: Eas Chruachain
	The station in May 2019
General information
Location	Ben Cruachan, Argyll and Bute; Scotland
Coordinates	56°23′38″N 5°06′46″W / 56.3940°N 5.1128°W
Grid reference	NN079267
Managed by	ScotRail
Platforms	1
Other information
Station code	FOC
History
Original company	Callander and Oban Railway
Pre-grouping	Callander and Oban Railway operated by Caledonian Railway
Key dates
1 October 1893	Opened
1 November 1965	Closed
20 June 1988	Re-opened
25 October 2020	Closed (temporarily)
17 May 2021	Re-opened
Passengers
2019/20	626
2020/21	134
2021/22	492
2022/23	888
2023/24	1,478
Notes
Notes
	Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Falls of Cruachan railway station is a railway station located at the foot of Ben Cruachan in Scotland. This station is on the Oban branch of the West Highland Line, originally part of the Callander and Oban Railway. It is sited between Taynuilt and Loch Awe, sited 52 miles 69 chains (85.1 km) from Callander via Glen Ogle.^[3] ScotRail manage the station and operate all services.

History

The station (on the lower slopes of Ben Cruachan, above Loch Awe) opened on 1 October 1893 with a single platform, but was later closed on 1 November 1965.^[4]

Reopening

The station was reopened on 20 June 1988.^[4]

Signalling

Although Falls of Cruachan station has never had any signalling directly associated with it, its platform falls within the four mile stretch of railway that is protected by the Pass of Brander stone signals.

Accidents and incidents

The area near the station has been the site of five derailments due to the rockfalls, occurring in 1881, 1946, 1997, and in 2010, which proved the most significant.

On 6 June 2010, a two carriage train from Glasgow to Oban derailed near Falls of Cruachan station. The train derailed shortly before 8:53 p.m. and was left balanced precariously on a 15-metre (50 ft) embankment. There was also a minor fire. Sixty passengers had been on board the train, but all were safely evacuated down the line to the station with no major injuries,^[5]^[6]^[7] although nine people had minor injuries. The train hit a boulder that had fallen onto the track. The train crew later received a commendation for the actions they took to protect their passengers.^[8]^{[better source needed]}

Facilities

The station has no facilities bar an electronic display and a bench. There is no car park or drop-off point, as the only entrance is directly off the A85. The station does not have step-free access.^[9] As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train. As the station does not have lighting, trains cannot call between dusk and dawn.

Passenger volume

Passenger Volume at Falls of Cruachan^[10]
	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	68	124	108	154	160	218	204	200	258	244	498	654	734	734	726	538	626	134	492	888

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

The Falls of Cruachan Railway Viaduct

The viaduct carries the West Highland Line over the Falls of Cruachan, near Loch Awe. It was engineered by John Strain in 1880,^[11] and was built for the Callander and Oban Railway. It was listed as a Category A listed building in 2007.^[11]

It has three arches, with a main centre span of 24 feet (7.3 m) and side arches of 19 feet (5.8 m).^[11] The piers are made of bull-faced stone, and the arches from mass concrete, a material not previously employed on British railways.^[11] There is a parapet with a central crenelation, topped with a recent steel safety rail.^[11]

The viaduct spans the small gully created by the Falls of Cruachan, close to the entrance to the pumped-storage Cruachan Power Station, which is located in a chamber within Ben Cruachan.^[11]^[12]

Services

All services at Falls of Cruachan are operated by ScotRail. However, unlike other stations on the line, the station is only open in the summer months from March to October every year. This is because the station is mainly used by hikers in the summer months, who walk past the falls to climb Ben Cruachan.

When the station is operational, there are five trains each way (eastbound to Glasgow Queen Street, westbound to Oban) on weekdays and Saturdays, along with four each way on Sundays.^[13]

Preceding station	National Rail		Following station
Loch Awe		ScotRail West Highland Line	Taynuilt
	Historical railways
Loch Awe Line and Station open		Callander and Oban Railway Operated by Caledonian Railway	Taynuilt Line and Station open

References

^ Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. "Gaelic/English Station Index". Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. ISBN 978-0-9549866-9-8.
^ Deaves, Phil. "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
^ 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. pp. 87, 88. ISBN 978-1909431-26-3.
^ ^a ^b "Falls Of Cruachan, Railway Halt | Canmore". canmore.org.uk. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
^ "Boulders 'caused Glasgow to Oban rail derailment'". BBC News. 7 June 2010.
^ "Train derailment in Scotland leaves carriages "precariously balanced" over a 15 metre embankment". Daily Mirror. 6 June 2010.
^ "Passengers in hospital after Glasgow to Oban train derails". STV. 7 June 2010. Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
^ The Railway Observer, August 2010
^ "National Rail Enquiries -". www.nationalrail.co.uk. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
^ "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "FALLS OF CRUACHAN RAILWAY VIADUCT (Ref:50811)". Historic Scotland. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
^ "Falls of Cruachan Railway Viaduct" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
^ eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 218