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  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

Ardgay Railway Station

Ardgay railway station is a railway station serving the village of Ardgay and its neighbour Bonar Bridge in the Highland council area of Scotland. The station is on the Far North Line, 57 miles 70 chains (93.1 km) from Inverness, between Tain and Culrain. ScotRail, who manage the station, operate all services.

History

A ScotRail Class 158 standing at Ardgay with a service bound for Inverness

Opened on 1 October 1864 as Bonar Bridge by the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway and designed by Joseph Mitchell, it became the meeting point of the Sutherland Railway and the Inverness and Ross-shire Railway. It was renamed Ardgay on 2 May 1977.

Platform layout

The station has a passing loop 32 chains (640 m) long, flanked by two platforms. Platform 1 on the southbound line can accommodate trains having ten coaches, but platform 2 on the northbound line can only hold five.

Facilities

Both platforms have benches, but only platform 1 has a designated waiting area, as seen in the photo on the left. Platform 2 also has a help point, and there is a car park and bike racks adjacent to it. Platform 2 has step-free access, but platform 1 can only be accessed from the footbridge. As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.

Passenger volume

Passenger Volume at Ardgay
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 2,503 2,297 3,067 3,964 5,851 6,516 7,388 7,404 8,890 8,108 8,806 8,416 6,732 7,144 7,140 6,998 6,408 624 3,968 4,412

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

A ScotRail Class 158 arriving at Ardgay with a service bound for Wick

On Mondays to Saturdays, there are seven trains a day southbound to Inverness and five a day northbound, four of which continue on to Wick (the other terminates here). On Sundays, there is one train in each direction.

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Tain   ScotRail
Far North Line
  Culrain or Lairg
or Terminates here
  Historical railways  
Mid Fearn Halt
Line open; Station closed
  Highland Railway
Left arrow Inverness and Ross-shire Railway
Sutherland Railway Right arrow
  Culrain
Line and Station open