Conon Bridge railway station

Conon Bridge
Scottish Gaelic: Drochaid Sguideil
265px Conon Bridge station, 2013
Location
Place	Conon Bridge
Local authority	Highland
Coordinates
Grid reference	NH540550
Operations
Station code	CBD
Managed by	Abellio ScotRail
Number of platforms	1
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2012/13	3,788 (52 days)
2013/14	18,114
2014/15	15,510
History
Original company	Inverness and Ross-shire Railway
Pre-grouping	Highland Railway
Post-grouping	London Midland and Scottish Railway
11 June 1862	Opened as Conon
13 June 1960	Closed
8 February 2013	Reopened as Conon Bridge
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Conon Bridge from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Conon Bridge is a railway station on the Far North and Kyle of Lochalsh Lines, which serves the villages of Conon Bridge and Maryburgh in the Scottish Highlands. Initially known as Conon, it originally closed in 1960 and reopened on 8 February 2013.

Original station (1862–1960)

File:Site of Conon Bridge station - geograph.org.uk - 1925319.jpg

Site of Conon station, 2010

Conon station was situated between Dingwall and Muir of Ord. The railway station was opened by Inverness and Ross-shire Railway on 11 June 1862 and closed on 13 June 1960. The original station had two platforms and was the junction with the partially constructed Cromarty and Dingwall Light Railway.

2013 reopening

The rebuilt station was projected to open by 2012 as Conon Bridge. In March 2012, Network Rail revealed that agreement had been reached with the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership for it to provide £100,000 towards the construction of a single four-carriage platform at the station site. The new station was forecast to handle 36,000 passengers a year, including tourists and commuters to Inverness.

In September 2012, Scottish Government Transport Minister Keith Brown announced that a new station, expected to cost £600,000, would be built in time for a February 2013 opening, in time to help relieve traffic during the delayed £18 million pound resurfacing works to be carried out on the Kessock Bridge.

Construction was begun in November 2012 by Network Rail. A single platform around 15 metres long (similar to that at nearby Beauly railway station) was provided, together with a new waiting shelter, passenger information systems, cycle racks and lockers and a new car park, wider road access and enhanced street lighting. The project was supported by Highland Council, HiTRANS, Network Rail and First ScotRail. It reopened as scheduled and on budget on 8 February 2013. In the month following the station's opening, more than 2,000 journeys were made to or from it. According to Minister for Transport Keith Brown, the numbers "show that it was an extremely worthwhile investment".

Services

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Muir of Ord		Abellio ScotRail Far North Line Kyle of Lochalsh Line		Dingwall
	Historical railways
Muir of Ord		Highland Railway Inverness and Ross-shire Railway		Dingwall
Alcaig		Highland Railway Cromarty and Dingwall Light Railway		Terminus

From 8 February 2013

There are 13 daily southbound services and 12 daily northbound services. Journey times are around 25 minutes to Inverness and 7 minutes to Dingwall.

External links

• Photo of the station under construction in January 2013