Greenock West railway station

Greenock West railway station is a station in Greenock, Scotland, located on the Inverclyde Line which runs from Gourock to Glasgow Central. The route is currently operated by Abellio ScotRail under the auspices of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport. Each service to and from Glasgow on the Inverclyde Line stops at this station.

Greenock West
Scottish Gaelic: Grianaig an Iar[1]
View east towards Greenock Central
Location
Place	Greenock
Local authority	Inverclyde
Coordinates	55.9473°N 4.7679°W / 55.9473; -4.7679
Grid reference	NS272761
Operations
Station code	GKW
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	0.553 million
2015/16	0.570 million
2016/17	0.524 million
2017/18	0.538 million
2018/19	0.515 million
History
1 June 1889	Opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Greenock West from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

History

The Caledonian Railway was granted permission in 1882 to build the station, featuring "a very neat and substantial stone building in Renaissance style" at street level, with two "large and handsome" doorways from the booking hall onto Inverkip Street. The building also provided a stationmaster's room, a general waiting room and two first class waiting rooms; one for ladies and one for gentlemen. The line opened in June 1889.[2]

Services

It is a staffed station with two platforms; the eastbound platform to Glasgow is reached via a footbridge over the tracks. The tracks are located below street level, with a tunnel to the west leading to Fort Matilda, and to the east a cutting then a tunnel takes the line to Greenock Central. The main A78 road bridge which takes Inverkip Street over the station platforms had to be rebuilt and was closed to traffic for several years with a diversion in operation.

A busy commuter station, services at Greenock West run from around 6 am until approximately 11:30 pm; a more reduced, limited service operates on Sundays, with only one train per hour. It is near to the main Finnart Campus of the James Watt College stands nearby to the west of the station, so a large number of students use Greenock West.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Fort Matilda		Abellio ScotRail Inverclyde Line		Greenock Central
	Historical railways
Fort Matilda		Caledonian Railway Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway		Greenock Central

Gallery

• 
  View looking west, with the original station building to the left of the new road bridge and a train at the eastbound platform. The James Watt College Finnart Campus stands behind houses to the right.
• 
  The station building, with the original arched doorways converted into windows and new narrow doors formed from central window openings
• 
  The station building seen from the new road bridge
• 
  View down from the new road bridge showing the footbridge, with an eastbound train emerging from Newton Street Tunnel

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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
2. Monteith, Joy (2004), Old Greenock, Glasgow: Stenlake Publishing Ltd., ISBN 1-84033-314-6

External links

• Train times and station information for Greenock West railway station from National Rail
• Video footage of Greenock West

Media related to Greenock West railway station at Wikimedia Commons