The first station in Motherwell was opened by the Wishaw and Coltness Railway on 8 May 1843 and was located at Orbiston. As Orbiston station was quite some distance from the rapidly expanding Motherwell town centre, the decision was taken by the Caledonian Railway to build a station at 'Lesmahagow Junction', the point where the Motherwell Deviation branch of the Caledonian Railway Main Line met the lines to Mossend, Hamilton and Lesmahagow. That Motherwell station was opened on 31 July 1885 on a site conveniently in the heart of the town which replaced the original station. The current station was built by British Rail during the 1970s on the same site of that more convenient one to coincide with the electrification of the West Coast Main Line. It has four through platforms, crossed by two overbridges with the main buildings being above the level of the line between Platforms 2 and 3. At platform level between Platforms 2 and 3 there is also an Abellio ScotRail traincrew depot, staff car park and an office of the British Transport Police. These are accessible via a gated rampway leading to street level. Beyond Platform 4 are some electrified sidings used for the stabling of trains overnight. Diagrams are nominally worked so that these units will only stay at Motherwell for one night before returning to their allocated depot.
Services
Local services departing to and from the station are provided by Abellio ScotRail and the majority of northbound services serve Glasgow Central, whilst southbound Argyle Line services terminate at or.
Services provided by other operators or limited services
Some services are provided by other operators. As of 2016 these are follows,
TransPennine Express
Provide a 2 hourly service to both Glasgow Central and Manchester Airport, In addition on weekends there is a limited service to Liverpool Lime Street these operate as follows: On Saturdays, There is 1 train per day, On Sundays 2 trains call, All other trains to/from Liverpool and trains on weekdays don't call here.
Provide limited services in addition to their normal services: There is 1 train per day to Edinburgh Waverley via Shotts, this returns in the evening. There are 2 trains per day to North Berwick, There is a 2 hourly service to Edinburgh Waverley via Carstairs - several of these run to/from A few peak time services operate to/from Carstairs Motherwell is unusual in that Glasgow Central can be reached via trains from three different platforms going in two different directions. Glasgow is generally north-west of Motherwell, but trains can depart via the West Coast Main Line and Motherwell Deviation going North, or by the Hamilton Circle going South. The same can also be said for services to Lanark, which is south-east of Motherwell. Trains can depart towards Lanark going south via Shieldmuir, or initially north via Holytown. During times of disruption such as the closure of the West Coast Main Line between and Law Junction for engineering works, Virgin Trains services and those of CrossCountry can be diverted along the Hamilton Circle and Wishaw Deviation and will use Platforms 3 and 4. Trains provided by London North Eastern Railway will generally be suspended in this event as their drivers do not have the required route knowledge. In general, a replacement bus service will operate from Motherwell, and passengers from Glasgow are advised to travel to Edinburgh via Glasgow Queen Street.
Platforms
Platform 1 is used for all southbound InterCity services as well as local services to Carstairs and Edinburgh. Services to Lanark use this platform every half hour. Lanark departures from this platform travel via Shieldmuir.
Platform 2 is used for all northbound InterCity services to Glasgow Central as well as local northbound services to Glasgow Central from Edinburgh and Carstairs. Services from Lanark to Glasgow Central via also use this platform.
Platform 3 is used by services to Glasgow Central via Hamilton. Services on the Hamilton Circle line to Glasgow which have arrived via Whifflet also use this platform. One train a day from Edinburgh via Shotts terminates here. In addition on Sundays,trains from Motherwell to Glasgow Central via Bellshill use this platform.
Platform 4 is used by all services on the Hamilton Circle to Glasgow which have arrived via Hamilton, as well as those terminating here to return via Hamilton. Also trains to Cumbernauld use this platform hourly.
