Motherwell railway station

Motherwell railway station serves the town of Motherwell, in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) and is served also by Argyle Line trains of the Glasgow suburban railway network. It is the penultimate stop on the WCML northbound before Glasgow Central. The station has four through platforms and is adjacent to Motherwell Shopping Centre.

History

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, to coincide with the completion of electrification of the West Coast Main Line from Carlisle to Glasgow, which was completed in 1974.

Layout

The station 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 a ScotRail train crew 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

The station is served by five train operating companies, which provide the following services:

ScotRail provides local services; the majority of northbound services serve Glasgow Central (either terminating at the High Level station or passing through the Low Level station en route to Dalmuir or Milngavie). Southbound Argyle Line services terminate at Lanark. There are six trains per day to Edinburgh Waverley, via Carstairs, and a further early morning service to Edinburgh Waverley via Shotts. Avanti West Coast provides nine services on weekdays northbound to Glasgow Central, with seven at weekends. Southbound, there are 11 trains per day to London Euston, including three via Birmingham New Street. CrossCountry runs three trains per day to Glasgow Central and two per day to Plymouth, via Edinburgh Waverley, York, Birmingham New Street and Bristol Temple Meads. On Sundays only, two services runs eastbound to Edinburgh, with one continuing to Newcastle. TransPennine Express provides a two-hourly service in each direction between Glasgow Central and Manchester Airport. There are also two trains per day to Liverpool Lime Street. Caledonian Sleeper provides one train per day in each direction between Glasgow Central and London Euston. Glasgow Central can be reached via trains from three different platforms going in two different directions. Glasgow is geographically north-west of Motherwell, but trains can depart via the West Coast Main Line in the 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; the latter route has not been normally used for timetabled trains since the December 2014 timetable alterations. During times of disruption such as the closure of the West Coast Main Line between Uddingston and Law Junction for engineering works, Avanti West Coast and CrossCountry services can be diverted along the Hamilton Circle and Wishaw Deviation. CrossCountry services are also able to divert to Edinburgh via the Shotts line, in which case they use platforms 3 and 4. If all the routes through the station are closed, then a replacement bus service is operated from Motherwell; passengers from Glasgow are advised to travel to Edinburgh from Queen Street instead of Central station.

Future developments

Open-access operator Grand Union Trains plans to use the station on a Stirling to London Euston service to begin in 2025.