Conon Bridge railway station


Conon Bridge is a railway station on the Far North and Kyle of Lochalsh Lines, which serves the villages of Conon Bridge and Maryburgh in the Scottish Highlands. Initially known as Conon, it originally closed in 1960 and reopened on 8 February 2013.

Original station (1862–1960)

Conon station was situated between Dingwall and Muir of Ord. The railway station was opened by Inverness and Ross-shire Railway on 11 June 1862 and closed on 13 June 1960. The original station had two platforms and was the junction with the partially constructed Cromarty and Dingwall Light Railway.

2013 reopening

The rebuilt station was projected to open by 2012 as Conon Bridge. In March 2012, Network Rail revealed that agreement had been reached with the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership for it to provide £100,000 towards the construction of a single four-carriage platform at the station site. The new station was forecast to handle 36,000 passengers a year, including tourists and commuters to.
In September 2012, Scottish Government Transport Minister Keith Brown announced that a new station, expected to cost £600,000, would be built in time for a February 2013 opening, in time to help relieve traffic during the delayed £18 million pound resurfacing works to be carried out on the Kessock Bridge.
Construction was begun in November 2012 by Network Rail. A single platform around 15 metres long was provided, together with a new waiting shelter, passenger information systems, cycle racks and lockers and a new car park, wider road access and enhanced street lighting. The project was supported by Highland Council, HiTRANS, Network Rail and First ScotRail. It reopened as scheduled and on budget on 8 February 2013. In the month following the station's opening, more than 2,000 journeys were made to or from it. According to Minister for Transport Keith Brown, the numbers "show that it was an extremely worthwhile investment".
The station is from, and has a single platform which is long enough for a one-coach train.

Services

From 8 February 2013

There are 13 daily southbound services and 12 daily northbound services. Journey times are around 25 minutes to Inverness and 7 minutes to Dingwall.