Montrose railway station

For other uses, see Montrose station (disambiguation).

Montrose Scottish Gaelic: Mon Rois[1]
Montrose railway station in 2008
General information
Location	Montrose, Angus Scotland
Coordinates	56.7129°N 2.4722°W / 56.7129; -2.4722
Grid reference	NO711579
Managed by	ScotRail
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	MTS[2]
Key dates
1 May 1883	Opened
Passengers
2019/20	0.334 million
2020/21	35,086
2021/22	0.188 million
2022/23	0.244 million
2023/24	0.311 million
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Montrose railway station serves the town of Montrose in Angus, Scotland. The station overlooks the Montrose Basin and is situated on the Dundee–Aberdeen line, 90 miles (144 km) north of Edinburgh Waverley, between Arbroath and Laurencekirk. There is a crossover at the north end of the station, which can be used to facilitate trains turning back if the line south to Arbroath is blocked.^[3]

History

A train calling at the southbound platform

The town of Montrose had initially been served by a short branch line from the Aberdeen Railway at Dubton Junction, which ran to a modest terminus close to the centre of the town and opened in 1848.

The current station was opened on 1 May 1883^[4] by the North British Railway on their North British, Arbroath and Montrose Railway route linking Arbroath with the Scottish North Eastern Railway main line through Strathmore at Kinnaber Junction. This was essentially a continuation of the NBR main line from Edinburgh via the Tay Rail Bridge and allowed the company to accelerate its services between the Scottish capital and Aberdeen by an hour.

The station has been through several renamings in the past: it was renamed to Montrose Central in the early days of British Rail, before being renamed to Montrose East in 1952, and finally reverting to just Montrose again in 1961.^[5]

The station was host to a LMS caravan in 1936 followed by three caravans from 1937 to 1939.^[6]

The section of line across the viaduct and on to Usan is the only single track section on the entire line between Edinburgh & Aberdeen - though the rest of the route was doubled by the NBR in the years after opening, the cost of widening or rebuilding the viaduct to accommodate double track was deemed prohibitive and so it remained single. Until recently, the section was worked by signal boxes at each end (Usan and Montrose South) using tokenless block regulations, but a 2010 resignalling scheme saw both boxes closed and control transferred to the former Montrose North box - this now supervises the entire area including the single line over the viaduct. The work also made the southbound platform at the station bi-directional.^[7]

In 2024, disused land that previously housed railway sidings was listed for sale.^[8]

Facilities

The station is equipped with a ticket office, toilets, a car park, bike racks and a payphone adjacent to platform 1. Both platforms have benches and help points, whilst platform 2 has a shelter, and are linked by a step-free access footbridge.^[9]

Passenger volume

Passenger Volume at Montrose^[10]

	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	274,458	319,072	345,974	348,029	369,377	365,922	355,978	378,284	386,600	390,140	396,209	404,136	388,864	354,190	350,126	337,860	333,808	35,086	188,344	243,796

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

The station is served by four train operating companies:

• ScotRail trains stop here regularly on both the Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh Waverley to Aberdeen routes throughout the week. Certain Aberdeen trains are extended to either Dyce (for Aberdeen Airport) or Inverness. Hourly trains run from Montrose to Inverurie, as part of an Aberdeen Crossrail plan to see hourly trains through the city.^[11]
• London North Eastern Railway operate three trains to London King's Cross, as well as one train per day to Leeds.
• CrossCountry operate two southbound trains: one to Plymouth and one to Edinburgh; however, Aberdeen-bound trains do not stop here.
• Scottish Rail Holdings operate the daily overnight Caledonian Sleeper service to/from London Euston, although they do not stop here on Saturday nights/Sunday mornings.^[12]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Arbroath		CrossCountry Cross Country Route Southbound only		Stonehaven
Arbroath		ScotRail Dundee–Aberdeen line		Laurencekirk
Terminus		ScotRail Aberdeen Crossrail		Laurencekirk To Inverurie
Arbroath		Caledonian Sleeper Highland Caledonian Sleeper		Stonehaven
Arbroath		London North Eastern Railway East Coast Main Line		Stonehaven
	Historical railways
Lunan Bay Line open; Station closed		North British, Arbroath and Montrose Railway		Hillside Line open; Station closed
Terminus		Montrose and Bervie Railway		Broomfield Line closed; Station closed

References

1. Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. "Gaelic/English Station Index". Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. ISBN 978-0-9549866-9-8.
2. Deaves, Phil. "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
3. 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. 95. ISBN 978-1909431-26-3.
4. "Opening of the Montrose and Arbroath Railway". Dundee Courier. Scotland. 2 May 1883. Retrieved 13 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
5. Quick 2022, p. p=322.
6. McRae, Andrew (1997). British Railway Camping Coach Holidays: The 1930s & British Railways (London Midland Region). Vol. Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part One). Foxline. p. 22. ISBN 1-870119-48-7.
7. Signal Boxes to closeMontrose Review news article 28-01-2010; Retrieved 2014-02-03
8. Brown, Graham (16 November 2024). "Montrose railway sidings come to market in six-acre development land opportunity". The Courier. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
9. "National Rail Enquiries -". www.nationalrail.co.uk. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
10. "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
11. "Aberdeen Cross Rail | NESTRANS". 11 December 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
12. Table 229 National Rail timetable, May 2017

Bibliography

• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
• 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. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
• Quick, Michael (2022). Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain: A Chronology (PDF) (5th ed.). London: Railway and Canal Historical Society.

External links

• Train times and station information for Montrose railway station from National Rail