Lanark railway station


Lanark railway station is in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is managed by Abellio ScotRail and is the southern terminus of the Argyle Line.
The station is located on Bannatyne Street, Lanark. The station is staffed part-time and has a car park with 31 spaces, including two disabled bays.

History

Lanark station opened in 1855, as the terminus of a short branch line off the Caledonian Railway's West Coast Main Line. The branch had a triangular junction with the main line to allow trains from Lanark to head west towards or east to. The eastern curve closed in the 1960s.There was another triangular junction closer to Lanark station itself. This is just north of the golf course and the embankments aree still clearly visible these were the two curves leading from the Lanark branch towards Muirkirk and Ayreshire and Lanark racecourse halt of course.
In 1864, a line south from Lanark to Douglas was opened, and in 1874 it was extended to in Ayrshire, where it formed an end-on junction with the Glasgow and South Western Railway. That line closed in 1964.
In 1974, the Lanark branch was included in the West Coast Main Line "Electric Scots" electrification project by British Rail.

Current services

There is a half hourly Abellio ScotRail to High Level via, and . On Sundays this service runs hourly.
Alternate services on this route formerly ran via and all trains continued via the Argyle Line to the north west suburbs of the city, but following a recast of the timetable in the wake of the electrification of the Whifflet Line, these now run to/from High Level instead and run fast beyond Cambuslang.
There are no southbound or eastbound services, as the branch only has a northbound chord connecting it to the West Coast Main Line at Lanark Junction. There have been calls for the southbound chord to be reconnected, to allow direct services from Lanark to Edinburgh, although the route has subsequently been re-used for housing.