Falkirk Grahamston railway station

Falkirk Grahamston
265px The eastbound platform at Falkirk Grahamston railway station, looking westward
Location
Place	Falkirk
Local authority	Falkirk
Coordinates
Grid reference	NS887802
Operations
Station code	FKG
Managed by	Abellio ScotRail
Number of platforms	2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	0.959 million
2005/06	0.941 million
2006/07	0.662 million
2007/08	0.553 million
2008/09	0.531 million
2009/10	0.519 million
2010/11	0.509 million
2011/12	0.502 million
2012/13	0.509 million
History
Original company	Stirlingshire Midland Junction Railway
Pre-grouping	North British Railway
Post-grouping	LNER
1 October 1850	Opened as Grahamston (Falkirk)
1 February 1903	Renamed as Falkirk Grahamston
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Falkirk Grahamston from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

The view from the footbridge at Falkirk Grahamston, looking towards the east

Falkirk Grahamston railway station is one of two railway stations serving the town of Falkirk in Scotland. It is located on the Edinburgh to Dunblane Line. Cumbernauld Line trains also terminate here. Train services are provided by Abellio ScotRail. The "Highland Chieftain", the daily Virgin Trains East Coast service from London King's Cross to Inverness and vice versa also calls here.

Falkirk is also served by the railway station at Falkirk High.

East Coast InterCity 125 departing Falkirk Grahamston with a southbound Highland Chieftain service to London King's Cross. The Highland Chieftain, a diesel InterCity 125 service between London King's Cross and Inverness, calls at Falkirk Grahamston. There is only one of these trains per day.

History

The line between Polmont and Larbert was built by the "Stirlingshire Midland Junction Railway", which was absorbed by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway prior to opening. The line opened on 1 October 1850, as did the station known as Grahamston (Falkirk). The subsequent addition of a chord line at Carmuirs to create a triangular junction there also gave access to the Scottish Central Railway and hence the E&G main line at Greenhill, creating a parallel relief route to the busy E&G line that was often used by local stopping trains between the two cities.

It also became the junction for the Grangemouth Railway, when the branch to the port of the same name on the Firth of Forth was opened in 1860/61 - this line was notable in that it was promoted and built by the Forth and Clyde Canal Company rather than any of the local railways, in order to maintain the F&CC's monopoly of the harbour there. The branch was initially worked by the E&G, but when the canal company was subsequently bought out by the Caledonian Railway, it passed into their hands; thereafter the E&G's successor the North British Railway had running powers over it. Passenger services there were withdrawn on 29 January 1968 as a result of the Beeching Axe, but the branch is still open for freight to the port and associated oil refinery & petrochemical plant.

The station was renamed Falkirk Grahamston on 1 February 1903. The original station buildings were replaced by the present ones in 1985/6.

Services

Monday to Saturday there is a half-hourly service to Edinburgh Waverley eastbound and to Dunblane via Stirling westbound; also there is one per hour to & from Glasgow Queen Street via Cumbernauld. There is also a single weekday morning peak direct service to Glasgow via Lenzie which originates at Kirkcaldy; this returns there in the evening. Glasgow services were diverted via Cumbernauld (rather than their former routing via Croy) in September 1999 in order to free up paths on the busy E&G main line.

On Sundays there is an hourly service to Edinburgh and Dunblane but no service to Glasgow. Passengers wishing to travel there have to either change at Polmont or use Falkirk High.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Haymarket		Virgin Trains East Coast East Coast Main Line		Stirling
Polmont		Abellio ScotRail Edinburgh–Dunblane Line		Camelon
Stirling		Caledonian Sleeper Highland Caledonian Sleeper (southbound only)		Edinburgh
Camelon		Abellio ScotRail Cumbernauld Line		Terminus
	Historical railways
Camelon		Stirlingshire Midland Junction Railway North British Railway		Polmont
Terminus		Grangemouth Railway Caledonian Railway		Grangemouth