Alness railway station is a railway station on the Far North Line, serving the town of Alness, on the Cromarty Firth, in the Highland council area of Scotland. The station is from , between Dingwall and Invergordon.

ScotRail ScotRail Trains Limited, trading as ScotRail ( gd, Rèile na h-Alba), is a Scottish train operating company that is publicly owned by Scottish Rail Holdings on behalf of the Scottish Government. It has been operating the ScotRail franchise a ...

, who manage the station, operate all services.

History

The Inverness and Ross-shire Railway (I&RR), which was to be a line between and , was authorised in 1860, and opened in stages. By the time that the last section, that between and Invergordon, opened on 25 March 1863, the I&RR had amalgamated with the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway (I&AJR), the authorisation being given on 30 June 1862. On this last stretch, one of the original stations was that at ''Alness''. The I&AJR in turn amalgamated with other railways to form the Highland Railway in 1865, which became part of the

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

during the Grouping of 1923. The line then passed on to the

Scottish Region of British Railways The Scottish Region (ScR) was one of the six regions created on British Railways (BR) and consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) and ex-London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) lines in Scotland. It existed from the creation o ...

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

in 1948. The station at Alness was then closed by the British Transport Commission on 13 June 1960 and remained so for 13 years. The station reopened on 7 May 1973 after significant housing development in the area. The initial service provision was three trains each way on weekdays and one on Sundays. When sectorisation was introduced by

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

in the 1980s, the station was served by

until the privatisation of British Rail. The original station platforms can still be seen on both sides of the single line through the station.

Facilities

The station consists of one platform on the northern side of the railway, with only a small shelter available. The station also has a small car park, bike racks and a bench. As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.

Platform layout

The station has a single platform which is long enough for a six-coach train.

Passenger volume

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

On weekdays and Saturdays, there are 7 trains northbound (4 to Wick via Thurso, 1 to Invergordon, 1 to Ardgay and 1 to

Tain Tain ( Gaelic: ''Baile Dhubhthaich'') is a royal burgh and parish in the County of Ross, in the Highlands of Scotland. Etymology The name derives from the nearby River Tain, the name of which comes from an Indo-European root meaning 'flow'. The ...

) and 8 trains southbound to Inverness. On Sundays, there are five trains southbound to Inverness, and 5 trains northbound (3 to Tain, 1 to Invergordon and 1 through to Wick.eNRT December 2021 Edition, Table 219

References

Bibliography

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External links

RAILSCOT article on Inverness and Ross-shire Railway

{{Railway stations served by Abellio Scotrail Railway stations in Highland (council area) Former Highland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1863 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1960 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1973 Reopened railway stations in Great Britain Railway stations served by ScotRail 1863 establishments in Scotland Alness