, symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Stirling railway station, frontage, Scotland.jpg , caption = The station frontage , borough =

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

, country = Scotland , coordinates = , grid_name =

Grid reference A projected coordinate system, also known as a projected coordinate reference system, a planar coordinate system, or grid reference system, is a type of spatial reference system that represents locations on the Earth using cartesian coordin ...

, 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 = 9 , code = STG , years = 1848 , events = Opened , years1 = 1913 , events1 = Rebuilt , mpassengers = , footnotes = Passenger statistics from the

Office of Rail and Road The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the economic and safety regulation of Britain's railways, and the economic monitoring of National Highways. ORR regulates Network Rail by setting its ...

, embedded = Stirling 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 ...

located in

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 ...

. It is located on the former

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 ...

main line between

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and

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 ...

. It is the junction for the branch line to and

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...

via Kincardine and is also served by trains on the

Edinburgh to Dunblane Line Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

and long-distance services to

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

and

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 to

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 ...

via the

Highland Main Line The Highland Main Line is a railway line in Scotland. It is 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 Edi ...

History

Stirling railway station geograph-2327951-by-Ben-Brooksbank

Stirling was first connected to the

Scottish Central Railway The Scottish Central Railway was formed in 1845 to link Perth and Stirling to Central Scotland, by building a railway line to join the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway near Castlecary. The line opened in 1848 including a branch to South Alloa. The ...

in 1848. Lines were subsequently opened by the

Stirling and Dunfermline Railway The Stirling and Dunfermline Railway was a railway in Scotland connecting Stirling and Dunfermline. It was planned by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway to get access to the mineral deposits on the line of route, but also as a tactical measure t ...

in 1853, and by the

Forth and Clyde Junction Railway The Forth and Clyde Junction Railway was a railway line in Scotland which ran from Stirling to Balloch. It was built with the expectation of conveying coal from the Fife coalfields to a quay at Bowling on the Clyde for onward transport, but th ...

to three years later. Through services to/from the

Callander and Oban Railway The Callander and Oban Railway company was established with the intention of linking the sea port of Oban to the railway network. This involved a long line from Callander through wild and thinly populated terrain, and shortage of money meant th ...

also served the station from 1870. Following a competition, the current station buildings were constructed by Caledonian Railway in 1912-15 by James Miller and William A. Paterson, at a cost of £36.291. They have undergone several refurbishments (with minor layout changes), the most recent change being the installation of lifts to enable better access to the footbridge linking Platform 2 with Platforms 3 to 8. The line to Balloch lost its passenger services in 1934 and closed as a through route in 1942, although the section from Stirling to

Port of Menteith Port of Menteith ( gd, Port Loch Innis Mo Cholmaig) is a village and civil parish in the Stirling district of Scotland, the only significant settlement on the Lake of Menteith. It was established as a burgh of barony, then named simply Port ( g ...

remained open for freight until 1959. The main line from Stirling to Dunfermline was not scheduled for closure under the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...

, but it was nevertheless closed in 1968. It has since been partly reopened as far as Alloa (see below). Oban services via the C&O line ended with the Beeching cuts in 1965, and the main terminus in Glasgow for services from Stirling changed from the former C.R. station at to Queen Street the following year. A

Motorail A motorail train or accompanied car train (ACT) is a passenger train on which passengers can take their car or automobile along with them on their journey. Passengers are carried in normal passenger carriages or in sleeping carriages on longer ...

service ran between London and Stirling until 1989. In 2008, the travel centre was refurbished to improve disabled access, including power-assisted entrance doors, a wheelchair-accessible counter, and improved customer information systems. In 2009, a shelter was erected on Platforms 9 and 10, and LED display boards replaced the CRT screens, including new displays for Platforms 9 and 10 and the bay Platforms 7 and 8. (Up to c.1988, a large flip-dot display was located above the main concourse; this was removed and the space filled in with a large "Welcome to Stirling Station" sign.) From December 2009, automated announcements were provided, replacing the manual announcements made from the supervisor's office on Platform 3. In 2013, a new public address system was installed. In 2018, work began to refurbish the footbridge. It was raised to allow the tracks underneath to be electrified, and lifts installed to allow step-free access to platform 9. The refurbished bridge was opened on 9 September 2019.

Stationmasters

*Thomas Freer Ash ca. 1851 ca. 1864 *Mr Irons 1868 - 1871 *John Samuel 1871 - 1899 (formerly station master at Carstairs) *James G. Samuel 1899 - 1907 (son of the former station master) *William Salmond 1907 - 1912 (formerly station master at Forfar, afterwards station master at Dundee) *James J. Brown 1912 - 1924 (formerly station master at Blairgowrie) *William McWhirter 1924 - 1933 (formerly station master at Paisley) *William Shaw 1934 - 1941 (formerly station master at Jedburgh) *David Valentine 1941 - 1948 (formerly station master at Stranraer) *George Milne 1948 - 1956 *Robert Duncan from 1956

Description

The station building was constructed in 1915 by James Miller, replacing the original 1848 structure designed by Andrew Heiton, and is listed by

Historic Environment Scotland Historic Environment Scotland (HES) ( gd, Àrainneachd Eachdraidheil Alba) is an executive non-departmental public body responsible for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment. HES was formed in 2015 from the mer ...

as a

Category A listed building Category, plural categories, may refer to: Philosophy and general uses *Categorization, categories in cognitive science, information science and generally *Category of being *Categories (Aristotle), ''Categories'' (Aristotle) *Category (Kant) ...

. Miller's design continues the circular spaces and flowing curves of his celebrated Wemyss Bay station. The station houses a Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT) from the

British Transport Police , nativename = , abbreviation = BTP , patch = , patchcaption = , logo = British Transport Police Logo.svg , logocaption = Logo of the British Transport Police , badge = , badgecaption = , f ...

. Currently two officers work from Stirling and cover Stirling, , , , , , and . The Stirling Area Command of the Forth Valley Division of

Police Scotland Police Scotland ( gd, Poileas Alba), officially the Police Service of Scotland (), is the national police force of Scotland. It was formed in 2013, through the merging of eight regional police forces in Scotland, as well as the specialist service ...

cover the territorial area the Stirling NPT cover and will assist when the BTP officers are not available.

Services

Stirling - Abellio 170472 Glasgow stopping service

Trains operate north to (three trains per hour), to , and (hourly), (four trains per day), south west to (three trains per hour), and east to

Edinburgh Waverley Edinburgh Waverley railway station (also known simply as Waverley; gd, Waverley Dhùn Èideann) is the principal railway station serving Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the second busiest station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central. It is the north ...

(half-hourly). The service to Alloa and Dunfermine was withdrawn in October 1968, but the reopening of the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine rail link partially restored that service with an hourly service from Glasgow to as an extension of the

Croy Line The Croy Line is a suburban railway route linking Glasgow Queen Street and Croy in Scotland. It is part of the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport network. Following completion of the project to reopen the line to Alloa to passenger s ...

services. This utilises the existing DMU from Glasgow, which previously spent considerable time in one of the bay platforms at Stirling with engines idling, but now utilises the layover time to make the return trip to & from Alloa. Most services are operated by

; with two trains per day southbound to

London Kings Cross King's Cross railway station, also known as London King's Cross, is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, on the edge of Central London. It is in the London station group, one of the List of busiest railway stations in ...

and one train per day northbound to Inverness operated by

London North Eastern Railway London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is a British train operating company. It is owned by the DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT). The company's name echoes that of the London and North Eastern Railway, one of the Big Four ...

(a second northbound service terminates at Stirling); and one train per day Sunday – Friday southbound to

London Euston Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city rail ...

and northbound to Inverness operated by

Caledonian Sleeper ''Caledonian Sleeper'' is the collective name for overnight sleeper train services between London and Scotland, in the United Kingdom. It is one of only two currently operating sleeper services on the railway in the United Kingdom, the other b ...

. The station has nine platforms, though they are ordered 2 to 10. The site of Platform 1 is now occupied by a car park; the platforms were not renumbered. The bay platforms at the north end of the station (Platforms 4 and 5) survive but are not available to passenger trains. The bay platforms at the south end of the station (Platforms 7 and 8) are not normally used for weekday services, but the first services of the day use trains that have been stabled there overnight and they have been fitted with passenger information displays. A major Scottish area timetable recast in 2018 backed by

Transport Scotland Transport Scotland ( gd, Còmhdhail Alba) is the national transport agency of Scotland. It was established by the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005, and began operating on 1 January 2006 as an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government. Organisat ...

will see improved journey times from Stirling to both Edinburgh and Glasgow and more frequent services to Gleneagles, Dundee, Perth and Inverness."‘Rail revolution’ means 200 more services and 20,000 more seats for Scots passengers"
''Transport Scotland'' press release 15 March 2016, Retrieved 18 August 2016 The lines from Glasgow to Alloa and from Polmont to Dunblane are also due to be resignalled and electrified by 2018 as part of the rolling modernisation work associated with the

Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme The Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme or EGIP was an initiative funded by Transport Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government to increase capacity on the main railway line between Edinburgh and Glasgow, with new, longer electric train ...

Summary

*3tph to

Glasgow Queen Street , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Queen Street railway station (geograph 6687389).jpg , caption = Main entrance in 2020 , borough = Glasgow , country = Scotland , coordinates = , grid_name = Grid reference , grid_positi ...

*1tph to

Alloa Alloa (Received Pronunciation ; educated Scottish pronunciation /ˈaloʊa/; gd, Alamhagh, possibly meaning "rock plain") is a town in Clackmannanshire in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It is on the north bank of the Forth at the spot where ...

*1tph to

Dunblane Dunblane (, gd, Dùn Bhlàthain) is a small town in the council area of Stirling in central Scotland, and inside the historic boundaries of the county of Perthshire. It is a commuter town, with many residents making use of good transport links ...

*2tpd to Kings Cross

References

* * *

External links

Railscot - Photographs of StirlingVideo footage of Stirling station.
{{Authority control Railway stations in Stirling (council area) Former Caledonian Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1848 Railway stations served by ScotRail Railway stations served by Caledonian Sleeper Railway stations served by London North Eastern Railway Category A listed buildings in Stirling (council area) Listed railway stations in Scotland James Miller railway stations Buildings and structures in Stirling (city)