Aberdeen–Inverness line

The Aberdeen–Inverness line is a railway line in Scotland linking Aberdeen and Inverness.

This article is about the Aberdeen to Inverness railway. For other uses of Aberdeen Line, see Aberdeen Line (disambiguation). For other uses of Aberdeen, see Aberdeen (disambiguation).

Aberdeen–Inverness line
A ScotRail train at Inverurie station in July 2005
Overview
Type	Rural
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Aberdeenshire Highland Scotland
Termini	Inverness Aberdeen
Stations	10 (plus 2 planned)
Operation
Opened	1858
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	Abellio ScotRail
Character	Rural
Rolling stock	Class 158 "Express Sprinter", Class 170 "Turbostar" and Class 43 "HST"
Technical
Line length	108 miles 21 chains (174.2 km)
Number of tracks	Single line with passing loops
Track gauge	4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Operating speed	75 mph (120 km/h) maximum
Route map

History

The line was built in three parts:

• Inverness and Nairn Railway between Inverness and Nairn, which opened on 5 November 1855.
• Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway between Nairn and Keith which opened in 1858.
• Great North of Scotland Railway between Keith and Aberdeen which opened on 19 September 1854, with the southern portion (between Port Elphinstone and Aberdeen Waterloo) being built over the route of the Aberdeenshire Canal.

A Highland Railway 'Clan Goods' locomotive at Forres

Most of the line is single-track, other than the part of the line between Insch and Kennethmont, which is double-track.

The first two parts of the line merged to form the Highland Railway. The Highland Railway operated the line from Inverness to Keith with the Great North operating the line from there to Aberdeen. The Highland was grouped with other railways into the London Midland and Scottish Railway and the Great North was grouped into the London and North Eastern Railway by the Railways Act 1921, before eventually becoming part of British Railways in 1948.

Since 1948

Many intermediate stations were closed at various dates during the 1950s and 1960s to both passenger and goods traffic. The 1963 Reshaping of British Railways report recommended the closure of Inverurie and Insch stations but these remain open. In 1968, the route was singled.[1]

Dyce railway station was reopened in 1984.

A new freight interchange known as Raith's Farm was opened in 2009 at Dyce.[2]

In 2017, the line through Forres was straightened and a new station built, reinstating the second platform and extending the passing loop there. The platforms at Elgin were extended, the passing loop extended from 650 metres to 1.25 km, and a turnback facility was added. In addition to this, signalling improvements took place which saw control of the line between Inverness and Keith transferred to the Highland signalling centre in Inverness.[1]

In 2019, redoubling work between Aberdeen and Inverurie was completed, though a 1.5 km section north of Aberdeen railway station remains single-track. Much of this is in tunnels, which would have required track lowering to support two tracks. The same year, Dyce and Inverurie signal boxes were closed with control between Kittybrewster to Insch also transferred to the Highland signalling centre.[1]

Kintore railway station was due to reopen in 2020, but this has been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Dalcross railway station is expected to reopen by 2024.

Current services

Aberdeen– Inverness line
Kyle of Lochalsh line & Far North Line Rose Street Junction Welsh's Bridge Junction Inverness Millburn Junction Highland Main Line to Perth Dalcross Nairn Forres (1858–2017) Forres Elgin Keith & Dufftown Railway to Dufftown Keith Huntly Insch Inverurie Kintore Dyce Aberdeen Glasgow–Aberdeen line & Edinburgh–Aberdeen line

All passenger services are operated by Abellio ScotRail. There is some limited freight traffic, with Elgin retaining a goods yard, whilst Keith, Huntly and Inverurie retain smaller, less frequently used goods yards. Raith's Farm freight yard at Dyce serves Aberdeen.[2]

In addition to through services, local services operate at either end of the line. An hourly service operates between Elgin and Inverness, while a half-hourly service operates between Inverness and Aberdeen. Approximately one train per hour continues to Montrose, creating an hourly stopping service between Inverurie and Montrose.[1]

The line serves the following stations:

Station	Grid reference	Notes
Aberdeen	NJ941058	Connection with the Edinburgh to Aberdeen Line, Glasgow to Aberdeen Line, Caledonian Sleeper to London Euston and NorthLink Ferries to Orkney and Shetland.
Dyce	NJ884128	Formerly served Aberdeen Airport, the bus connection has now been withdrawn.
Inverurie	NJ775218
Insch	NJ629275
Huntly	NJ535396
Keith	NJ429516	Connection with the preserved Keith and Dufftown Railway
Elgin	NJ218621
Forres	NJ029589
Nairn	NH881560
Inverness	NH667454	Connections with the Highland Main Line, the Far North Line and, via Dingwall on the Far North Line, the Kyle of Lochalsh Line. Connection with the Caledonian Sleeper to London Euston. Bus connection to Inverness Airport

Plans

There are currently plans to extend some of the services and increase the frequency of trains between Inverurie and Aberdeen. This will be part of the Aberdeen Crossrail project. Transport Scotland is also funding an infrastructure improvement project on the route between 2015 and 2030. Phase 1 of this scheme (costing £170 million) is due for completion by 2019 and will see the southern end of the line doubled, the passing loop at Forres extended into a relocated station, new stations built at Dalcross and Kintore, platforms extended at Elgin and Insch and signalling and level crossings on the route upgraded.[3][4][5]

Once this work is completed, the line will support an hourly service with a two-hour journey time stopping at all stations between Aberdeen and Inverness.[1]

Reference outside Scotland

There is a residence hall at the University of California, Riverside that is named after the Aberdeen-Inverness rail line. The Aberdeen-Inverness Residence Hall was the first residence hall at the university and is still in operation today. Originally, Aberdeen, A and B wings, was all male. Inverness, D and E wings, was all female. By the early 1970s, the twin residences became fully coeducational.[6]

Notes

1. "Finishing the job – redoubling Aberdeen to Inverurie | Rail Engineer". web.archive.org. 4 December 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
2. Raiths Farm at Railscot Retrieved 2010-03-15
3. "Aberdeen to Inverness Rail Improvement Project, Scotland"Railway-technology.com article; Retrieved 19 August 2016
4. "Aberdeen to Inverness rail improvements". www.transport.gov.scot. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
5. "Aberdeen – Inverness Improvements – Network Rail". www.networkrail.co.uk. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
6. "Aberdeen-Inverness". housing.ucr.edu. Retrieved 28 February 2019.

External links

• updated timetable updated Aug 2018