Carlisle railway station

History

The station was built in 1847, in a neo-Tudor style to the designs of William Tite. It was then one of a number of stations in the city – the others were at Crown Street (Maryport & Carlisle Railway) and London Road (Newcastle and Carlisle Railway) – but had become the main one by 1851; it was expanded and extended in 1875–76, with the arrival of the Midland Railway (which became the seventh different company to serve it).

The Beeching Axe saw two significant rail closures including the former North British Railway lines to Silloth (closed on 7 September 1964) and Edinburgh via Galashiels (the Waverley Line, closed on 6 January 1969). The closure programme also claimed the Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway and Portpatrick Railway (the "Port Road") in 1965, resulting in a significant mileage increase via the Glasgow South Western Line & Ayr to reach Stranraer Harbour and thus Northern Ireland.

The layout has undergone few changes of any significance other than the singling of the ex-NER Tyne Valley route down to London Road Junction as part of the 1972–73 re-signalling scheme associated with WCML electrification.

Accidents and incidents

Facilities

The station is fully staffed, with the booking office manned each day from start of service until 20:00. Ticket machines are also available in the booking hall. Waiting rooms are located on both main platforms and there is a newsagents on the concourse and a buffet on platform three. Train running information is provided by P.A announcements and digital display screens; full step-free access is possible to all platforms on the station via ramps to the footbridge or lifts and subway.

Layout and services

Long-distance services are operated by Virgin Trains, with the main routes being London Euston–Glasgow Central and Scotland–Birmingham New Street. Caledonian Sleeper passengers from/to London Euston may also alight/board here. Northern operate local stopping services to Newcastle Central via the Tyne Valley Line, to Barrow-in-Furness via the Cumbrian Coast Line, and to Leeds via the scenic Settle–Carlisle Line. Abellio ScotRail also operate services to Glasgow Central via Dumfries and Kilmarnock. There are 8 platforms at the station in total – 3 through and 5 bays, organised as follows (from west to east):

There are stabling roads between Platforms 3 and 4 in the train shed, and a loop around Platform 1. There are several electrified sidings to the west of Platform 1. There are substantial buildings on both the western island and the main up platform on the east side, with the main station buffet on the former and the travel centre/ticket office and shop on the latter. Both main platforms have waiting rooms and toilets and are linked by a fully accessible footbridge.

Freight trains formerly used a goods line to the west to bypass the station, but this was closed in 1984 after a runaway rake of container wagons derailed at high speed on the River Caldew bridge at Dentonholme, damaging it beyond economic repair. Nearly all freight services (apart from those running directly from the Cumbrian Coast Line toward the Tyne Valley Line or the Settle–Carlisle Line, or vice versa) now have to use one of the main platform lines when passing through the station, which can cause congestion at peak times.

2008

Service frequencies on each route varied – on Mondays to Saturdays there were trains every one or two hours to London and at least every hour to Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh. First TransPennine Express operated seven trains per day to Manchester Airport and there was a basic hourly service to both Newcastle and Whitehaven but a less frequent one to Glasgow via Kilmarnock (eight trains per day), to Leeds (six trains per day M–F, seven SO) and to Barrow-in-Furness (seven).

On Sundays the service was hourly on the WCML (every two hours to all main destinations apart from Manchester) and to Newcastle but infrequent on the other routes (three trains to Leeds and Whitehaven, two to Kilmarnock and another two to Dumfries only). There were two summer-only DalesRail afternoon trains to Preston via Clitheroe but no service to Barrow.

2009

Service frequencies on the West Coast Main Line improved somewhat following the introduction of the new VHF timetable by Virgin Trains. From Mondays to Saturdays there were now trains every hour to London for much of the day (although one service from Euston no longer stopped here, running non-stop between Preston and Glasgow) and at least every hour to Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh. First TransPennine Express operated seven trains per day to Manchester Airport and there was a basic hourly service to both Newcastle and Whitehaven but a less frequent one to Glasgow via Kilmarnock (eight trains per day), to Leeds (seven per day Mon–Sat since the May 2011 timetable alterations) and to Barrow-in-Furness (eight).

On Sundays the service was hourly on the WCML (every two hours to all main destinations apart from Manchester) and to Newcastle but infrequent on the other routes (three trains to Leeds and Whitehaven, two to Kilmarnock and another two to Dumfries only). There were two summer-only DalesRail afternoon trains to Preston via Clitheroe but no service to Barrow.

2016

The following trains call at Carlisle:

Virgin Trains

Provide two trains per hour to London Euston for most of the day with one service going via Birmingham. One train per hour runs to Glasgow Central and an additional service runs every two hours to Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central (alternating).

TransPennine Express

Provide an hourly service to Manchester Airport and a two-hourly service to Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central (alternating).

Abellio ScotRail

Provide fifteen daily departures (twenty on Saturdays and five on Sundays). A two-hourly service runs to Glasgow via Dumfries for most of the day (with one or two longer gaps during the day) with a few other services terminating at Dumfries. More trains run on Saturdays; Sunday sees five departures to Dumfries with two continuing to Glasgow via Kilmarnock.

Northern

Northern provide the following service:

Since May 2013, there are now four trains to Leeds on Sundays (including one through to Nottingham) but only a single DalesRail service to Blackpool North via Preston. From 15 September 2013 the DalesRail direct service ceased for the winter, but the lunchtime service to Leeds now has a connection at Hellifield for stations along the Ribble Valley line to Blackburn, Preston and Blackpool North.

Virgin Trains East Coast

Virgin Trains East Coast call at Carlisle a couple of weekends a year when the ECML line is closed for any engineering work, They provide mainly hourly service to London King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley, These trains are irregular and only operate a few times a year. Another major change from the start of the 2013–14 timetable is the extension of most WCML Birmingham services through to London Euston.

Caledonian Sleeper

All Caledonian Sleeper services pass through Carlisle once a night except Saturdays (and engineering diversions) on their journey between London Euston and several Scottish destinations. Passengers may only board the London-bound service from Glasgow Central/Edinburgh Waverley, or only alight services in the opposite direction. Services from/to London Euston to/from Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William run as a separate train that runs through Carlisle without a scheduled stop.

Adverse Weather Disruption in Winter 2015-16

All services toward Glasgow & Edinburgh over the WCML were suspended due to flood-related damage to the River Clyde bridge at Lamington (caused by Storm Frank). A limited number of trains to & from Glasgow were being diverted via Dumfries, whilst most others were replaced by express coaches. Repair work was initially expected to take at least 4 weeks to complete and services were not expected to restart over the structure until March 2016. Following better than expected weather conditions and delivery of key components earlier than planned, the work was completed ahead of schedule and trains resumed on 22 February 2016. This follows on from previous disruption caused by Storm Desmond on 5–6 December 2015 - flooding just north of the station at the bridge over the River Caldew led to a temporary suspension of services to and from Scotland and subsequent major delays to trains for more than two weeks.

Services towards Newcastle & Leeds are also being disrupted at the same time due to weather-related landslips near Corbridge and Armathwaite respectively. A replacement bus service ran between Hexham & Prudhoe whilst repairs were carried out on the Tyne Valley line. The line reopened to traffic on 8 February 2016. Services on the Settle line still ran initially, but as only one line was available between Cotehill and Culgaith & capacity was therefore restricted, an emergency timetable was in operation with extended journey times and some trains being replaced by buses. Further ground movement at the landslip site at Eden Brows led to the suspension of all services as far south as Appleby on 9 February 2016, as Network Rail engineers deemed that it was no longer safe to operate trains over the affected portion of line. The line will remain closed "for several months" (likely until early 2017) whilst the damaged embankment is underpinned and stabilised, and the track and formation repaired. Network Rail started work on the £23 million project to repair the embankment & formation in July 2016, with the line now due to reopen on 31 March 2017. Replacement buses will continue to operate to either Armathwaite or Appleby until then.