Perth railway station is a railway station located in the city of Perth, Scotland, on the Glasgow to Dundee line, and the Highland Main Line. It is managed by ScotRail, who provide almost all of the services (along with LNER and the Caledonian Sleeper).
It is sited from Carlisle, measured via Stirling, Cumbernauld and Motherwell, and approximately from Ladybank (thus approximately from Edinburgh Waverley via Kirkcaldy and Inverkeithing).
History
Openings
The station was opened (as Perth General) by the Scottish Central Railway in 1848 to a design by William Tite. Originally the terminus of the SCR main line from Greenhill Junction near Glasgow, it soon became a junction of some importance with the arrival of the Dundee and Perth Railway from Dundee (following the completion of Tay Viaduct, a bridge across the River Tay), the Edinburgh and Northern Railway from on the Fife coast and the Scottish Midland Junction Railway from within months. Subsequent construction by the Perth and Dunkeld Railway and the Perth, Almond Valley and Methven Railway added further lines into/out of the city, with the former becoming part of what is now the Highland Main Line to . The SMJR meanwhile would become part of a through route to by 1856, thus giving Perth travellers easy access to all of the major Scottish cities.
All of these lines, apart from the E&NR would eventually be taken over by the Caledonian Railway, though the Highland Railway (which took over the P&DR) and North British Railway (which absorbed the E&NR) also had access by means of running powers from Stanley Junction and Hilton Junction respectively.
The NBR would subsequently open a more direct route to the Scottish capital than the Caledonian's route via Stirling and the central lowlands in 1890 - this left the existing Ladybank line at and headed south via Glenfarg to Mawcarse, where it joined the Fife and Kinross Railway's line to Kinross. Trains could then travel via , Dunfermline and the newly opened Forth Rail Bridge to reach Edinburgh.
Closures
The Almond Valley line to & was an early post-nationalisation casualty, closing to passengers in October 1951. The Ladybank service followed suit in September 1955. The major losses though came as the result of the Beeching Axe and its aftermath in the mid-to-late 1960s, with the main line to Aberdeen (i.e. the ex-SMJR main line to Kinnaber Junction via and Forfar) being closed to passenger traffic on 4 September 1967. Aberdeen services were thereafter routed via Dundee and the former NBR route via . The Aviemore to Forres section of the Highland Main Line had already been closed two years earlier, and several local stations in the area were also shut down around this time.
A further significant (and controversial) closure came on 5 January 1970, when the main line to Edinburgh via Glenfarg, Kinross and Cowdenbeath was abandoned in favour of the older but less direct line via Stirling. The Glenfarg route had been recommended for retention and development in the Beeching Report, but its removal allowed the planned M90 motorway to occupy its former alignment in the Glenfarg area when the motorway was built a few years later. However, the longer journey via Stirling proved unpopular with Edinburgh travellers and so in 1975, the old E&NR line to Ladybank was reopened by British Rail to provide a slightly quicker alternative. This is the route followed by most Edinburgh services today, but the daytime and overnight trains to London (see below) still run via Stirling and Falkirk as the line via Ladybank and Kirckaldy is served by the Aberdeen to London services.
Location
Perth bus station is situated approximately 100 metres northeast along Leonard Street, part of the A989, from the railway station.
Platform layout
The station has seven active platforms, but they are split into two distinct sections:
Platforms 1 and 2 sit on the eastern side (the old Dundee & Perth Railway part of the station) and are the busiest in the station as they handle the Glasgow to Dundee and Aberdeen trains. These platforms are from Dundee. The two platform lines then become single further east to cross the bridge spanning the Tay. Platform 3, which adjoins platform 2, is a through platform that sees a few terminating services from the south, although it can be accessed form the north from the Highland Main Line.