Highland Main Line

Highland Main Line
The Highland Main Line viaduct over the River Findhorn at Tomatin
Overview
Type	Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Perth and Kinross Highland Scotland
Termini	Perth Inverness
Stations	10
Operation
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	Abellio ScotRail Virgin Trains East Coast Caledonian Sleeper
Rolling stock	Class 43 "HST" Class 158 "Express Sprinter" Class 170 "Turbostar"
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in)

Highland Main Line

Legend Kyle of Lochalsh Line Far North Line Rose Street Junction Welsh's Bridge Junction Inverness Millburn Junction Aberdeen to Inverness Line Slochd Summit Carrbridge Strathspey Railway Aviemore Kingussie Newtonmore Dalwhinnie Drumochter Summit Blair Atholl Pitlochry Dunkeld and Birnam Glasgow to Aberdeen Line Perth Moncrieffe Tunnel Edinburgh to Aberdeen Line Ladybank Edinburgh to Aberdeen Line Gleneagles Dunblane Bridge of Allan Croy Line (to Alloa) River Forth Stirling M876 motorway Larbert Edinburgh to Dunblane Line Glasgow to Aberdeen Line Croy Line (to Glasgow)

The Highland Main Line is a railway line in Scotland. It is 118 mi (190 km) long and runs through the Scottish Highlands linking a series of small towns and villages with Perth at one end and Inverness at the other. Today, services between Inverness and Edinburgh, Glasgow and London use the line. At Inverness the line connects with the Far North Line, the Aberdeen-Inverness Line and services on the Kyle of Lochalsh Line. All trains are diesel-powered, since the line is not electrified.

Much of the Highland Main Line is single track, and trains coming in opposite directions are often timed to arrive at stations at the same time, where crossing loops permit them to pass. Journey times between Inverness and Edinburgh or Glasgow are approximately three and a half hours.^[1]

History

Highland Main Line and A9 highway next to each other in Perthshire, September 2000

The vast majority of the line was built and operated by the Highland Railway with a small section of the line between Perth and Stanley built by the Scottish Midland Junction Railway, amalgamated with the Aberdeen Railway to become the Scottish North Eastern Railway in 1856, and then absorbed by the Caledonian Railway in 1866. Originally, the line between Inverness and Perth went via Forres, but the Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway was opened in 1898 to allow for a more direct routeing.

There are two significant summits on the line; Drumochter Summit between Blair Atholl and Dalwhinnie, and Slochd Summit between Carrbridge and Inverness. Other distinct features on the route include the viaducts at Culloden and Tomatin, the spectacular mountain pass at Drumochter and the severe gradients encountered in both directions, particularly the extended climb from Inverness to the Slochd summit which averages around 1 in 60 the whole way.

Stations and services

As of 2004, there are stations on the line as follows:

Places served	Ordnance Survey grid references
	and other notes
Perth	NO112230
Dunkeld and Birnam	NO030417
	Shared station
Pitlochry	NN937580
Blair Atholl	NN870653
Dalwhinnie	NN634848
Newtonmore	NN715984
Kingussie	NH756003
Aviemore	NH895123
	Connection with Strathspey Railway
Carrbridge	NH899224
Inverness	NH667454

Services on the line are provided by Abellio ScotRail and Virgin Trains East Coast. A roughly two-hourly Abellio ScotRail service operates between Perth and Inverness throughout the day, with all services running from either Glasgow Queen Street (via Stirling) or Edinburgh Waverley (via Kirkcaldy). The Virgin Trains East Coast service is titled 'The Highland Chieftain'. Formed of a HST unit, it departs Inverness at around 8am and runs to London Kings Cross, via Perth, Stirling, Falkirk, Edinburgh and the East Coast Main Line, arriving in London at about 4pm. The return working leaves London at midday and reaches Inverness in the late evening.

There is also the Caledonian Sleeper operated sleeping car service that travels overnight between Inverness and London Euston via Perth, Stirling, Edinburgh Waverley and the West Coast Main Line. This joins portions from Aberdeen and Fort William at Edinburgh Waverley and south of there becomes the longest locomotive-hauled passenger train in the UK - regularly loading to 16 Mark 2/3 coaches.

Reliability on the route is variable, due to many areas being single line. Also, because Abellio ScotRail are not fined for the late running or cancellation of trains in extreme weather, it means that a high number of trains on this route are allowed to run late or are cancelled in comparison to the rest of Scotland, as weather here is often snow for many weeks during winter.

All trains between Perth and Inverness call at Pitlochry, Kingussie and Aviemore. Most ScotRail services call at Dunkeld and Birnam and at Blair Atholl, with the stations at Dalwhinnie, Newtonmore and Carrbridge being served less often. On Sundays, a couple of services continue through to Elgin, calling at Nairn and Forres. ^[2]

Panoramic view of the Highland Line Culloden Viaduct with a First ScotRail train on it

Usage

Station usage at some stations remain stable. Overall usage on the line comparing April 2003 to April 2010 has increased 154%.

Station usage
Station Name	2002–03	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11	2011–12	2012–13	2013–14
Perth	641,822	694,527	700,509	763,415	886,748	888,586	929,282	959,310	975,364	988,795	1,077,598
Dunkeld and Birnam	15,406	18,810	19,339	21,897	20,856	26,010	25,436	26,178	26,506	27,862	29,924
Pitlochry	66,890	84,555	88,638	78,193	78,776	97,302	87,210	87,684	90,618	98,340	101,902
Blair Atholl	8,313	11,708	11,896	10,491	10,443	11,716	11,572	13,948	12,608	14,280	14,084
Dalwhinnie	2,066	1,619	2,013	1,774	1,975	2,644	2,208	1,894	1,984	2,172	2,472
Newtonmore	4,184	5,396	6,815	6,631	7,060	8,358	7,972	9,484	9,406	8,958	8,326
Kingussie	23,815	27,725	30,045	32,135	33,416	42,618	35,838	38,544	40,298	40,954	41,408
Aviemore	70,272	80,977	91,456	101,294	115,431	152,528	124,972	132,336	132,052	136,456	141,311
Carrbridge	1,531	1,910	2,987	3,954	5,438	4,232	4,500	5,118	5,636	4,454	5,540
Inverness	721,358	822,928	873,011	915,840	975,569	1,407,600	1,070,924	1,127,718	1,180,160	1,213,382	1,282,445
The annual passenger usage is based on sales of tickets in stated financial years from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. The statistics are for passengers arriving and departing from each station and cover twelve month periods that start in April. Please note that methodology may vary year on year.

References

1. Highland Main Line timetables at https://www.scotrail.co.uk/sites/default/files/assets/download_ct/edinburgh_glasgow_-_inverness_0.pdf
2. https://www.scotrail.co.uk/sites/default/files/assets/download_ct/edinburgh_glasgow_-_inverness_0.pdf

External links

• Route on OpenStreetMap
• Highland line on Transport Scotland