Aspatria railway station


Aspatria railway station serves the town of Aspatria in Cumbria, England. The railway station is on part of the scenic Cumbrian Coast Line south west of Carlisle. The station is operated by Northern who provide all passenger train services.

History

Opened by the Maryport and Carlisle Railway in 1841, the station was once the junction for the branch line to Mealsgate. Passenger trains on this route began in 1866 but ceased in September 1930 and complete closure followed in 1952.
The station became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway during the Grouping of 1923, and then passed on to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.
When Sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by Regional Railways until the Privatisation of British Railways.
The station signal box was the last surviving example built by the Maryport & Carlisle company prior to its closure and demolition in 1998.

Facilities

The station is unstaffed and has no ticket machine, so tickets must be purchased prior to travel or on the train. Shelters are located on both platforms. Timetable posters, digital information screens and a telephone are provided to give train running information, whilst there is also public wifi access on offer. The platforms are linked by footbridge and there is step-free access to each one.

Service

There is generally an hourly service northbound to and southbound to Whitehaven with most trains going onward to Barrow-in-Furness. In the current timetable, all scheduled stops are now mandatory rather than on request.
Train operator Northern introduced a regular through Sunday service to Barrow via the coast at the May 2018 timetable change - the first such service south of Whitehaven for more than 40 years. Services run approximately hourly from late morning until early evening, with later trains terminating at Whitehaven. This represents a major upgrade on the former infrequent service of four per day each way to/from Whitehaven only that previously operated.