, symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Laurencekirk Station - geograph.org.uk - 1314429.jpg , caption = Laurencekirk station after restoration and reopening , borough =

Laurencekirk Laurencekirk (, sco, Lowrenkirk, gd, Eaglais Labhrainn), colloquially known as "The Lang Toun" or amongst locals as simply "The Kirk", is a small town in the historic county of Kincardineshire, Scotland, just off the A90 Dundee to Aberdeen ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

, country = Scotland , coordinates = , grid_name = Grid reference , grid_position = , manager =

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 ...

, platforms = 2 , code = LAU , classification = DfT category F1 , original =

Aberdeen Railway The Aberdeen Railway was a Scottish railway company which built a line from Aberdeen to Forfar and Arbroath, partly by leasing and upgrading an existing railway. The line opened in stages between 1847 and 1850, with branches to Brechin and ...

, pregroup = Caledonian Railway , postgroup =

LMS LMS may refer to: Science and technology * Labeled magnitude scale, a scaling technique * Learning management system, education software * Least mean squares filter, producing least mean square error * Leiomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer * Lenz ...

, years = 1 November 1849 , events = Opened , years1 = 4 September 1967 , events1 = Closed , years2 = 17 May 2009 , events2 = Re-opened , mpassengers = , footnotes = Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road , embedded = Laurencekirk railway station is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

serving the communities of

and

The Mearns ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The station was reopened on 18 May 2009 at a cost of £3 million. It is sited from

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 ...

, and is between Montrose and Stonehaven, on the Dundee to Aberdeen line. There is a crossover at the north end of the station, which can be used to facilitate trains turning back if the line south to Montrose is blocked.

History

Northbound Train at Laurencekirk Railway Station - geograph

The station was opened on 1 November 1849Butt (1995), page 139 by the

, which ran from Aberdeen in the north to Guthrie (just outside

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( gd, Obar Bhrothaig ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast some ENE of Dundee and SSW of Aberdeen. The ...

) to the south. The line joined the

North British, Arbroath and Montrose Railway The North British, Arbroath and Montrose Railway was a company established by Act of Parliament in 1871 to construct and operate a railway line from north of Arbroath via Montrose to Kinnaber Junction, south of Aberdeen. The company was origin ...

north of Montrose at Kinnaber Junction and

Arbroath and Forfar Railway The Arbroath and Forfar Railway was a railway that connected Forfar with the port town of Arbroath, in Scotland. It opened in 1838–1839 and it was successful in making an operating profit, but it was always desperately short of capital. It u ...

at the triangular junctions at Friockheim and Guthrie.Awdry (1990) The station was closed on 4 September 1967 by

British Railways 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 ...

Re-opening

The residents of Laurencekirk, many of whom now commute to

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

and Dyce had successfully campaigned for the station to be reopened – the official announcement being made during December 2006 that the station would open in December 2007, to be funded by Transport Scotland and the Regional Transport Partnership Nestrans. The announcement of December 2007 for the re-commencement of services to and from Laurencekirk was ultimately overly ambitious and it was announced in early 2008 that the station would be finished and ready for the December 2008 timetable change. However, in a New Release from Transport Scotland, the opening date was given at Spring 2009. The station was reopened by the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure & Climate Change, Stewart Stevenson on 17 May 2009. The station building, which had fallen into poor overall condition was refurbished during Spring 2008, and a new car park with 70 parking spaces was built by Aberdeenshire Council and Nestrans, across the railway line from the station building, together with a small number of disabled parking spaces next to the station building. First ScotRail made provisional plans for 19 trains to serve the station each day, made up of 10 northbound services and 9 southbound services, with southbound services serving both Edinburgh and Glasgow. ScotRail will also be responsible for gritting and snow-clearing at the station. On the first anniversary of the reopening of the station, it was revealed that almost double the expected number of passengers had used it – 64,000 people as opposed to a projection of 36,000.

Facilities

Although the station is unstaffed, both platforms are equipped with shelters and benches. Platform 1 also has a help point and is adjacent to the car park, whilst platform 2 has a ticket machine. Both platforms have step-free access, and are connected by a footbridge, which also has a ramp.

Passenger volume

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

As of the May 2022 timetable, Laurencekirk is served by an hourly stopping service which runs between Montrose and Inverurie. Some services also extend to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

or Glasgow Queen Street westbound, and

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

eastbound (although some terminate short at

or Dyce). A limited service operates on Sundays, northbound to Aberdeen and southbound to Glasgow Queen Street, Edinburgh Waverley and Perth.eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 214

References

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

{{Railway stations served by Abellio Scotrail Railway stations in Aberdeenshire Former Caledonian Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1849 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1967 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 2009 Reopened railway stations in Great Britain Railway stations served by ScotRail Beeching closures in Scotland 1849 establishments in Scotland Listed railway stations in Scotland Category B listed buildings in Aberdeen Laurencekirk