Pitlochry railway station

Pitlochry railway station, located on the Highland main line, serves the town of Pitlochry in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is served regularly by Abellio ScotRail trains between Glasgow or Edinburgh and Inverness, the daily Caledonian Sleeper service to and from London Euston and the daily London North Eastern Railway service between London King's Cross and Inverness via York along the East Coast Main Line.

Pitlochry Scottish Gaelic: Baile Chloichridh[1]
Location	Pitlochry, Perth and Kinross Scotland
Coordinates	56.7023°N 3.7353°W
Grid reference	NN938580
Managed by	Abellio ScotRail
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	PIT
Key dates
1863	Opened
Passengers
2015/16	0.121 million
2016/17	0.121 million
2017/18	0.125 million
2018/19	0.125 million
2019/20	0.121 million
Listed Building – Category A
Designated	12 October 1994
Reference no.	LB39867[2]
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

The station is situated on the former Inverness and Perth Junction Railway (I&PJR) and was opened along with the line in 1863. In 1865, The I&PJR amalgamated with other railways to create the Highland Railway.[3]

The station is 28 miles 21 chains (45.5 km) from Perth, and has a passing loop 25 chains (500 m) long, flanked by two side platforms. Platform 1 on the up (southbound) line could accommodate trains having eight coaches, whereas platform 2 on the down (northbound) line could hold eleven.[4] Both platforms were extended in March 2019 as part of a £57 million upgrade programme by Network Rail, which also saw the station re-signalled.[5]

Services

An Abellio ScotRail Class 170 calls with an Inverness to Edinburgh service

In 2020, all Highland main line services between Perth and Inverness call here. From Monday to Saturday, 11 trains per day in each direction provide links to both Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh Waverley, as well as the daytime and sleeper services to London, operated by LNER and Caledonian Sleeper respectively, where the sleeper service does not run southbound on Saturday nights. On Sunday, there are seven northbound trains each way per day to Inverness, where 2 extend to Elgin, and 8 southbound trains, 4 to Edinburgh, 2 to Glasgow, as well as two services to London by both LNER and Caledonian Sleeper. The Caledonian Sleeper service does not run northbound on Sundays.[6]

From 2018, this station will be one of those to benefit from a package of timetable enhancements introduced by Transport Scotland and Scotrail. The current Perth to Inverness timetable will increase to hourly each way, with trains south of there running on alternate hours to Edinburgh & Glasgow. Journey times will also be reduced by 10 minutes to both cities.[7] However, the improvements to the Highland Main Line have been pushed back to at least December 2020.

References

1. 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.
2. Historic Environment Scotland. "Station Road, Pitlochry Station, including Down Platform Building, Footbridge, Fountain and Signal Box (LB39867)". Retrieved 7 July 2020.
3. Railscot - Inverness and Perth Junction Railway Crawford, Ewan; www.railbrit.co.uk, Retrieved 11 August 2016
4. Brailsford 2017, map 19B.
5. Glen, Louise (27 March 2019). "More trains, quicker journey times and improved station lengths all part of Highland railway improvements". The Press and Journal. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
6. Table 229 National Rail timetable, May 2019
7. "‘Rail revolution’ means 200 more services and 20,000 more seats for Scots passengers" Archived 20 August 2016 at the Wayback MachineTransport Scotland press release 15 March 2016; Retrieved 18 August 2016