Fort William railway station

Fort William
Scottish Gaelic: An Gearasdan
265px
Location
Place	Fort William
Local authority	Highland
Coordinates
Grid reference	NN105741
Operations
Station code	FTW
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	0.114 million
2005/06	0.115 million
2006/07	0.116 million
2007/08	0.120 million
2008/09	0.122 million
2009/10	0.134 million
2010/11	0.135 million
2011/12	0.139 million
2012/13	0.136 million
2013/14	0.146 million
History
Original company	British Rail
13 June 1975	Station opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Fort William from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Fort William railway station is a railway station serving the town of Fort William in the Highland region of Scotland.

History

File:Fort William station and the loch wall - 1973 - geograph.org.uk - 477575.jpg

The original station alongside the loch

The present Fort William station opened by British Rail on 13 June 1975. It replaced the original terminus which was further west and alongside Loch Linnhe at Station Square, at the time in close proximity to then location of Macbrayne's former bus station. The old station was a stone built construction featuring a turret and a double arched entranceway. The station had three platforms, and was demolished in 1975 to make way for the Fort William bypass.

The current station lies in the shadow of Ben Nevis. The present station buildings are a 1970s grey concrete construction.

The station is on the West Highland Line and the starting point for The Jacobite, the only scheduled steam hauled train to run on the mainline in Great Britain.

Refurbishment of the facilities at Fort William railway station has recently been completed thanks to a £750,000 investment. The refurbishment includes new shower facilities and refurbished toilets. The shower facilities include two showers for ladies, two for gentlemen and one unisex shower facility for disabled people. Use of these shower facilities is free of charge for first class Caledonian Sleeper ticket holders and costs £3.50 for standard passengers and station users.

Services

File:Sleeper going nowhere - geograph.org.uk - 477900.jpg

The Caledonian Sleeper (left) and a daytime Glasgow to Mallaig service

As of the summer 2015 timetable, Fort William has three daytime trains per day in each direction on Mondays to Saturdays, running between Glasgow Queen Street and Mallaig. There is also a daily early morning service to Mallaig that starts at Fort William, with a similar return service in the evening. Additionally, the Caledonian Sleeper operates six nights per week (not Saturdays) from London Euston, terminating at Fort William. The regular Sunday service consists of one train per day each way between Glasgow and Mallaig, with the schedule in the peak season supplemented by an additional round trip and one service between Fort William and Mallaig.

The Jacobite operates between Fort William and Mallaig, only stopping at Glenfinnan. This runs through the summer until late October, with a maximum of two trains per day Monday to Saturday and one on Sunday in the high season. A reduced Jacobite timetable is operated later in the summer.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Spean Bridge		Abellio ScotRail West Highland Line		Terminus
Banavie
Spean Bridge		Caledonian Sleeper Highland Caledonian Sleeper		Terminus
Glenfinnan		West Coast Railway Company The Jacobite May–October		Terminus
	Historical railways
Spean Bridge Line and station open		North British Railway West Highland Railway		Terminus
Banavie Pier Line mostly open; station closed		North British Railway West Highland Railway
Banavie Line and station open		North British Railway Mallaig Extension Railway of West Highland Railway		Terminus

Signalling

Since its opening in 1975, the present Fort William station has been equipped with colour light signals. The signalling is controlled from an 'NX' (entrance-exit) panel in Mallaig Junction signal box (now named 'Fort William Junction'). The single line between the junction and the station is worked by the Track Circuit Block system, so no tokens are needed for that part of the route.

See also

• West Highland Railway

References

Sources

• RAILSCOT on West Highland Railway
• RAILSCOT on Mallaig Extension Railway
• Photographs of a steam train at the station

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons