Falkirk Grahamston railway station

Falkirk Grahamston railway station is one of two railway stations serving the town of Falkirk in Scotland. It is located on the Edinburgh to Dunblane Line and also the Cumbernauld Line. Train services are provided by Abellio ScotRail. The "Highland Chieftain", the daily London North Eastern Railway service from London King's Cross to Inverness and vice versa also calls here.

Falkirk Grahamston
Scottish Gaelic: Baile a' Ghreumaich[1]
Falkirk Grahamston station in 2018, following electrification
Location
Place	Falkirk
Local authority	Falkirk
Coordinates	56.0024°N 3.7856°W / 56.0024; -3.7856
Grid reference	NS887802
Operations
Station code	FKG
Managed by	Abellio ScotRail
Number of platforms	2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	0.713 million
– Interchange	84,778
2015/16	0.688 million
– Interchange	93,294
2016/17	0.670 million
– Interchange	20,605
2017/18	0.690 million
– Interchange	94,349
2018/19	0.720 million
– Interchange	0.225 million
History
Original company	Stirlingshire Midland Junction Railway
Pre-grouping	North British Railway
Post-grouping	LNER
1 October 1850	Opened as Grahamston (Falkirk)[2]
1 February 1903	Renamed as Falkirk Grahamston[2][3]
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Falkirk Grahamston from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

The view from the footbridge at Falkirk Grahamston, looking towards the east

Falkirk is also served by the railway station at Falkirk High.

East Coast InterCity 125 departing Falkirk Grahamston with a southbound Highland Chieftain service to London King's Cross. The Highland Chieftain, a diesel InterCity 125 service between London King's Cross and Inverness, calls at Falkirk Grahamston. There are only two of these trains per day.

History

The line between Polmont and Larbert was built by the Stirlingshire Midland Junction Railway, which was absorbed by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway prior to opening.[4] The line opened on 1 October 1850, as did the station known as Grahamston (Falkirk).[2][4] The subsequent addition of a chord line at Carmuirs to create a triangular junction there also gave access to the Scottish Central Railway and hence the E&G main line at Greenhill, creating a parallel relief route to the busy E&G line that was often used by local stopping trains between the two cities.

It also became the junction for the Grangemouth Railway, when the branch to the port of the same name on the Firth of Forth was opened in 1860/61 – this line was notable in that it was promoted and built by the Forth and Clyde Canal Company rather than any of the local railways, in order to maintain the F&CC's monopoly of the harbour there. The branch was initially worked by the E&G, but when the canal company was subsequently bought out by the Caledonian Railway, it passed into their hands; thereafter the E&G's successor the North British Railway had running powers over it. Passenger services there were withdrawn on 29 January 1968 as a result of the Beeching Axe, but the branch is still open for freight to the port and associated oil refinery and petrochemical plant.[5]

The station was renamed Falkirk Grahamston on 1 February 1903.[3] The original station buildings were replaced by the present ones in 1985/6.[6]

Services

Monday to Saturday there are 4 trains per hour to Edinburgh Waverley eastbound and 2-3 trains per hour westbound to Dunblane via Stirling. Train times to Edinburgh Waverley vary from 25 minutes to 34 minutes; faster trains stop at Edinburgh Park and Haymarket, slower trains additionally stop at Polmont and Linlithgow. There are also 2 trains per hour to and from Glasgow Queen Street via Cumbernauld, with journey times from 39 minutes to 43 minutes. There is also a single weekday morning peak direct service to Glasgow which originates at Kirkcaldy; this returns to Markinch in the evening, with an evening journey time of 26 minutes.[7] Glasgow services were diverted via Cumbernauld (rather than their former routing via Croy) in September 1999[8] in order to free up paths on the busy E&G main line.

On Sundays there is an hourly service to Edinburgh and Dunblane but no service to Glasgow. Passengers wishing to travel there have to either change at Polmont or use Falkirk High.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Haymarket		London North Eastern Railway East Coast Main Line		Stirling
Polmont or Haymarket		Abellio ScotRail Edinburgh–Dunblane Line		Camelon
Stirling		Caledonian Sleeper Highland Caledonian Sleeper (southbound only)		Edinburgh
Camelon		Abellio ScotRail Cumbernauld Line		Terminus
	Historical railways
Camelon		Stirlingshire Midland Junction Railway North British Railway		Polmont
Terminus		Grangemouth Railway Caledonian Railway		Grangemouth

Recent Improvements

The line through the station and onwards to Larbert/Cumbernauld and to Polmont was electrified in 2018 as part of the second phase of the Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme funded by Transport Scotland. This has resulted in a timetable recast, with a new Glasgow to Edinburgh via Cumbernauld & Falkirk Grahamston stopping service introduced and services to Edinburgh, Stirling & Dunblane accelerated.[9]

References

Notes

1. Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
2. Butt 1995, p. 107.
3. Butt 1995, p. 94.
4. Awdry 1990, p. 164.
5. "Grangemouth Railway". Railscot. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
6. Crawford, Ewen. "Falkirk Grahamston". Railscot. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
7. GB National Rail Timetable 2016, Table 230 (Network Rail)
8. UK NRT Autumn 1999 Edition, Table 230
9. Dalton, A. (15 March 2016). "ScotRail announces major increase in daily trains". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 18 August 2016.

Sources

• Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0049-7. OCLC 19514063. CN 8983.
• Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. ISBN 978-0-9549866-9-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• 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.