Strathspey railway services have operated from this station since 1998.
The station was opened by the Inverness & Perth Junction Railway (I&PJR) on 3 August 1863,[3] to designs by the architect William Roberts,[6] when the "direct" line to Inverness via Slochd was built,[7] making Aviemore an important junction.
The original I&PJR line to Forres fell victim to the Beeching cuts, closing to passengers in October 1965.[8]
In 1998 the station was restored and refurbished, and the Strathspey Railway was allowed to use the island platform.[9] Following the moving of services, the Strathspey Railway closed their Aviemore (Speyside) railway station.
Facilities
The new building on the northbound platform of the main line comprises a ticket hall, booking office and shop, and the three original buildings are waiting rooms (with historical displays), staff offices, and toilets. Parking is on the station's west side, and passenger access to the Strathspey part of the station is via a foot-crossing across the junction spur. This foot crossing also provides disabled access to platform 2.[10] As there are no ticket machines, if the ticket office is closed, passengers must buy one in advance.
Platform layout
The station has a passing loop 40 chains (800 m) long, flanked by two platforms. Platform 1 on the down (northbound) line can accommodate trains having fourteen coaches, whereas platform 2 on the up (southbound) line can hold fifteen.[11] The junction between the Strathspey Railway and Network Rail lies to the south of the station and was controlled from the station signal box, which also controlled a large portion of the main line either side of here (from Kingussie all the way to Culloden Moor since 1979) as well as the immediate station area.[12] The station was resignalled and the loop extended in 2019, which also saw the signal box closed with control transferring to Inverness.[13]
In the May 2022 timetable, there are five trains each weekday to Edinburgh Waverley (including the Highland Chieftain to London King's Cross) and seven to Glasgow Queen Street southbound, plus the overnight sleeper to London Euston (the latter does not run southbound on Saturday nights or northbound on Sundays). Northbound there are eleven departures to Inverness.
On Sundays there are five trains to Edinburgh (including the King's Cross service) and two to Glasgow, along with seven to Inverness, two of which extend to Elgin.[15]
On September 29, 2023, the Flying Scotsman train collided with a stationary train, 2 people were injured.[16]
Future proposals
In the future,[when?] this station will be one of those to benefit from a package of timetable enhancements introduced by Transport Scotland and Scotrail. The current Perth to Inverness timetable will increase to hourly each way, with trains south of there running on alternate hours to Edinburgh and Glasgow. Journey times will be reduced by 10 minutes to both cities.[17] As of May 2022, this has still not taken place.[15]
^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. 94. ISBN978-1909431-26-3.
^The Buildings of Scotland, Highland and Islands. John Gifford. Yale University Press. 1992. ISBN0-300-09625-9
Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC228266687.
Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC22311137.
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