Hamilton West railway station

Hamilton West railway station serves the Hamilton West area of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, in Scotland, lying on the Argyle Line.

Hamilton West

Scottish Gaelic: Hamaltan an Iar[1]
National Rail
General information
LocationHamilton, South Lanarkshire
Scotland
Coordinates55°46′46″N 4°03′20″W / 55.7794°N 4.0555°W / 55.7794; -4.0555
Grid referenceNS712558
Managed byScotRail
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeHNW
History
Opened1849; 175 years ago (1849)
Passengers
2018/19Decrease 0.775 million
2019/20Increase 0.776 million
2020/21Decrease 91,530
2021/22Increase 0.345 million
2022/23Increase 0.508 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

It is situated near the headquarters of South Lanarkshire Council; the Hamilton campus of the University of the West of Scotland; Hamilton Sheriff Court; and the Hamilton Racecourse. It is situated next to New Douglas Park, home to Hamilton Academical Football Club.

The station is operated by ScotRail who also provide all passenger services.

History

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The station was once part of the Caledonian Railway and later, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. It was originally opened by the Caledonian in September 1849, as the terminus of their branch line from Newton and was originally known simply as Hamilton. The branch was then extended to Motherwell and also to Ferniegair (to join existing routes southwards to Strathaven & Coalburn) in December 1876 - a new Hamilton Central station serving the town was opened on this route at the same time, with the former terminus renamed Hamilton West and rebuilt for through traffic.

Services south of Haughhead Junction to Larkhall & Coalburn ended in October 1965 due to the Beeching Axe, but the line as far as Larkhall was reopened in 2005. The Hamilton Circle line was electrified by British Rail in 1974, as part of the wider scheme to electrify the northern end of the West Coast Main Line.

Facilities

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Both platforms can be accessed via the footbridge at the Clydesdale Street entrance with disabled access available on platform 2 using a ramp which can also be accessed from Clydesdale Street by continuing past the main station entrance and following the footpath on the left, beside the adjacent bus stop.

A ticket office is staffed between 06:20 and 20:04 Monday-Saturday [2] alongside a self-service ticket machine within the shelter beside the ticket office on platform 1. There are no ticketing facilities on platform 2 although both platforms have two ScotRail Smartcard validators each.

Accessible toilets are available on platform 1, next to the ticket office, and can be unlocked on request by asking staff in the ticket office. Sheltered seating is provided on platform 1 in both the ticket office and the same shelter that houses the self-service ticket machine whilst open-air seating is available on platform 2.

The station has a dedicated 191-space car park with 2 disabled parking spaces. The station also has 16 bicycle storage locations in the form of lockers and stands.

Services

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Off-peak Monday to Saturday:[3]

On Sundays the service pattern is:[3]

Trains travelling westbound to Dalmuir, Milngavie and Balloch depart from platform 1, whilst trains travelling eastbound to Larkhall, Motherwell, and Cumbernauld depart from platform 2.

Preceding station   National Rail Following station
Hamilton Central   ScotRail
Argyle Line
  Blantyre

References

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  1. ^ Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. "Gaelic/English Station Index". Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. ISBN 978-0-9549866-9-8.
  2. ^ "National Rail - Hamilton West (HNW)" National Rail nationalrail.co.uk; Retrieved 16 May 2017
  3. ^ a b "ScotRail - Timetables and routes" ScotRail scotrail.co.uk; Retrieved 16 May 2017
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  Media related to Hamilton West railway station at Wikimedia Commons