Helensburgh Central railway station facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Helensburgh Central Scottish Gaelic: Baile Eilidh Meadhain
The station seen in 2013
Location	Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute Scotland
Coordinates	56°00′14″N 4°43′53″W / 56.0038°N 4.7315°W / 56.0038; -4.7315
Platforms	3
Other information
Station code	HLC
Fare zone	D4
History
Original company	Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway
Pre-grouping	North British Railway
Post-grouping	LNER
Key dates
28 May 1858	Opened as Helensburgh
8 June 1953	Renamed Helensburgh Central
Traffic
Passengers (2017/18)	0.774 million
Passengers (2018/19)	0.753 million
Passengers (2019/20)	0.717 million
Passengers (2020/21)	81,510
Passengers (2021/22)	0.371 million
Listed Building – Category B
Designated	21 March 2002
Reference no.	LB48538

Helensburgh Central railway station (Scottish Gaelic: Baile Eilidh Meadhain) serves the town of Helensburgh on the north shore of the Firth of Clyde, near Glasgow, Scotland. The station is a terminus on the North Clyde Line, sited 24 miles 31 chains (39.2 km) from Glasgow Queen Street (High Level), measured via Singer and Maryhill. Passenger services are operated by ScotRail on behalf of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport.

The station is Helensburgh's main railway station, the other being the much smaller Helensburgh Upper on the West Highland Line.

History

A Class 303 unit seen at the station in 1981

The station was opened in 1858 (as Helensburgh), as the terminus of the Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway and is located in the centre of the town. The GD&HR was taken over by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway company in 1862, which in turn was absorbed by the North British Railway three years later. The entire station building and platforms were rebuilt in 1897 to the design of James Carswell.

The route became part of the London and North Eastern Railway at the 1923 Grouping and then the Scottish Region of British Railways at nationalisation on 1 January 1948. It was given its current name in June 1953, with electric operation beginning in November 1960 as part of the North Clyde modernisation scheme.

Three of the four original platforms at the station remain in use, though the old engine shed and signal box have both been closed, the latter in 1989, when the entire North Clyde network came under the control of Yoker signalling centre. The line from Craigendoran Junction had previously been singled in 1984.

Facilities

Platforms 1 and 2 at the station

The station is well equipped, with a ticket office, a coffee shop, an accessible toilet, waiting rooms, bike racks, various benches, payphones, a help point and a cash machine, as well as an accessible car park. All areas of the station have step-free access, except the Princes Street East entrance to the ticket hall.

Passenger volume

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

On weekdays & Saturdays, there is a typically half-hourly service to Edinburgh Waverley, via Glasgow Queen Street low-level and Airdrie, which skips stations between Dalmuir and Hyndland. On Sundays, the service remains half-hourly, but trains serve all stations via Singer.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Craigendoran		ScotRail North Clyde Line		Terminus
Historical railways
Craigendoran Line and Station open		Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway North British Railway		Terminus