Barassie railway station


Barassie railway station is a railway station serving Barassie, South Ayrshire, Scotland. The station is managed by Abellio ScotRail and is on the Ayrshire Coast Line.

History

The station was originally opened on 5 August 1839 by the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway. At one point a halt existed nearby serving Barassie Workshops, however it was closed by July 1926.
Barassie station originally had four platforms, two of which were on the former Kilmarnock and Troon Railway line from. These platforms went out of use after the local passenger service over the branch was withdrawn by British Rail on 3 March 1969. They are now derelict & fenced off, but the two platforms on the Ayr line are still operational today. Barassie was a staffed station until the line was electrified in 1986, but the main buildings have since been demolished and there are now only waiting shelters in use on each platform.
South of the station, there are a number of active engineers sidings that occupy the alignment of the original 1839 GPK&AR route southwards. As first built, this bypassed Troon to the east by around half a mile, leaving travellers with an inconvenient journey by coach or on foot from the town centre to the initial passenger station. It wasn't until 1892 that this problem was finally remedied by the Glasgow and South Western Railway, who opened a new deviation line and passenger station that was much better sited for the town. This line is now the only one in use, as its predecessor closed to through traffic in November 1982 and was subsequently lifted at its southern end during the re-signalling & electrification work. The former K&TR line to has also disappeared, closing to all traffic in 1973.
Passenger services over the Kilmarnock branch were subsequently reinstated in May 1975, when the twice-daily - London Euston boat trains were diverted over the route. However the branch platforms were not reopened as the services concerned ran non-stop between Kilmarnock & Ayr. As a consequence of this, the current Kilmarnock - Ayr - DMU service cannot call here. The branch has also been singled, with control shared between the West of Scotland Signalling Centre in Glasgow and Kilmarnock PSB.

Services

December 2013

Mondays-Fridays : three trains per hour each way, to Glasgow and Ayr. On Saturdays only this rises to three per hour each way.
Evenings and Sundays see an hourly service in each direction.

May 2016

There are now three departures per hour to Glasgow Central & Ayr on weekdays as well as Saturdays. Two of the three Glasgow-bound trains are fast/limited stop from. The evening & Sunday service remains unchanged.