The line was opened by the Inverness and Perth Junction Railway in 1863, subsequently becoming part of the Highland Railway. The current station was opened in 1898, to designs by the architect William Roberts when the "direct" line to Inverness via Slochd was built, making Aviemore an important junction and replacing the original 1863 building. William Roberts also provided an engine shed to the north of the station in 1896. It became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway after the Grouping of 1923, then passed on to the Scottish Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. The original I&PJR line to fell victim to the Beeching Axe, closing to passengers in October 1965. When Sectorisation was introduced by British Rail in the 1980s, the station was served by Scotrail until the Privatisation of British Rail. In 1998 the station was restored and refurbished, and the Strathspey Railway was finally allowed to use the island platform. The island platform's three buildings were restored and brought back into use, having been derelict for many years, and a fourth was built from scratch. The new building comprises a ticket hall, booking office and shop, and the three original buildings are waiting rooms, staff offices, and toilets. Parking, reached from the Rothiemurchus road in the south of the town, is on the station's east side, and passenger access to the Strathspey part of the station is via a foot-crossing across the junction spur. This foot crossing also provides disabled access to platform 2. This is the second biggest railway station in Highland, after Inverness. Following the moving of services, the Strathspey Railway closed their Aviemore railway station. The platform remains, as fears over asbestos contamination have stalled its removal. The original footbridge also still stands but is unsafe.
Description
Road access to the NR station building is from Grampian Road, to the west of the line. A canopied island platform, connected to the station building by a footbridge, lies beyond the two main-line tracks, and the further platform face of this island is used by Strathspey trains. The junction between the Strathspey Railway and Network Rail lies to the south of the station and is controlled from the station signal box, which also controls a large portion of the main line either side of here as well as the immediate station area. The station is from, and has a passing loop long, flanked by two platforms. Platform 1 on the down line can accommodate trains having fourteen coaches, whereas platform 2 on the up line can hold fifteen.
Services
Services are provided by Abellio ScotRail, Caledonian Sleeper, and London North Eastern Railway on the Highland Main Line and Strathspey Railway on the former Inverness and Perth Junction Railway to Boat of Garten and Broomhill. In the May 2016 timetable, there are seven trains each weekday to Edinburgh Waverley and four to southbound, plus the overnight sleeper to London Euston. Northbound there are twelve departures to Inverness. On Sundays there are five trains to Edinburgh and two to Glasgow, along with seven to Inverness. From 2018, this station will be one of those to benefit from a package of timetable enhancements introduced by Transport Scotland and Scotrail. The current Perth to Inverness timetable will increase to hourly each way, with trains south of there running on alternate hours to Edinburgh & Glasgow. Journey times will also be reduced by 10 minutes to both cities.
