Gretna Green is a railway station on the

Glasgow South Western Line The Glasgow South Western Line is a mainline railway in Scotland that runs from Glasgow to Kilmarnock, and then either via Dumfries, or Stranraer via Ayr, with a branch to East Kilbride. History The line was built by several railway compan ...

, which runs between and via . The station, situated north-west of Carlisle, serves the town of Gretna and village of

Gretna Green Gretna Green is a parish in the southern council area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on the Scottish side of the border between Scotland and England, defined by the small river Sark, which flows into the nearby Solway Firth. It was historica ...

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the counties of Scotland, historic counties of ...

, Scotland. It is owned by

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

and managed by

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 ...

History

The station was opened by the Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway on 23 August 1848 as ''Gretna''.Butt (1995), page 110 The Glasgow and South Western Railway renamed the station ''Gretna Green'' in April 1852. On 6 December 1965, the station was closed and the station building was subsequently sold. In 1975, the site of the station became the eastern end of a single line section to , as part of the route rationalisation carried out by British Rail, following the electrification of the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

. The station was reopened on 20 September 1993 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 ...

, with just one platform on the northern side of the line to the west of the previous station, coinciding with the western end of the points marking the end of the single track section from Annan. The second platform came into use when the line to Annan was restored to

double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most lin ...

in August 2008. The Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway station was one of three serving the town of Gretna, the others being: * Gretna, built by the

Caledonian Railway The Caledonian Railway (CR) was a major Scottish railway company. It was formed in the early 19th century with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively extended its network and reached Edinburgh an ...

. Opened on 9 September 1847 and closed on 10 September 1951. * Gretna, built by the Border Union Railway. Opened on 1 November 1861 and closed on 9 August 1915.

Services

Following the May 2021 timetable change, there is a mostly an uneven hourly to 2 hourly service (Monday to Saturday) heading north-west towards

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

, with seven trains of these to Glasgow Central via

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

. On Sunday, there are five trains per day to Dumfries, two of which extend to Glasgow Central. Heading south-east towards

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

, there is an mostly hourly service. All services are operated by

. Services running through Carlisle to Newcastle were stopped at the May 2022 timetable change. Rolling stock used: Class 156 ''Super Sprinter''

Gallery

File:Gretna Green railway station looking west in 2008.jpg, The station, photographed in September 2008, following completion of the doubling of the track between Annan and Gretna Green.

Notes

References

Sources

* * *
RAILSCOT on the Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway

External links

* * {{Railway stations served by Abellio Scotrail Railway stations in Dumfries and Galloway Railway stations served by ScotRail Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1848 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1965 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1993 Reopened railway stations in Great Britain Former Glasgow and South Western Railway stations Beeching closures in Scotland Gretna, Dumfries and Galloway 1848 establishments in Scotland