Keith railway station
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| General information | |||||
| Location | Keith,Moray Scotland | ||||
| Coordinates | 57°33′05″N2°57′15″W/ 57.5514°N 2.9542°W | ||||
| Grid reference | NJ430516 | ||||
| Managed by | ScotRail | ||||
| Platforms | 1 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | KEH[2] | ||||
| Key dates | |||||
| 10 October 1856 | Opened | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2018/19 |  81,112 | ||||
| 2019/20 | 68,102 | ||||
| 2020/21 | 10,934 | ||||
| 2021/22 |  47,084 | ||||
| 2022/23 | 55,948 | ||||
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Keith railway stationis arailway stationserving the town ofKeith, Moray,Scotland.The station is managed byScotRailand is on theAberdeen to Inverness Line,betweenHuntlyandElgin,measured 53miles8chains(85.5 km) fromAberdeen,or 30miles20chains(48.7 km) fromForres.[3]
History
[edit]
The station was originally owned by theHighland Railwayand was known as Keith Junction, the line from the west having opened by theInverness and Aberdeen Junction Railwayin 1858 and becoming part of the Highland Railway in 1865.[citation needed]It was the point where the line fromInvernessmade an end-on junction with theGreat North of Scotland RailwayfromAberdeen(which opened in 1856)[4]to enable exchange of goods and passengers. As built, it was located in the vee of the routes to Inverness and toDufftown(which diverges to the southwest here) and had four platforms - one through one for each route, plus two east facing bays for GNSR services.[5]It was taken over by theLondon, Midland and Scottish Railwayat the1923 Groupingand then became part of the Scottish Region ofBritish Railwaysuponnationalisationin 1948.
Today only a single platform remains in full-time use, though the Dufftown branch platform (numbered 1) is available if required for turning back trains from the Aberdeen direction (though no trains are scheduled to do so in the current timetable).[6]The bays have been filled in, having been abandoned and tracks lifted in the early 1970s after the closure of theMoray Coast Line(for which the station was a terminus). Asignal box(which retains the nameKeith Junction) remains at the eastern end to control apassing loopon thesingle trackmain line beyond the station, the now little-used goods yard (formerly used by trains accessing the nearbyChivas Regalwhisky plant) and the stub of the Dufftown branch.
The Dufftown and Craigellachie line was closed to passengers byBritish Railwaysin May 1968 as a result of theBeeching Axe.The line has since been preserved as theKeith and Dufftown Railway(reopening in 2000/01), but the link between it and the national network was severed byRailtrackin 1998 - two 60-foot track panels having been removed as a condition of the transfer of the branch to the K&DR.[7]The preservation society hopes to reinstate the connection and the still-extant but disused section beyond to Keith Town at some point in the future and run through trains from here to Dufftown, which would see platform 1 return to regular use. Discussions with regard to this were held between the K&DRA, the local MSPRichard LochheadandTransport Scotlandin the autumn of 2015.[8]
The old station buildings were replaced by new ones in 1988 in a rebuilding programme costing £200,000[9](equivalent to £680,000 in 2023).[10]
Facilities
[edit]The station has good facilities for its rural location, with a part-time-staffed ticket office, accessible toilet, ticket machine, two car parks, bench, bike racks and help point. The station has four methods of step-free access.[11]
Passenger volume
[edit]| 2002–03 | 2004–05 | 2005–06 | 2006–07 | 2007–08 | 2008–09 | 2009–10 | 2010–11 | 2011–12 | 2012–13 | 2013–14 | 2014–15 | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | 2017–18 | 2018–19 | 2019–20 | 2020–21 | 2021–22 | 2022–23 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entries and exits | 62,766 | 66,531 | 70,599 | 68,963 | 75,036 | 77,354 | 77,030 | 89,690 | 94,336 | 95,002 | 97,033 | 102,074 | 98,666 | 91,992 | 89,948 | 81,112 | 68,102 | 10,934 | 47,084 | 55,948 |
The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.
Services
[edit]As of May 2022, There is a basic two-hourly frequency in each directions (with peak extras), toInvernessnorthbound andAberdeensouthbound, giving a total of 11 trains each way. The first departure to Aberdeen each weekday and Saturday continues south toEdinburgh Waverley,and another continues toStonehavenin the evening. On Sundays there are five trains each way.[6]
| Preceding station |  National Rail
|
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huntly | ScotRail Aberdeen to Inverness Line |
Elgin | ||
| Historical railways | ||||
| Strathisla Mills | Great North of Scotland Railway Keith and Dufftown Railway |
Terminus | ||
Future Proposals
[edit]In addition to the potential reinstatement of the Dufftown branch,Transport Scotlandhave published proposals to improve the facilities here. This could see the existing passing loop extended through the station and a second platform built north of the current one.[13]Other upgrades planned for the station include a bus interchange, taxi drop-off point and car park extension.[14]
References
[edit]- ^Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. "Gaelic/English Station Index".Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man(6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps.ISBN978-0-9549866-9-8.
- ^Deaves, Phil."Railway Codes".railwaycodes.org.uk.Retrieved27 September2022.
- ^Bridge, Mike, ed. (2017).TRACKatlas of Mainland Britain: A Comprehensive Geographic Atlas Showing the Rail Network of Great Britain(3rd ed.). Sheffield: Platform 5 Publishing Ltd. p. 101.ISBN978 1909431 26 3.
- ^Timeline of the Great North of Scotland RailwayThe LNER Encyclopedia;Retrieved 2013-12-19
- ^GNSRA Stations GalleryGreat North of Scotland Railway Association;Retrieved 2013-12-19
- ^abeNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 214
- ^Keith & Dufftown Railway - Keith JunctionArchived20 December 2013 at theWayback MachineKeith & Dufftown Railway;Retrieved 2013-12-19
- ^"Campaign to reconnect whisky railway to main lines"Robertson, JohnThe Press and Journalnews article 9 October 2015; Retrieved 19 August 2016
- ^"Keith Railway Station Re-opened".Aberdeen Press and Journal.Scotland. 20 August 1988.Retrieved13 November2021– via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^UKRetail Price Indexinflation figures are based on data fromClark, Gregory (2017)."The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)".MeasuringWorth.Retrieved7 May2024.
- ^"National Rail Enquiries -".www.nationalrail.co.uk.Retrieved19 August2022.
- ^"Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal".dataportal.orr.gov.uk.Retrieved24 December2023.
- ^"Transport Scotland - Appendix D - Keith Station"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 19 December 2013.Retrieved19 December2013.
- ^"Keith Station in line for improvements"The Northern Scot;Retrieved 2013-12-19
External links
[edit]
- Train timesandstation informationfor Keith railway station fromNational Rail
- Railscot - Keith