Perth railway station (Scotland)

Perth bus station is situated approximately 100 metres northeast along Leonard Street, part of the A989, from the railway station.[8]

Perth railway station in 2007.

Platforms 1 (right) and 2

The station has seven active platforms, but they are split into two distinct sections:[9]

• Platforms 1 and 2 sit on the eastern side (the old Dundee & Perth Railway part of the station) and are the busiest in the station as they handle the Glasgow to Dundee and Aberdeen trains. These platforms are 20 miles 64 chains (33.5 km) from Dundee. The two platform lines then become single further east to cross the bridge spanning the Tay. Platform 3, which adjoins platform 2, is a through platform that sees a few terminating services from the south, although it can be accessed form the north from the Highland Main Line.

• The remainder of the platforms (4–7) sit under the main train shed, the former HR/SMJR platforms once used by the Coupar Angus main line as well as services to the Highlands. These platforms are an island in the shape of the letter H, with two long platforms along each side - the present platforms 4 and 7. Platforms 5 and 6 are the bays at the southern end of the island. Originally, there were also two bay platforms at the northern end which are no longer used, but part of the track is now a siding for fuelling trains. These disused bay platforms are the zero point for the Highland Main Line,[10] although mileposts do not change until Stanley Junction (158 mi 38 chains, 255.0 km from Carlisle and 7 mi 2 chains, 11.3 km from Perth).[11] Platforms 4–7 now are used only by around a dozen trains per day each way on the Highland Main Line, and some terminating services.

There was once an extensive goods yard at Perth, along with an engine shed and carriage sidings but only a small engineers depot remains in the greatly downsized yard.

Passenger services are operated by ScotRail, Caledonian Sleeper, and London North Eastern Railway.

There are two main routes passing through the station - the Glasgow to Dundee & Aberdeen Line, and the Highland Main Line, whilst there is now also a regular service to/from Edinburgh via the Fife Coast. Services on weekdays are as follows:[12]

• 40 trains per day to Glasgow Queen Street
• 35 trains per day to Dundee, with 15 extending to Aberdeen, three to Arbroath, one to Inverurie and one to Inverness
• 26 trains per day to Edinburgh, including the LNER Highland Chieftain, and the Caledonian Sleeper[nb 1]
• 11 trains per day to Inverness, including the LNER Highland Chieftain, and the Caledonian Sleeper[nb 2]

On Sundays, services are reduced to:

• 13 trains per day to Glasgow Queen Street
• 10 trains per day to Aberdeen
• 8 trains per day to Edinburgh including the LNER Highland Chieftain, and the Caledonian Sleeper[nb 3]
• 7 trains per day to Inverness, including the LNER Highland Chieftain, two of which extend to Elgin
• 1 train per day to Dundee

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Gleneagles		London North Eastern Railway East Coast Main Line		Pitlochry or Dunkeld & Birnam
Ladybank or Markinch or Gleneagles or Dunblane or Terminus		ScotRail Highland Line		Dunkeld & Birnam or Pitlochry
Gleneagles or Dunblane or Stirling		ScotRail GlasgowｰDundee Line		Invergowrie or Dundee
Gleneagles		Caledonian Sleeper Highland Caledonian Sleeper		Dunkeld & Birnam
	Historical railways
Terminus		Highland Railway Perth and Dunkeld Railway		Muirton Line open; Station closed
		Scottish Midland Junction Railway Caledonian Railway
Terminus		Dundee and Perth Railway Caledonian Railway		Princes Street Line open; Station closed
Forgandenny Line open; Station closed		Scottish Central Railway Caledonian Railway		Terminus
Bridge of Earn Line open; Station closed		Edinburgh and Northern Railway North British Railway		Terminus
	Disused railways
Terminus		Perth, Almond Valley and Methven Railway Caledonian Railway		Ruthven Road Line partially open; Station closed

The movie The Railway Man was filmed at Perth station. Platform 3 was used to pose as Crewe and Platform 5 used to pose as Edinburgh, both set during the 1960s.

Perth station was nominated the Carbuncle Award in 2015, which recognizes the worst planning decision. The award was due to the fact a new footbridge had to be built at the southern end of the station which has stair and lift access to all platforms to comply with disability laws. Local newspaper The Courier reported on the news and interviewed Paul Tetlaw from the campaign Transform Scotland. He said:

"It's an off-the-shelf structure that has desecrated the station environment, imposed from London by 'standards bound' Network Rail designers and has no fit with the largely Victorian surroundings. To add insult to injury, it's virtually unused, as the alternatives within the station building are vastly more convenient for the overwhelming majority of passengers. This tacky and inappropriate new structure is thought to have cost in excess of £1m — money which would have been better spent on opening a new station in nearby Newburgh, which has none, with cash left over for a feasibility study of recreating a direct Perth-Edinburgh link, as advocated by our inter-city express campaign."

In March 2016, Transport Scotland announced a package of timetable improvements for the Scottish rail network that would see additional trains operated from Perth to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee & Inverness from 2018. There would be a two-hourly service between both Edinburgh & Glasgow and Inverness over the Highland Main Line (combining to give an hourly frequency north of Perth) and additional regional services from Arbroath & Dundee to Glasgow serving Gleneagles, Dunblane & Stirling on top of the current Aberdeen to Glasgow route (which will be accelerated by cutting some of the existing intermediate stops).[13] As of May 2022, these improvements have still not taken place.[14]

• List of listed buildings in Perth, Scotland

• Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0049-7. OCLC 19514063. CN 8983.
• Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. ISBN 978-0-9549866-9-8.
• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Perth railway station, Scotland.

• Winchester, Clarence, ed. (2 August 1935), "Perth General Station", Railway Wonders of the World, pp. 839–844, description of the station in the 1930s