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Perth Scottish Gaelic:Peairt[1]
The station's entrance in 2021
General information
Location	Perth,Perth and Kinross Scotland
Coordinates	56°23′30″N3°26′18″W / 56.3916°N 3.4384°W /56.3916; -3.4384
Grid reference	NO112231
Managed by	ScotRail
Platforms	7
Other information
Station code	PTH[2]
History
Original company	Scottish Central Railway and Scottish Midland Junction Railway
Pre-grouping	Caledonian Railway
Post-grouping	LMS
Key dates
22 May 1848	Opened asPerth General[3]
1952	Renamed asPerth[3]
Passengers
2019/20	1.059 million
Interchange	0.106 million
2020/21	0.181 million
Interchange	15,491
2021/22	0.615 million
Interchange	56,960
2022/23	0.695 million
Interchange	0.119 million
2023/24	0.812 million
Interchange	99,349
Listed Building – Category B
Designated	26 August 1977
Reference no.	LB39340[4]
Location Perth Location within Perth
Notes Passenger statistics from theOffice of Rail and Road

Perth railway station is arailway station located in the city ofPerth, Scotland, on both theGlasgow to Dundee line and theHighland Main Line. It is managed byScotRail, who provide almost all of the services (along withLNER and theCaledonian Sleeper).

It is sited 151 miles 25 chains (243.5 km) from Carlisle, measured viaStirling,Cumbernauld andMotherwell, and approximately 47 miles 68 chains (77 km) fromLadybank (thus approximately 86 miles 77 chains (140 km) fromEdinburgh Waverley viaKirkcaldy andInverkeithing).^[5]

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North British Railway (Perth Station) Act 1864
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to sanction an Agreement between the North British Railway Company and the Scottish Central Railway Company with respect to the General Station at Perth; and for other Purposes.
Citation	27 & 28 Vict. c. c
Dates
Royal assent	23 June 1864
Text of statute as originally enacted

The station was opened (as Perth General Station) by theScottish Central Railway (SCR) in 1848 to a design byWilliam Tite.^[6] Originally the terminus of the SCR main line fromGreenhill Junction nearGlasgow, it soon became a junction of some importance with the arrival of theDundee and Perth Railway from Dundee (following the completion ofTay Viaduct, a bridge across theRiver Tay), theEdinburgh and Northern Railway (E&NR) fromLadybank on the Fife coast and theScottish Midland Junction Railway (SMJR) fromForfar within months.^[7] Subsequent construction by thePerth and Dunkeld Railway (P&DR) and thePerth, Almond Valley and Methven Railway added further lines into/out of the city, with the former becoming part of what is now theHighland Main Line toInverness. The SMJR meanwhile would become part of a through route toAberdeen by 1856, thus giving Perth travellers easy access to all of the major Scottish cities.

All of these lines, apart from the E&NR, were eventually taken over by theCaledonian Railway, though theHighland Railway (which took over the P&DR) andNorth British Railway (NBR; which absorbed the E&NR) also had access by means of running powers from Stanley Junction and Hilton Junction respectively.

The NBR would subsequently open a more direct route to the Scottish capital than the Caledonian's route via Stirling and the central lowlands in 1890 – this left the existing Ladybank line atBridge of Earn and headed south viaGlenfarg to Mawcarse, where it joined the Fife and Kinross Railway's line toKinross. Trains could then travel viaCowdenbeath,Dunfermline and the newly openedForth Rail Bridge to reach Edinburgh.

The Almond Valley line toCrieff andMethven was an early post-nationalisation casualty, closing to passengers in October 1951. The Ladybank service followed suit in September 1955. The major losses though came as the result of theBeeching Axe and its aftermath in the mid-to-late 1960s, with the main line to Aberdeen (that is, the ex-SMJR main line to Kinnaber Junction viaCoupar Angus andForfar) being closed to passenger traffic on 4 September 1967. Aberdeen services were thereafter routed via Dundee and the former NBR route viaMontrose. TheAviemore toForres section of the Highland Main Line had already been closed two years earlier, and several local stations in the area were also shut down around this time.

A further significant (and controversial) closure came on 5 January 1970, when the main line to Edinburgh via Glenfarg, Kinross andCowdenbeath was abandoned in favour of the older but less direct line viaStirling. The Glenfarg route had been recommended for retention and development in the Beeching Report, but its removal allowed the plannedM90 motorway to occupy its former alignment in the Glenfarg area when the motorway was built a few years later. However, the longer journey via Stirling proved unpopular with Edinburgh travellers and so in 1975, the old E&NR line toLadybank was reopened byBritish Rail to provide a slightly quicker alternative. This is the route followed by most Edinburgh services today, but the daytime and overnight trains to London (see below) still run via Stirling and Falkirk as the line via Ladybank and Kirckaldy is served by the Aberdeen to London services.

Perth bus station is situated approximately 100 metres northeast along Leonard Street, part of theA989, from the railway station.^[8]

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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 theHighland 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 byScotRail,Caledonian Sleeper, andLondon North Eastern Railway.^{[citation needed]}

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 toGlasgow Queen Street
• 35 trains per day toDundee, with 15 extending toAberdeen, three toArbroath, one toInverurie and one toInverness
• 26 trains per day to Edinburgh, including the LNERHighland 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 toElgin
• 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 orMarkinch or Gleneagles orDunblane orTerminus		ScotRail Highland Line		Dunkeld & Birnam orPitlochry
Gleneagles orDunblane orStirling		ScotRail GlasgowｰDundee Line		Invergowrie orDundee
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

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The movieThe 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 for theCarbuncle Award in 2015, which recognises the worst planning decision. The award was because 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 newspaperThe 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."^{[citation needed]}

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
• Public transport in Perth and Kinross

• 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 toPerth 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

• Train times andstation information for Perth railway station (Scotland) fromNational Rail

• Railway stations in Perth, Scotland
• Former Caledonian Railway stations
• Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1848
• Railway stations served by ScotRail
• Railway stations served by Caledonian Sleeper
• Railway stations served by London North Eastern Railway
• William Tite railway stations
• Listed railway stations in Scotland
• Category B listed buildings in Perth and Kinross
• Listed buildings in Perth, Scotland
• 1848 establishments in Scotland

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