Berwick-upon-Tweed railway station

Berwick-upon-Tweed railway station is on the East Coast Main Line in England, serving the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland. It is 335 miles 56 chains (540.3 km) down the line from London King's Cross and is situated between Chathill to the south and Dunbar to the north.

Berwick-upon-Tweed
A view of the island platforms looking north
Location
Place	Berwick-upon-Tweed
Local authority	County of Northumberland
Coordinates	55.775°N 2.011°W / 55.775; -2.011
Grid reference	NT994534
Operations
Station code	BWK
Managed by	London North Eastern Railway
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	C1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	0.539 million
– Interchange	1,339
2015/16	0.529 million
– Interchange	1,430
2016/17	0.540 million
– Interchange	1,293
2017/18	0.568 million
– Interchange	1,259
2018/19	0.571 million
– Interchange	1,219
History
Key dates	Opened 1847[1] (1847[1])
Original company	North British Railway / Newcastle and Berwick Railway
Pre-grouping	North British Railway / North Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	LNER
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Berwick-upon-Tweed from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

Plaque commemorating the former Great Hall of Berwick Castle

It is the most northerly railway station in England, being less than three miles from the border with Scotland. The station, with its long single island platform, lies immediately to the north of the Royal Border Bridge.

History

In 1847, the Great Hall of Berwick Castle had to be demolished to make way for the new station (the former West Wall of the castle still marks the boundary of the now-defunct station goods yard), which opened the following year. This replaced an initial structure erected by the North British Railway, whose line from the north first reached the town in 1846.[2] The Newcastle and Berwick Railway meanwhile reached the southern bank of the River Tweed in March 1847, but it was another eighteen months before a temporary viaduct across the river was commissioned to allow through running between Edinburgh and Newcastle. This in turn was replaced by the current Royal Border Bridge in July 1850.[3] The station was rebuilt by the London and North Eastern Railway in 1927 and the buildings are Grade-II listed.[4]

The station was also at one time served by local stopping trains between Newcastle and Edinburgh and the branch line from Newtown St Boswells via Kelso (which joined the main line at Tweedmouth, on the other side of the river) from 1851 until closure in 1964.[5]

For approximately 5 months in 1979, this was the terminus for services from London King's Cross after the East Coast Main Line was blocked by the collapse of Penmanshiel Tunnel. Buses linked this station with Dunbar, from where a railway shuttle service continued to Edinburgh Waverley.

Berwick station in 1970

Facilities

The station has a council-run car park nearby, and is staffed throughout the week during working hours.[6] Several self-service ticket machines are available for use outside these times and for collecting pre-paid tickets. Other facilities on offer on the concourse include a waiting room, Costa coffee shop, vending machine, payphone and toilets, whilst there is a First Class lounge on the platform. The two are linked by a fully accessible footbridge with lifts. Train running information is offered via digital CIS displays, audible announcements and timetable posters.

Services

London North Eastern Railway operate an hourly service that stops here. They go southbound to London Kings Cross calling at Newcastle, Darlington and York en route. In the other direction, there are services to Edinburgh with a few extensions to Aberdeen and one extension per day to each of Glasgow Central, Stirling and Inverness.[7] CrossCountry operates a two-hourly service in each direction during the day with most going north to Glasgow.[8] In the southbound direction there are services to Plymouth via Leeds and Birmingham New Street with a couple of extensions per day to Penzance and also a daily service to Reading.

From December 2019, one TransPennine Express service in each direction began to call at Berwick-upon-Tweed.[9]

References

Notes

1. Butt (1995)
2. Body, p.35
3. Body, p.36
4. Pastscape - Berwick-upon-Tweed station Archived 11 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine Historic England; retrieved 9 February 2017
5. "Kelso railway station history (www.border-net.co.uk)". Archived from the original on 9 March 2009. Retrieved 21 November 2008.
6. Berwick-upon-Tweed station facilities National Rail Enquiries
7. GB National Railway Timetable 2018-9, Table 26
8. Table 51 National Rail timetable, December 2018
9. TransPennine Express services calling at Berwick-upon-Tweed 17 December 2019 Real Train Times

Sources

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Alnmouth or Newcastle		CrossCountry Cross Country Network		Dunbar or Edinburgh Waverley
Alnmouth		London North Eastern Railway London-Edinburgh stopping services		Dunbar
Newcastle		London North Eastern Railway London-Edinburgh express services		Edinburgh Waverley
Alnmouth		TransPennine Express North TransPennine		Dunbar
	Historical railways
connection to Newcastle and Berwick Railway		North British Railway NBR Main Line		Burnmouth Line open; station closed
Tweedmouth Line open; station closed		Newcastle and Berwick Railway		connection to North British Railway

• Anderson, David (July 1996). "Steam Days at Berwick-upon-Tweed". Steam Days. 83: 403–13.
• Anon. (May–June 1966). "Berwick". Perspective East Yorkshire. 15: 359.
• Body, G. (1989). PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2: Northern operating area (1st ed.). Wellingborough: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0072-1. OCLC 59892452.

• 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 978-1-85260-508-7. 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 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
• Stoton, Frederick (1909). "Berwick-on-Tweed (North British Railway)". Railway Magazine. 24: 473–8.
• Warn, C. (Spring 1980). "Berwick area railways". Northumbriana. 19: 21–3.

External links

• Video footage of the station and Royal Border Bridge
• RAILSCOT on North British Railway
• RAILSCOT on Newcastle and Berwick Railway