Kilwinning railway station

Kilwinning
Scottish Gaelic: Cill D’Fhinnein
Platforms 1 and 2, towards Ardrossan
Location
Place	Kilwinning
Local authority	North Ayrshire
Coordinates	55°39′22″N 4°42′35″W / 55.6561°N 4.7096°WCoordinates: 55°39′22″N 4°42′35″W / 55.6561°N 4.7096°W
Grid reference	NS295436
Operations
Station code	KWN
Managed by	Abellio ScotRail
Owned by	Network Rail
Number of platforms	4
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	0.847 million
2005/06	0.908 million
2006/07	0.921 million
2007/08	0.909 million
2008/09	0.974 million
2009/10	0.958 million
2010/11	0.982 million
2011/12	1.012 million
2012/13	1.049 million
2013/14	0.960 million
2014/15	0.989 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	SPT
History
Original company	Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway
Pre-grouping	Glasgow and South Western Railway
Post-grouping	LMS
23 March 1840[1]	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 Kilwinning from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Kilwinning railway station is a railway station serving the town of Kilwinning, North Ayrshire, Scotland. The station is managed by Abellio ScotRail and is on the Ayrshire Coast Line (27 miles [43 km] south of Glasgow Central) and the Glasgow South Western Line (69 miles [111 km] north of Stranraer). British Transport Police maintain an office here.

The station gets more trains than any other in Ayrshire.

History

The station was opened on 23 March 1840 by the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway^[1] and was built as an interchange, seeing traffic coming from Glasgow, Ayr and Ardrossan (and later Largs).

Station facilities

The station is located on Byers Road about ¹⁄₂ mile (800 m) from the town centre. There is a fully staffed ticket office, a toilet, a kiosk, a waiting room and a ticket vending machine. In 2012, a new 130-space car park opened.

Station usage

The station is popular with commuters travelling to Glasgow from Ayrshire and beyond. It is the last stop before the Ayrshire Coast line splits in two, so trains stop at this station more than any other in Ayrshire.

British Transport Police

The station houses a Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT) from the British Transport Police. Officers from Kilwinning cover all stations south of Kilwinning and north of Kilwinning until Lochwinnoch; Police Scotland officers will cover if British Transport Police officers are not available.

Bus services

Most buses do not come into the station forecourt, but there is a bus stop 100 yards (90 m) north of the station.

Services

A Glasgow to Ayr service

2016

• 6 trains per hour to Glasgow Central (2 direct, 2 semi-fast and 2 all stops).
• 4 trains per hour to Ayr.
• 5 trains per day to Edinburgh Waverley.
• 1 train per hour to Largs.
• 1 train per hour to Ardrossan Harbour.

Stopping patterns on the Glasgow service vary – 2 trains per hour call at all stations to Paisley Gilmour Street, whilst two others run non-stop and the remainder serve principal stations only.^[2]

The Sunday service is:

• 3 trains per hour to Glasgow Central
• 2 trains per hour to Ayr
• 1 train per hour to Largs
• 4 trains per day to Ardrossan Harbour

Rail and sea connections

Northern Ireland

Trains connect Ayr along the Glasgow South Western Line to Stranraer where a bus link runs: route 350 operated by Macleans Coaches (except Sundays) to Cairnryan.^[3] for onward ferries to the Port of Belfast by Stena Line and Larne Harbour by P&O Ferries.

Former connection closed in 2016: along the Ayrshire Coast Line to Troon for the P&O Ferries service to Larne Harbour.

Isle of Arran

Trains also connect along the Ayrshire Coast Line to Ardrossan Harbour for the Caledonian MacBrayne service to Brodick.

Future developments

Redevelopment of Kilwinning station is due to start soon, with the taxi rank and main car park being moved to allow buses to serve the station as part of an interchange project drawn up by North Ayrshire Council, where service 11 buses to/from Kilmarnock will call at the station.

Discussions have been on-going for some time between the Council and Network Rail over the buying of old goods sidings to the west of the station to allow for more car parking at the site. North Ayrshire are hoping to build a two-tiered structure which will hold double the amount of cars than is currently the case at the station.

References

Notes

1. Butt (1995), page 133
2. GB National Rail Timetable May-December 2016, Table 221
3. http://www.dumgal.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=13006&p=0

Sources

• 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 1-8526-0508-1. 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 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137.