Inverness railway station

Inverness
Scottish Gaelic: Inbhir Nis
Inverness railway station
Location
Place	Inverness
Local authority	Highland
Coordinates	57.480°N 4.223°W / 57.480; -4.223
Operations
Station code	INV
Managed by	First ScotRail
Number of platforms	7
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage
2002/03 *	0.721 million
2004/05 *	0.823 million
2005/06 *	0.873 million
2006/07 *	0.916 million
2007/08 *	0.976 million
2008/09 *	1.089 million
2009/10 *	1.130 million
History
Original company	Inverness and Nairn Railway
Pre-grouping	Highland Railway
Post-grouping	LMS
5 November 1855	Opened
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Inverness from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year.

Inverness railway station (Scottish Gaelic: Stèisean-Rèile Inbhir Nis) is the railway station serving the Scottish city of Inverness.

History

Inverness Railway Panorama in 1948

Opened on 5 November 1855 as the western terminus of the Inverness and Nairn Railway, 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

Like most stations in the United Kingdom, Inverness is owned by Network Rail. However, it is operated by First ScotRail who run most of the services using the station. East Coast run the only non-First ScotRail service: the daily Highland Chieftain to London King's Cross.

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 week, as part of a through Aberdeen-Kyle service, which calls at Inverness twice in succession.^{[citation needed]}

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.

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 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 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, just around the corner from the railway 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:

• Scottish Citylink route 961 operates two daily return services to Ullapool to connect with Caledonian MacBrayne ferry sailings to Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis. (Rail passengers may also connect with this bus at Garve on the Kyle of Lochalsh line, but the timings are not so convenient.)

• Scottish Citylink route 919 operates 6 daily return services down the Great Glen to Fort William, calling at Urquhart Castle, Fort Augustus and intermediate points. Two of these services allow onward connections with Citylink route 918 from Fort William to Oban.

Rail

Current Services

• 1 train per 2 hours to Edinburgh Waverley via Perth. (There is one daily service to Edinburgh via Aberdeen and Dundee).
• 1 train per 2 hours to Glasgow Queen Street.
• 1 train per hour to Aberdeen.
• 4 services per day to Wick and Thurso.
• 4 services per day to Kyle of Lochalsh.
• 1 service per day to London King's Cross via Newcastle, Darlington and York.
• 1 sleeper service per day to London Euston via Preston and Crewe.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Carrbridge		East Coast East Coast Main Line (Highland Chieftain)		Terminus
Carrbridge		First ScotRail Highland Line		Terminus
Nairn		First ScotRail Aberdeen to Inverness Line		Terminus
Terminus		First ScotRail Far North Line Kyle of Lochalsh Line		Beauly
Aviemore		First ScotRail 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 Higland 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 Cheiftan and 1 service via Aberdeen )	7 (Including Highland Cheiftan and 1 service via Aberdeen )	3 (Including Highland Cheiftan )
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

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.