Edinburgh Waverley railway station Totally Explained

Everything about Waverley Station totally explained

Edinburgh Waverley railway station, commonly referred to as just "Waverley" locally, is the main railway station in the Scottish capital Edinburgh. Covering an area of over 25 acres (101,000 m²) in the centre of the city, it's the second largest mainline railway station in the United Kingdom (in terms of area) —the largest being London Waterloo. It is the northern terminus of the East Coast Main Line, and is also the terminus of the Edinburgh branch of the West Coast Main Line. Edinburgh Waverley is the second busiest railway station in Scotland, with only Glasgow Central handling more passengers.

Location

The station is located in a steep, narrow valley between the city's mediaeval Old Town and the 19th century New Town. Princes Street, the city's premier shopping street, runs along one side of the station. The valley is bridged by the 1897 North Bridge (a three-span iron and steel bridge, which passes high above the station's eastern section) and Waverley Bridge (which, by means of ramps, affords one of the main entrances to the station). This valley was formerly filled by a freshwater loch, the Nor Loch, but this was drained in the early 19th century. James Scott drew pictures of it in his free time.

Services

Trains leave Waverley in two directions:

Eastbound: Following a series of closures culminating in that of the Waverley Route in 1969, the only services departing from the east end of Waverley were East Coast Main Line expresses (primarily to London King's Cross and Birmingham New Street), and local stopping services to North Berwick and (until 1989) Dunbar. Recently, the Edinburgh Crossrail scheme has seen a short stub of the Waverley Route reopened to Newcraighall, and the forthcoming partial reopening of the Waverley Route proper will see trains running to Tweedbank in the Scottish Borders.

Westbound: the line passes through Princes Street Gardens to Haymarket Station. From here, lines lead north over the Forth Bridge, to Fife, Dundee, Aberdeen, Perth and Inverness, west to Glasgow Queen Street station, Falkirk, Stirling and Dunblane, and south west to Glasgow Central and the West Coast Main Line via Carlisle. A short branch line runs westward from Newbridge Junction to Bathgate, which was re-opened in 1986 after being closed in 1956. This is currently the subject of an extension project to reconnect it with the Glasgow suburban network at Airdrie, opening up another route between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Layout

A total of 24 platforms have existed at Waverley, but not more than 21 at any one time. Prior to incremental rationalisation of the east-end in the 1960s-80s there were 21 platforms. The main station was effectively a large 'island' with through lines on the outside and terminating platforms (at both ends) in between. In December 2006 a partial renumbering of platforms took place to reflect the construction of 3 new platforms.
At the north side of the station are the former Up Main through platforms. These are actually a single very long platform face with the tracks having a crossover to a parallel line in the centre, and are numbered 19 (west end) and 2 (formerly 1) (east end).
The east-end terminating platforms have undergone significant rationalisation. From north to south these comprised:

former platforms 2/3, which were latterly used for parcels/mail traffic only and were removed in the 1980s when a new Royal Mail facility was built on their site;

former platforms 4/5 were also retained for parcels/mail traffic until this ceased. Platform 5 was reopened to passengers in 2006 as the new platform 3;

former platforms 6/7, of which only the latter survives (now numbered 4), and;

former platforms 8/9, which were substantially shortened for use as a Motorail terminus (the infilled area becoming a car park). Since the demise of Motorail services these platforms are used only for locomotive stabling, although the numbers 5/6 were reserved for them in the 2006 renumbering. The former Down Main through platforms 7 (east end) and 8 (west end) lie at the south side of the main station, and again comprise a single very long platform with a crossover in the centre. They are numbered 7 (formerly 10, east end) and 11 (west end).
   At the west end, there has been little change to the terminating platforms, apart from widening of platforms (achieved by removing disused centre-road tracks). The platforms comprise (south-north) numbers 12/13, 14/15, 16/17 and bay platform 18. These were not affected by the 2006 platform renumbering scheme.
   The only platforms outwith Waverley's overall roof are the former 'Suburban' platforms 8/9 (formerly 21/20), which comprise a lengthy island platform. These are located on the southern edge of the station, adjacent to the former freight depot (now a car park).
   A need to increase capacity for through and west-end traffic led to three completely new platforms being built in 2006, on land formerly occupied by disused sidings and bypass lines within the main part of the station. Platform 10 is a through platform at the west end, facing platform 11. Platforms 1 and 20 are a single long through platform facing platforms 2 and 19.

History

With the growth of the city, and the construction of the "scientifically designed" New Town to the north, the Nor Loch became a fetid open sewer, something at odds with the city's modern Scottish Enlightenment aspirations. Works were undertaken to drain the loch and properly direct the city's sewerage, and by 1820 the loch was largely dry and the land was available for development. Much was used to build Princes Street Gardens, an extensive landscaped park. With the explosion of railway travel in Britain underway, three railway companies each built stations near one another in the valley, opening over the course of the 1840s. The collective name "Waverley", after the Waverley novels by Sir Walter Scott, was used for the three from around 1854. The Scott Monument stands in Princes Street Gardens near to the entrance to Waverley Station. In 1868 the North British Railway company acquired the stations of its rivals, demolished all three, and built the present Victorian station. Waverley has been in continual use since, under the auspices of the North British, later LNER, British Rail, Railtrack and latterly Network Rail.
From its opening, Waverley has been the principal railway station in Edinburgh. Formerly the city had a second major station, Princes Street Station, but this was never as important as Waverley, and it was closed in 1965.

Current and future uses of the station

As at other large railway stations of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, the railway company constructed a grand station hotel beside their station. The North British Hotel, situated adjacent to the station on Princes Street, opened in 1902. In 1983 British Rail sold it to the Forte hotel group. In 1988 Forte closed the hotel for a year to extensively remodel and update what had become something of a faded jewel. When it reopened it was rechristened The Balmoral Hotel (in what has proved to be an astute marketing move, despite the hotel being 115 miles from Balmoral Castle). It enjoys commanding views over central Edinburgh, and is one of the most luxurious (and expensive) hotels in the UK.
   The station's large size and the unusual topography of its surroundings mean that it contains a large amount of valuable, centrally located land. The station's successive owners, British Rail, Railtrack and its current owner Network Rail have been criticised for underutilising the valuable city-centre spaces available within. Princes Mall (formerly the Waverley Shopping Centre), which occupies a column of space nestling between Waverley Station, Waverley Bridge, and Princes Street, opened in 1985.
   Plans have been drawn up for the latest, long-awaited redevelopment of the station. This will improve facilities and provide more through platforms for trains passing from the East Coast Main Line to the rest of the Scottish network.
   Four extra platforms have been added to cope with increasing demand and to provide a better location of services. First Transpennine Express services started on 11 December 2007 running services between Edinburgh Waverley and Manchester Airport railway station replacing the Virgin Cross Country services.

Gallery

Image:Edinburgh Waverley station viewed from Edinburgh Castle 2005-06-17 02.jpg|Waverley station viewed from Edinburgh Castle Image:Edinburgh Waverley Railway Station 02.JPG|First ScotRail and Virgin Trains services waiting at the western end of the station. Image:Edinburgh Waverley Railway Station 05.JPG|Westward view across the roadway between Platforms 7/11 (left) and the main concourse, with the Mezzanine Bridge visible above. Image:Wfm waverley ceiling.jpg|The elaborate ceiling of the ticket hall, extensively restored in 2003. Image:Edinburgh Waverley Railway Station 04.JPG|Class 158 DMU 158730 at Platform 1. Further Information

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