Inverness railway station serves the city of Inverness, in the Highlands of Scotland. It is the terminus of the Highland Main Line, the Aberdeen–Inverness line (of which the Inverness and Nairn Railway is now a part), the Kyle of Lochalsh line and the Far North Line.

The Aberdeen and Perth lines diverge at Millburn Junction, a short distance beyond Welsh's Bridge. Platforms 1–4 are from , via ); Millburn Junction is from Perth and via .

History

Inverness station was opened on 5 November 1855,Butt (1995) as the western terminus of the Inverness and Nairn Railway to designs by the architect, Joseph Mitchell.The Buildings of Scotland, Highland and Islands. John Gifford. Yale University Press. 1992. It originally comprised a single covered passenger platform long, with three lines of rails: one for arrivals, one for departures and a spare line for carriages.

In 1857, the railway company erected a clock in front of the station facing Academy Street. This clock by Bryson & Sons, Princes Street, Edinburgh, was illuminated at night.

In 1865 the station was enlarged. The platform was lengthened to and a shed added which was long, wide and high. There were double lines for north and south traffic.

The platforms were extended again to and the platform roofs were extended in 1876 by Murdoch Paterson. The station platforms were lit by electricity for the first time in 1908.

In 1933, as part of an internal reorganisation, the London and North Eastern Railway closed its offices at the station and the staff relocated to .

Between 1966 and 1968, under British Rail, the station buildings were replaced; the new building was designed by Thomas Munro and Company.

A revamp of the station's frontage, forecourt and concourse by Mott Macdonald was planned to be completed by 2018; however, this was delayed. The nearby Royal Highland Hotel refused to give up their lease of parking spaces in front of the station. In early 2020, a large reconstruction project was announced to significantly reduce emissions in the city centre; it included the neighbouring Sports Direct and TK Maxx stores being purchased, as well as the former Royal Mail sorting office and car park. It was also announced that it would have fuelling for hydrogen vehicles and e-bike stations.

Location The station is located between three roads in the city centre: Falcon Square, Academy Street and Strothers Lane. It lies two minutes' walk from the Eastgate Shopping Centre, and approximately eight minutes from Inverness Castle and the Museum & Art Gallery. A taxi rank is situated on the corner of Academy Street and Falcon Square.

Rose Street Curve This line is a rarely-used piece of track which avoids the station, linking the Far North and Kyle of Lochalsh lines to the Highland Main Line and the line to Aberdeen. In recent years, it has fallen into disuse but, up to 2019, it was used weekly on Saturdays by a train from to . Such trains would not easily be visible from the station.

Layout and facilities

Inverness is owned by Network Rail and operated by ScotRail, which runs most of the services using the station.

The station itself sits at one apex of a triangular junction in the centre of Inverness, with each half of the station connected to one line. The Highland Main and Aberdeen Lines both approach the station from the east and use Platforms 1–4, while the Far North Line (which also carries traffic heading for the Kyle Line) approaches from the north-west and use Platforms 5–7. Platform 5 also has a connection from the east side, but it is only usable by a two car train, and even then, it must not be in passenger service and movements from Platform 5 to the east line are not allowed. Platform 1 is long enough for a 13-coach train; platform 2 can hold 15 coaches; platforms 3 and 4, eight each; and platforms 5–7 will accommodate five coaches each.

Platform destination LED screens are installed, along with a main departures and arrivals information board. Each of platforms 1-7 has its own screen showing departures from that platform. Screens are also present behind the wall for all platforms from 3–6. In addition, several other screens are also visible for general information.

The main concourse is equipped with a ticket office and ticket machines, a barber shop, a bar, a cafe, toilets, a waiting room, a lost property office, a vending machine, a cash machine, payphones,help points and left luggage. The station has three car parks and step-free access.

Passenger volume +Passenger Volume at InvernessPeriodEntries and exitsInterchanges2004–05822,92847,6302005–06873,01146,9462006–07915,84048,3162007–08975,57038,1182008–091,043,71245,2422009–101,070,92458,7432010–111,127,71860,6932011–121,180,16074,3152012–131,213,38278,0092013–141,282,44580,3422014–151,303,66272,0552015–161,306,55664,3642016–171,259,49661,9482017–181,238,77059,8212018–191,243,33861,4332019–201,214,64859,1272020–21231,8949,4222021–22753,22833,1872022–23974,80838,9392023–241,169,55051,1332024–251,172,64054,976 The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services Inverness is served by the following Monday–Saturday off-peak service, in trains per hour/day (tph/tpd):

ScotRail 5 tpd to , via , and 5 tpd to , via Aviemore, Perth and Stirling 1-2 tph to , via Elgin 1-2 tph to , via 4 tpd to ; of which: 1 tpd extends to 1 tpd extends to 1 tpd extends to 4 tpd to , via Dingwall, and 4 tpd to , via Dingwall and .

London North Eastern Railway 1 tpd to , via , Edinburgh Waverley, and (the Highland Chieftain).

Caledonian Sleeper 1 tpd to , via and ; it does not operate on Saturday nights.

Onward connections Inverness bus station is located in Margaret Street, north-west of the station. Many services can also be joined at the stop on Millburn Road outside Marks and Spencer, closer to the station.

Aside from local buses, there are also long-distance coach services which allow rail passengers to continue their journey to areas of the Highlands that are not on the rail network: Scottish Citylink's route 961 operates two daily return services to Ullapool to connect with Caledonian MacBrayne ferry sailings to Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis. Rail passengers may also connect with this bus at on the Kyle of Lochalsh line, but the timings are not so convenient. Scottish Citylink's route 919 operates six daily return services down the Great Glen to Fort William, calling at Urquhart Castle, Fort Augustus and intermediate points. Two of these services allow onward connections with Citylink route 918 from Fort William to Oban. Stagecoach Highlands' route 11 runs every 30 minutes between the city centre and Inverness Airport. The bus leaves from Strothers Lane, just around the corner from the station; the journey time is 25 minutes.

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