Elgin railway station is a railway station serving the town of Elgin, Moray in Scotland. The station is managed and served by ScotRail and is on the Aberdeen to Inverness Line, between Keith and Forres, measured from Forres.

History

The first station in Elgin was opened by the Great North of Scotland Railway (GNSR) on 10 August 1852 by the Morayshire Railway. The second owned by the Highland Railway was opened on 25 March 1858 by the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway and later known as Elgin West.

The GNSR company prepared plans in the mid-1890s for a new station building which was intended to be a joint station with the Highland Railway. Patrick Moir Barnett, engineer-in-chief of the GNSR submitted a plan which proposed a diversion from the Highland company mainline and a new double line, with platforms on all, which would have resulted in the Highland company's existing lines becoming joint. GNSR trains from Craigellachie and Lossiemouth could run into different lines, and the Highland company's trains would stop opposite, allowing easy exchange between carriages.

The GNSR proceeded with plans of their own in 1898 on their existing site, with a new building with a front elevation of in length. Construction started in 1899 and the new station was modified during construction. It resulted in a frontage of . The new building opened on Saturday 30 August 1902. The upper part of the building provided accommodation to the manager's apartments, clerks and tea-rooms, and the western portion was the station masters's house. The ground floor comprised a large waiting-room with a circular glass roof, about in length and in width. All four platforms had an iron and glass canopy with the ironwork painted in pale blue colour. The clerk's office contained a row of telegraph instruments, and telephones communicating with the locomotive department, the signal cabins and with the Highland station. A pneumatic tube system conveying messages to and from other offices was also installed.

The present station, formerly the West (ex-Highland) station, was retained in 1968-69 was rebuilt and the platforms were raised. The new passenger facilities proved inadequate and it was rebuilt again in a modern style by British Rail in 1990 at a cost of £400,000 ().

The GNSR station (known as Elgin East) was closed with the end of services on the coast and Craigellachie lines on 6 May 1968.Butt (1995). Page 90.

Recent infrastructure improvements As well as the aforementioned timetable improvements, Transport Scotland agreed in 2014 to fund a £170 million infrastructure upgrade project for the line. This included signalling improvements, a longer loop and platform extensions for Elgin."Millions to be spent on rail line upgrade" Paterson, Laura, The Press and Journal news article 29 March 2014; Retrieved 19 August 2016 Control of the signalling at the station has since transferred to a new workstation in the Inverness signalling centre, following a 10-day line closure that saw the loop at the station lengthened and a new station and loop commissioned at Forres. The signalbox itself closed in October 2017.

Facilities The station has a ticket office, ticket machine and accessible toilets on platform 1, adjacent to which is the car park and bike racks. Both platforms are equipped with waiting shelters, benches and help points, and are linked by a footbridge and lifts.

Passenger services +Passenger Volume at Elgin2004–052005–062006–072007–082008–092009–102010–112011–122012–132013–142014–152015–162016–172017–182018–192019–202020–212021–222022–232023–242024–25Entries and exits225,516245,980240,365246,662261,296272,928297,546306,964322,324334,537342,466343,652317,456299,484306,206304,67064,492196,958228,902284,140295,372 The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services As of May 2026, the basic service at the station is (roughly) two-hourly in each direction, west to Inverness and east to , though a number of trains also start/terminate here from the Inverness direction to give an approximately hourly service westbound. The first eastbound train each weekday continues through to and Edinburgh Waverley. On Sundays, there are five trains each way.eNRT May 2026 Edition, Table 214

References

Bibliography

External links

Railscot - Elgin West Photos of the disused station & yard at Elgin East (Railscot)