Perth railway station (Scotland) explained

Perth
Native Name:Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Peairt
Symbol Location:gb
Symbol:rail
Map Type:Scotland Perth
Borough:Perth, Perth and Kinross
Country:Scotland
Coordinates:56.3916°N -3.4384°W
Grid Name:Grid reference
Manager:ScotRail
Platforms:7
Code:PTH[1]
Original:Scottish Central Railway and
Scottish Midland Junction Railway
Pregroup:Caledonian Railway
Postgroup:LMS
Years:22 May 1848
Events:Opened as Perth General[2]
Years1:1952
Events1:Renamed as Perth
Footnotes:Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road
Embedded:
Embed:yes
Designation1:Category B
Designation1 Date:26 August 1977
Designation1 Number:LB39340[3]

Perth railway station is a railway station located in the city of Perth, Scotland, on both the Glasgow to Dundee line and the Highland Main Line. It is managed by ScotRail, who provide almost all of the services (along with LNER and the Caledonian Sleeper).

It is sited 151chain25chain from Carlisle, measured via Stirling, Cumbernauld and Motherwell, and approximately 47miles from Ladybank (thus approximately 86miles from Edinburgh Waverley via Kirkcaldy and Inverkeithing).[4]

History

Openings

The station was opened (as Perth General Station) by the Scottish Central Railway (SCR) in 1848 to a design by William Tite.[5] Originally the terminus of the SCR main line from Greenhill Junction near Glasgow, it soon became a junction of some importance with the arrival of the Dundee and Perth Railway from Dundee (following the completion of Tay Viaduct, a bridge across the River Tay), the Edinburgh and Northern Railway (E&NR) from on the Fife coast and the Scottish Midland Junction Railway (SMJR) from within months.[6] Subsequent construction by the Perth and Dunkeld Railway (P&DR) and the Perth, Almond Valley and Methven Railway added further lines into/out of the city, with the former becoming part of what is now the Highland Main Line to . The SMJR meanwhile would become part of a through route to by 1856, thus giving Perth travellers easy access to all of the major Scottish cities.

All of these lines, apart from the E&NR, were eventually taken over by the Caledonian Railway, though the Highland Railway (which took over the P&DR) and North British Railway (NBR; which absorbed the E&NR) also had access by means of running powers from Stanley Junction and Hilton Junction respectively.

The NBR would subsequently open a more direct route to the Scottish capital than the Caledonian's route via Stirling and the central lowlands in 1890 - this left the existing Ladybank line at and headed south via Glenfarg to Mawcarse, where it joined the Fife and Kinross Railway's line to Kinross. Trains could then travel via, Dunfermline and the newly opened Forth Rail Bridge to reach Edinburgh.

Closures

The Almond Valley line to and was an early post-nationalisation casualty, closing to passengers in October 1951. The Ladybank service followed suit in September 1955. The major losses though came as the result of the Beeching Axe and its aftermath in the mid-to-late 1960s, with the main line to Aberdeen (that is, the ex-SMJR main line to Kinnaber Junction via and Forfar) being closed to passenger traffic on 4 September 1967. Aberdeen services were thereafter routed via Dundee and the former NBR route via . The Aviemore to Forres section of the Highland Main Line had already been closed two years earlier, and several local stations in the area were also shut down around this time.

A further significant (and controversial) closure came on 5 January 1970, when the main line to Edinburgh via Glenfarg, Kinross and Cowdenbeath was abandoned in favour of the older but less direct line via Stirling. The Glenfarg route had been recommended for retention and development in the Beeching Report, but its removal allowed the planned M90 motorway to occupy its former alignment in the Glenfarg area when the motorway was built a few years later. However, the longer journey via Stirling proved unpopular with Edinburgh travellers and so in 1975, the old E&NR line to Ladybank was reopened by British Rail to provide a slightly quicker alternative. This is the route followed by most Edinburgh services today, but the daytime and overnight trains to London (see below) still run via Stirling and Falkirk as the line via Ladybank and Kirckaldy is served by the Aberdeen to London services.

Location

Perth bus station is situated approximately 100 metres northeast along Leonard Street, part of the A989, from the railway station.[7]

Platform layout

The station has seven active platforms, but they are split into two distinct sections:[8]

There was once an extensive goods yard at Perth, along with an engine shed and carriage sidings but only a small engineers depot remains in the greatly downsized yard.

Services

Passenger services are operated by ScotRail, Caledonian Sleeper, and London North Eastern Railway.

There are two main routes passing through the station - the Glasgow to Dundee & Aberdeen Line, and the Highland Main Line, whilst there is now also a regular service to/from Edinburgh via the Fife Coast. Services on weekdays are as follows:[9]

On Sundays, services are reduced to:

Cultural references

The movie The Railway Man was filmed at Perth station. Platform 3 was used to pose as Crewe, and Platform 5 used to pose as Edinburgh, both set during the 1960s.

Perth station was nominated for the Carbuncle Award in 2015, which recognises the worst planning decision. The award was because a new footbridge had to be built at the southern end of the station which has stair and lift access to all platforms to comply with disability laws. Local newspaper The Courier reported on the news and interviewed Paul Tetlaw from the campaign Transform Scotland. He said:

"It's an off-the-shelf structure that has desecrated the station environment, imposed from London by 'standards bound' Network Rail designers and has no fit with the largely Victorian surroundings. To add insult to injury, it's virtually unused, as the alternatives within the station building are vastly more convenient for the overwhelming majority of passengers. This tacky and inappropriate new structure is thought to have cost in excess of £1m — money which would have been better spent on opening a new station in nearby Newburgh, which has none, with cash left over for a feasibility study of recreating a direct Perth-Edinburgh link, as advocated by our inter-city express campaign."

Future proposals

In March 2016, Transport Scotland announced a package of timetable improvements for the Scottish rail network that would see additional trains operated from Perth to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee & Inverness from 2018. There would be a two-hourly service between both Edinburgh & Glasgow and Inverness over the Highland Main Line (combining to give an hourly frequency north of Perth) and additional regional services from Arbroath & Dundee to Glasgow serving Gleneagles, Dunblane & Stirling on top of the current Aberdeen to Glasgow route (which will be accelerated by cutting some of the existing intermediate stops).[10] As of May 2022, these improvements have still not taken place.[11]

See also

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Deaves . Phil . Railway Codes . railwaycodes.org.uk . 27 September 2022.
  2. Butt (1995), page 184
  3. Web site: LEONARD STREET, PERTH RAILWAY STATION INCLUDING CARRIAGE SHED AND GATEPIERS . Historic Scotland . 9 March 2019.
  4. Book: Track Diagrams: 1 - Scotland and the Isle of Man . Quail Map Company . 2001 . Jacobs . Gerald . 4th . Bradford-upon-Avon . 8, 9, 11–15.
  5. Book: Haynes . Nick . Perth & Kinross : an illustrated architectural guide . 2000 . Rutland Press . Edinburgh . 1873190123 . 24.
  6. Book: Smith . Alastair . Introducing Scotland Railways . 1982 . Spurbooks . Edinburgh . 0715720775 . 59.
  7. Web site: Local bus timetables . 2021-06-09 . Perth & Kinross Council.
  8. Book: TRACKatlas of Mainland Britain: A Comprehensive Geographic Atlas Showing the Rail Network of Great Britain . Platform 5 Publishing Ltd . 2017 . 978 1909431 26 3 . Bridge . Mike . 3rd . Sheffield . 91, 92.
  9. eNRT May 2022 Edition, Tables 212, 213, 214, 215, 220
  10. Web site: Scotrail rail revolution declared as 39 carriages ‘to be retained by ScotRail’ instead of going else Rail.co.uk . 2022-08-18 . www.rail.co.uk.
  11. eNRT May 2022 Edition, Tables 212, 213, 214, 215