Holytown railway station explained

Holytown
Native Name:Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Baile a' Chuilinn
Symbol Location:gb
Symbol:rail
Borough:New Stevenston, North Lanarkshire
Country:Scotland
Coordinates:55.8126°N -3.9736°W
Grid Name:Grid reference
Manager:ScotRail
Platforms:2
Code:HLY
Years:1 June 1880
Events:Opened as Carfin
Years1:1 January 1882
Events1:Renamed Carfin Junction
Years2:1 June 1882
Events2:Renamed Holytown Junction
Years3:1 October 1901
Events3:Renamed Holytown
Footnotes:Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Holytown railway station is a railway station serving both Holytown and New Stevenston in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located on the Shotts Line, 13miles south east of towards and is also on the Argyle Line. It was opened in 1880 (as 'Carfin') at the same time as the Wishaw Deviation Line from Law Junction, though the line on which it actually stands (the Wishaw and Coltness Railway) is considerably older.

Despite its name, the station is some 550yd from the edge of Holytown; instead it is in New Stevenston.

The station was opened to assist the coal mining industry; the mines are now long gone.

Around 2003, some services to on the Argyle Line began running via Holytown (by means of the Mossend South to East curve) then down to Wishaw, creating two routes (one via Holytown and the other via the already existing Shieldmuir). This created a twice-hourly service at Holytown to/from Glasgow and a regular link to/from Motherwell.

Services

2008 onward

Monday to Saturdays on the Shotts Line there is an hourly service westbound to Glasgow via and eastbound to Edinburgh. Sunday services only run from via to for the month prior to Christmas.[1]

However, from December 2012 a new two hourly service has operated between and Edinburgh.[2]

On the Argyle Line there is an hourly service northbound to Glasgow Central and beyond (to) and southbound to Lanark via with no Sunday service.

December 2014

Following a recast of the Argyle Line timetable in the wake of the Whifflet Line electrification, there is no longer a regular daytime service to Motherwell, Milngavie via Anderston or Lanark. Only the hourly (two-hourly Sunday) Shotts line stopping services now call here - one of these in each direction (06:00 Motherwell to Edinburgh Waverley) now provides the statutory minimum service from Motherwell over the Mossend South Jcn to East Jcn curve. A single weekday peak service from to in the morning, returning from Anderston to Carstairs in the evening fulfils the same function for the line from .[3]

Sources

Notes and References

  1. National Rail Timetable, December 2008-May 2009 Ed, Table 225
  2. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/eNRT/May13/timetables/Table%20225.pdf GB National Rail Timetable 225, Edinburgh - Shotts, Carstairs, Motherwell and Glasgow Central 20 May - 7 December 2013
  3. GB NRT December 2015 - May 2016, Tables 224 & 225 (Network Rail)