, symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Helensburgh Central railway station - geograph.org.uk - 3609430.jpg , caption = The station seen in 2013 , borough =

Helensburgh Helensburgh (; gd, Baile Eilidh) is an affluent coastal town on the north side of the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, situated at the mouth of the Gareloch. Historically in Dunbartonshire, it became part of Argyll and Bute following local gove ...

Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute ( sco, Argyll an Buit; gd, Earra-Ghàidheal agus Bòd, ) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod (14 July 2020) ...

, 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 ...

, platforms = 3 , code = HLC , zone = D4 , transit_authority = SPT , original = Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway , pregroup =

North British Railway The North British Railway was a British railway company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1844, with the intention of linking with English railways at Berwick. The line opened in 1846, and from the outset the company followe ...

, postgroup = LNER , years = 28 May 1858 , events = Opened as ''Helensburgh'' , years1 = 8 June 1953 , events1 = Renamed ''Helensburgh Central'' , 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 = Helensburgh Central railway station ( gd, Baile Eilidh Meadhain) serves the town of

on the north shore of the

Firth of Clyde The Firth of Clyde is the mouth of the River Clyde. It is located on the west coast of Scotland and constitutes the deepest coastal waters in the British Isles (it is 164 metres deep at its deepest). The firth is sheltered from the Atlantic ...

, near

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 popu ...

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 station is a terminus on the

North Clyde Line The North Clyde Line (defined by Network Rail as the ''Glasgow North Electric Suburban'' line) is a suburban railway in West Central Scotland. The route is operated by ScotRail Trains. As a result of the incorporation of the Airdrie–Bathga ...

, sited from

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 ...

(High Level), measured via

Singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

and

Maryhill Maryhill ( gd, Cnoc Màiri) is an area of the City of Glasgow in Scotland. Maryhill is a former burgh. Maryhill stretches over along Maryhill Road. The far north west of the area is served by Maryhill railway station. History Hew Hill, ...

. Passenger services are operated by

on behalf of

Strathclyde Partnership for Transport Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) is a regional transport partnership for the Strathclyde area of western Scotland. It is responsible for planning and coordinating regional transport, especially the public transport system in the ar ...

. The station is Helensburgh's main railway station, the other being the much smaller on the

West Highland Line The West Highland Line ( gd, Rathad Iarainn nan Eilean - "Iron Road to the Isles") is a railway line linking the ports of Mallaig and Oban in the Scottish Highlands to Glasgow in Central Scotland. The line was voted the top rail journey in the ...

History

The station was opened in 1858 (as ''Helensburgh''), as the terminus of the Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway and is located in the centre of the town. The GD&HR was taken over by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway company in 1862, which in turn was absorbed by the

three years later. The entire station building and platforms were rebuilt in 1897 to the design of James Carswell. The route became part of the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...

at the

1923 Grouping The Railways Act 1921 (c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four la ...

and then the Scottish Region of

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 ...

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 p ...

on 1 January 1948. It was given its current name in June 1953, with electric operation beginning in November 1960 as part of the North Clyde modernisation scheme. Three of the four original platforms at the station remain in use, though the old engine shed and

signal box In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The '' IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing' ...

have both been closed, the latter in 1989, when the entire North Clyde network came under the control of signalling centre. The line from

Craigendoran Craigendoran (Gaelic: ) is a suburb at the eastern end of Helensburgh in Scotland, on the northern shore of the Firth of Clyde. The name is from the Gaelic for "the rock of the otter". It is served by Craigendoran railway station. Craigendoran pi ...

Junction had previously been singled in 1984.

Facilities

Helensburgh Central railway station, Argyll and Bute

The station is well equipped, with a ticket office, a coffee shop, an accessible toilet, waiting rooms, bike racks, various benches, payphones, a help point and a cash machine, as well as an accessible car park. All areas of the station have step-free access, except the Princes Street East entrance to the ticket hall.

Passenger volume

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

On weekdays & Saturdays, there is a typically half-hourly service 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 ...

, via

low-level and Airdrie, which skips stations between

Dalmuir Dalmuir (; gd, Dail Mhoire) is an area northwest of Glasgow, Scotland, on the western side of Clydebank, and part of West Dunbartonshire Council Area. The name is a lowland Scots derivation of the Gaelic meaning Big Field. The area was ori ...

and

Hyndland Hyndland is a residential area in the West End of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. Description Bordering Broomhill, Dowanhill, Kelvinside and Partickhill, it is an upper-middle-class neighbourhood populated mainly by professionals (many emplo ...

. On Sundays, the service remains half-hourly, but trains serve all stations via .eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 206

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Video footage of Helensburgh Central
{{Railway stations served by Abellio Scotrail Category B listed buildings in Argyll and Bute Listed railway stations in Scotland Railway stations in Argyll and Bute Former North British Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1858 SPT railway stations Railway stations served by ScotRail Helensburgh 1858 establishments in Scotland