Polmont railway station

Polmont
Signage at Polmont railway station
Location
Place	Polmont
Local authority	Falkirk
Coordinates	55°59′05″N 3°42′54″W / 55.9846°N 3.7149°WCoordinates: 55°59′05″N 3°42′54″W / 55.9846°N 3.7149°W
Grid reference	NS930781
Operations
Station code	PMT
Managed by	Abellio ScotRail
Number of platforms	2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	0.587 million
2005/06	0.607 million
2006/07	0.617 million
2007/08	0.634 million
2008/09	0.640 million
2009/10	0.652 million
2010/11	0.661 million
2011/12	0.688 million
2012/13	0.695 million
2013/14	0.722 million
2014/15	0.748 million
History
Key dates	Opened 1842
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Polmont from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Polmont railway station is a railway station serving the village of Polmont, Scotland. It is located on the Glasgow to Edinburgh via Falkirk Line and is also served by Abellio ScotRail services from Edinburgh to Stirling and Dunblane. It is the nearest station to much of the town of Grangemouth.

History

It is situated on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, which was the first railway to be built between the two cities.^[1] It opened with the line in 1842 and became a junction eight years later with the opening of the Stirlingshire Middle Junction Railway to Larbert via Falkirk Grahamston.^[2] This linked the E&G main line with the Scottish Central Railway route northwards to Perth via Stirling, creating a direct route from Edinburgh to Stirling & Dunblane. The SMJR was taken over by the E&GR prior to opening on 1 October 1850, with the E&GR being absorbed in turn by the North British Railway in 1865. The NBR then became part of the London and North Eastern Railway on 1 January 1923.

The station also later served as the main line interchange for the Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway's branch line to Bo'ness, access to the branch being made by a west facing chord near to the point where the Slamannan line passed beneath the E&GR. A bay platform was provided at Polmont for use by branch trains, though it wasn't until 1933 that services began running there - prior to that they had used a bi-level station further east at Manuel. The branch passenger service was withdrawn by the British Transport Commission on 7 May 1956, but it remained in use for freight until 1975 and has since been reopened as the heritage Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway.^[3]

The station gained a (somewhat unwanted) place in British railway history in the mid-1980s, as it was near here that the Polmont rail accident occurred in July 1984. 13 people died and more than 60 were injured when an Edinburgh to Glasgow express derailed at speed in a cutting just west of the junction, after colliding with a cow that had escaped from a field adjacent to the line (through damaged fencing) and wandered onto the track.^[4]

Services (2015)

• 2 trains per hour (tph) to Glasgow Queen Street via Falkirk High
• 2 tph to Stirling & Dunblane
• 4 tph to Edinburgh Waverley

This means there is roughly a train every 15 minutes to/from Edinburgh.^[5]

The Highland Chieftain, a daily InterCity 125 service operated by Virgin Trains East Coast from London King's Cross to Inverness passes through the station, as does the Caledonian Sleeper service between Inverness & London Euston. However neither stops here.

References

1. Railscot - Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway Railscot; Retrieved 2014-01-29
2. Railscot - Stirlingshire Midland Junction Railway
3. Railscot - Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway Railscot; Retrieved 2014-01-29
4. Accident at Polmont on 30 July 1984The Railways Archive,; Retrieved 2014-01-29
5. GB National Rail Timetable 2013-14, Tables 228 & 230

External links

• Train times and station information for Polmont railway station from National Rail