Blackridge railway station

Blackridge National Rail
Scottish Gaelic: An Druim Dubh[1]
Blackridge station, looking west towards Caldercruix
Location
Place Blackridge
Local authority West Lothian
Coordinates 55°53′04″N 3°45′01″W / 55.8844°N 3.7502°W / 55.8844; -3.7502Coordinates: 55°53′04″N 3°45′01″W / 55.8844°N 3.7502°W / 55.8844; -3.7502
Grid reference NS895667
Operations
Station code BKR
Managed by Abellio ScotRail
Number of platforms 2
DfT category F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2012/13 Decrease 42,646
2013/14 Increase 47,330
2014/15 Increase 51,470
2015/16 Increase 53,194
2016/17 Increase 56,894
History
Original company Bathgate and Coatbridge Railway
Pre-grouping North British Railway
Post-grouping LNER
11 August 1862 Opened as Westcraigs[2]
9 January 1956 Closed[2]
12 December 2010 Reopened[3]
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Blackridge from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Blackridge railway station is a railway station on the North Clyde Line. It is serves the village of Blackridge, West Lothian, Scotland.

History

The original station in this locale was called Westcraigs built by the Bathgate and Coatbridge Railway. It was also the site of a junction with the Wilsontown, Morningside and Coltness Railway. Opened on 11 August 1862,[2] in some timetables the station was called Westcraigs for Harthill.[2]

As part of the Beeching cuts, the station closed on 9 January 1956.

Reopening

Blackridge was originally excluded from the Airdrie–Bathgate rail link project, but after a three-year campaign by the local community, funding has been approved by the Scottish Government at a cost of £5 million. Private housing developer Manorlane agreed to fund 40% of the costs. However, it closed and the funding promise expired. West Lothian Council agreed to take on the burden and expects to recoup the cost from additional expansion in the area.[4] The station opened on 12 December 2010 on a new site, some 600 metres closer to Edinburgh than the previous Westcraigs station.[3]

Services

The station has a basic half-hourly off-peak service Mondays to Sundays, westbound to Airdrie, Queen St Low Level and Milngavie and eastbound to Bathgate and Edinburgh Waverley. In the evenings and on Sundays the westbound terminus is Helensburgh Central rather than Milngavie.[5]

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Armadale   Abellio ScotRail
North Clyde Line
   Caldercruix
  Historical railways  
Armadale
Line and station open		   Bathgate and Coatbridge Railway
North British Railway
   Forrestfield
Line open; station closed

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Butt (1995), page 245
  3. 1 2 "New £300m Airdrie-Bathgate rail link re-opens". BBC News. 12 December 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  4. ↑ "Blackridge station go-ahead". Modern Railways. Ian Allan Publishings. 65 (723). December 2008.
  5. ↑ Table 226 National Rail timetable, May 2016

Sources

  • Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. ISBN 978-0-9549866-9-8.
  • Butt, R. V. J. (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.
  • 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.
  • RAILSCOT on Bathgate and Coatbridge Railway
  • West Craigs station on navigable OS map

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