Hamilton Central railway station

Hamilton Central
Scottish Gaelic: Hamaltan Mheadhain
Location
Place	Hamilton
Local authority	South Lanarkshire
Coordinates	55°46′24″N 4°02′20″W / 55.7732°N 4.0388°W / 55.7732; -4.0388Coordinates: 55°46′24″N 4°02′20″W / 55.7732°N 4.0388°W / 55.7732; -4.0388
Grid reference	NS722552
Operations
Station code	HNC
Managed by	Abellio ScotRail
Number of platforms	2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2007/08	0.746 million
2008/09	0.815 million
2009/10	0.804 million
2010/11	0.846 million
2011/12	0.873 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	SPT
History
1876	Opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Hamilton Central from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Hamilton Central railway station serves Hamilton, South Lanarkshire in Scotland, lying on the Argyle Line. It is situated in the town centre, adjacent to the Hamilton bus station, as well as the Regent Shopping Centre, Hamilton's main shopping location. In March 2007, SPT announced a redevelopment of the bus and railway stations into a combined interchange, which is scheduled for completion in winter 2012.

History

The station (which opened in 1876^[1]) used to have four lines running through between two platforms. The western platform (Glasgow bound) is the original one. The other platform with ticket office is a replacement. It was built approximately where the southbound through line ran and then replaced the original. There was a turntable just to the south of the station on the east (Motherwell bound track). The semi-circular retaining wall can still be seen. There was a signal box opposite at John Street level accessed from John Street. The goods yard was to the north of the station, encompassing the whole of the current bus station and car park.

The platforms were connected by a covered overbridge. There were stairs on the north and ramps to the south. The "shadow" of the ramps can be seen on the Glasgow bound platform wall.

There was an overall roof. Wooden cladding extended from the supporting walls to the edge of the platforms with only the girders passing across. There was a pair of lifts adjacent to the metal overbridge at the south end of the platforms. The overbridge still matches the original four lines. The line through the station was electrified in 1974, as part of the wider project to wire the northern end of the West Coast Main Line.

Services

2006/07

Since the re-opening of the Larkhall branch in December 2005, Hamilton Central has been served by four trains per hour towards Glasgow Central (north west). Two of these services run from Larkhall to Dalmuir with a limited stopping pattern until Glasgow, with the other two from the Motherwell direction. In the south east (other) direction, there are two trains per hour to Motherwell/Lanark and two trains per hour to Larkhall.

2016

Following a major recast of the Argyle Line timetable in the wake of the electrification of the Whifflet Line, the service pattern from this station has altered significantly. There are still two trains per hour each to Motherwell and Larkhall, but one of the former now runs to Cumbernauld via Whifflet rather than Lanark. Glasgow-bound services meanwhile now call at all stations to Central Low Level and then proceed to Dalmuir via Clydebank or to Milngavie.^[2] On Sundays, there is a train every half-hour each way to Motherwell and Milngavie and an hourly service each way on the Larkhall to Balloch route.

References

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Airbles		Abellio ScotRail Argyle Line Hamilton Circle		Hamilton West
Chatelherault		Abellio ScotRail Argyle Line Larkhall Branch

External links

• Train times and station information for Hamilton Central railway station from National Rail
• SPT news item on redevelopment

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hamilton Central railway station.