Laurencekirk railway station

The station was opened on 1 November 1849[4] by the Aberdeen Railway, which ran from Aberdeen in the north to Guthrie (just outside Arbroath) to the south. The line joined the North British, Arbroath and Montrose Railway north of Montrose at Kinnaber Junction and Arbroath and Forfar Railway at the triangular junctions at Friockheim and Guthrie.[5][6][7] The station was closed in September 1967[4] by British Railways.

Laurencekirk station in 2008 before re-opening

The residents of Laurencekirk, many of whom now commute to Aberdeen and Dyce had successfully campaigned for the station to be reopened – the official announcement being made during December 2006 that the station would open in December 2007, to be funded by Transport Scotland and the Regional Transport Partnership Nestrans.[8] The announcement of December 2007 for the re-commencement of services to and from Laurencekirk was ultimately overly ambitious and it was announced in early 2008 that the station would be finished and ready for the December 2008 timetable change.[9] However, in a New Release from Transport Scotland, the opening date was given at Spring 2009.[10] The station was reopened by the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure & Climate Change, Stewart Stevenson on 18 May 2009.

The station building, which had fallen into poor overall condition was refurbished during Spring 2008, and a new car park with 70 parking spaces was built by Aberdeenshire Council and Nestrans, across the railway line from the station building, together with a small number of disabled parking spaces next to the station building.[9] First ScotRail made provisional plans for 19 trains to serve the station each day, made up of 10 northbound services and 9 southbound services, with southbound services serving both Edinburgh and Glasgow.[9] ScotRail will also be responsible for gritting and snowclearing at the station. On the first anniversary of the reopening of the station, it was revealed that almost double the expected number of passengers had used it – 64,000 people as opposed to a projection of 36,000.[11] By 2014/15, passenger numbers exceeded 112,000.

Since the December 2018 timetable change, Laurencekirk has been served by an hourly stopping service which runs between Montrose and Inverurie.[12] In the morning, Laurencekirk is served by a Dundee to Inverness service and an Edinburgh to Inverurie service. In the late evening, an Aberdeen to Perth service calls.

On Saturdays, there is an hourly stopping service south to Montrose and north to Aberdeen (with some services extended to Inverurie), with longer gaps in the evening. There is one evening service to Glasgow Queen Street and another evening service to Dundee.

A limited service operates on Sundays, northbound to Aberdeen and southbound to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Perth.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Montrose		Abellio ScotRail Edinburgh to Aberdeen Line		Stonehaven
	Historical railways
Marykirk Line open; station closed		Caledonian Railway Aberdeen Railway		Fordoun Line open; station closed