Galashiels is a railway station on the Borders Railway, which runs between and . The station, situated south-east of Edinburgh Waverley, serves the town of Galashiels in Scottish Borders, Scotland. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by ScotRail.
History
The station was opened on 20 February 1849 by the Edinburgh and Hawick Railway, which later became known as the Waverley Route. The line was nicknamed after the popular Waverley Novels, written by Sir Walter Scott. Upon completion on 1 July 1862, the line ran from Carlisle to Edinburgh Waverley via Hawick, covering a distance of .
The station was the interchange point for the Selkirk and Galashiels Railway, which opened on 5 April 1856. Due to poor usage, passenger services were withdrawn without objection from 10 September 1951.John Thomas revised J S Paterson, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Volume 6, Scotland, the Lowlands and the Borders, David and Charles, Newton Abbot, 1984, The full line was closed, including to goods traffic, in 1966.Alistair Nisbet, Willie Gow and the Selkirk Branch, Backtrack Magazine, September 2010, Pendragon Publishing, Easingwold
The station, along with the line Waverley Route, was closed by British Rail on 5 January 1969.
Following the opening of the Borders Railway on 6 September 2015, the line was extended south-east from Newcraighall to Tweedbank. The current station is located slightly to the north of the original.
Facilities
The station is equipped with a ticket machine, live departure screens, a waiting shelter and cycle spaces. Galashiels transport interchange, opened in August 2015, is located opposite the station. It provides interchange between several routes operated by Borders Buses, with destinations including Edinburgh, Carlisle, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Jedburgh, Langlee and Selkirk.
Passenger volume +Passenger Volume at Galashiels2015–162016–172017–182018–192019–202020–212021–222022–23Entries and exits213,760346,264356,262360,416328,44837,486186,858268,720 The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.
Services
As of the May 2021 timetable change, the station is served by an hourly service between Edinburgh Waverley and Tweedbank, with a half-hourly service operating at peak times (Monday to Saturday). Some peak time trains continue to Glenrothes with Thornton. All services are operated by ScotRail.
As of May 2026, services no longer run beyond Edinburgh Waverley. The 2tph service in the peak now runs all day, except Sundays, where the service remains hourly. In the peak hours some services use a pair of Class 170 trains, thus being a 6-car service, although most services are a single class 170. A small number of services are ran by ScotRail's Class 158 2-car units.
References
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