Dyce railway station

Dyce railway station is a railway station serving the town of Dyce, Aberdeen, Scotland. The station is managed by Abellio ScotRail and is on the Aberdeen to Inverness Line, with some trains operating on the Edinburgh to Aberdeen Line and Glasgow to Aberdeen Line also extended to call at Dyce and Inverurie. This gives direct service from Dyce to Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and intermediate stations.

Dyce Scottish Gaelic: Deis[1]
Dyce Railway Station
Location	Dyce, Aberdeen City Council Scotland
Coordinates	57.2056°N 2.1926°W
Grid reference	NJ884128
Managed by	Abellio ScotRail
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	DYC
Key dates
20 September 1854	Opened
6 May 1968	Closed
15 September 1984	Reopened
Passengers
2015/16	0.664 million
2016/17	0.517 million
2017/18	0.467 million
2018/19	0.359 million
2019/20	0.356 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Although Dyce station is located next to the runway of Aberdeen Airport, and aircraft can be seen landing and taking off from the station platform, there is no direct link between Dyce station and the airport, as the passenger terminal is the other side of the runway.

History

The station here was opened (along with the line) in 1854 by the Great North of Scotland Railway.[2] It later became a junction for the Formartine and Buchan Railway, which diverged here and headed north to Peterhead and Fraserburgh; this opened to traffic in 1861 and had its own platforms alongside the main line ones. Passenger services over both branches ended as a result of the Beeching Axe on 4 October 1965 but the station remained open until 6 May 1968.[3] Freight continued to Peterhead until 1970 and to Fraserburgh until October 1979. There is still evidence on the ground of the old branch platforms which sat on the site of the station car park. The former branch lines are now a long distance cycle path, accessible from the western end of the car park.

The station was reopened by British Rail in September 1984.[4]

Station facilities

The station has two platforms connected by a new fully accessible footbridge, implemented in 2014. The station is unstaffed and there is no ticket office, but automatic ticket vending machines are provided. Other facilities include car park, taxi rank, cycle storage, seating and a simple shelter on each platform. Automated announcements, customer help points, timetable posters and train information displays offer running information. Both platforms are fully accessible for disabled passengers, with lifts in the footbridge and level access from the main car park to platform 2.[5]

A pub, the Spider's Web, is located next to the station.

Station usage

Dyce is a popular station with airport passengers, business travellers and commuters, both to and from Aberdeen.

In addition to Dyce and the many businesses in the area, the station also serves the airport and is popular with oil workers returning from the rigs. In addition to the 80 DyceJet Connect shuttle bus, a taxi rank provides a different means of transport to the airport terminal. A bus-only turning circle was constructed in 2015 to provide quick links between the station and airport.

Signalling

Dyce signal box

Dyce signal box, which opened in 1880, was a tall structure located at the south (Aberdeen) end of the station, on the east side of the railway. In 1928, the box was provided with a new frame of 46 levers, subsequently reduced in size to 26 levers.

Dyce lost its semaphore signals in October 2007 when new colour light signals were brought into use. The lever frame was removed from the signal box (renamed from "Dyce Junction" to "Dyce") and a new relay interlocking and 'NX' (entrance-exit) panel was installed, initially housed inside a temporary signal box.

The signal box was demolished in August 2019 as part of upgrades to the Inverness to Aberdeen line that saw the track between Inverurie and Aberdeen be doubled.[6] The box had been offered for sale but due to its close proximity to a working line, no use could be found for it and nobody wanted to remove the box to another location.

Raiths Farm

A new freight terminal, named "Raiths Farm", has been built to the north of Dyce station, in a field on the west side of the railway. Construction of the terminal was completed in November 2007. The Raiths Farm facility replaced the Guild Street yard at Aberdeen, allowing the latter site, which occupied valuable land close to the city centre, to be redeveloped.

The Raiths Farm layout comprises arrival and departure lines to the north and south, a run-round loop and four sidings. The facility began operations in 2009.

Services

National Rail

There is a half hourly service in each direction Mondays to Saturdays to Aberdeen and Inverurie, with eleven of the latter trains continuing to Inverness.[7] Seven Aberdeen trains run through to Edinburgh and one (two on Saturdays) to Glasgow, along with an evening commuter service to Stonehaven.[8]

There are nine southbound and eleven northbound departures on Sundays, five of the latter running to Inverness.

Bus

Until May 2017 Stagecoach Bluebird's operated a 80 Jet Connect bus shuttle service between Dyce station and Aberdeen Airport, but this service was discontinued due to low passenger numbers.[9] In 2019, First Aberdeen launched its X27 service which connects the railway station to the airport, heliports, and the P&J Live.[10][11][12]

A more frequent bus connection to Dyce airport, the 727, runs from Aberdeen railway station, the next stop south of Dyce.

Future improvements

Service frequencies were improved here from 2018 as part of a timetable recast funded by Transport Scotland. An "Aberdeen Crossrail" commuter service was introduced between Montrose and Inverurie, which will call here and the other intermediate stations en-route once per hour in each direction.[13] The Aberdeen to Inverurie frequency was upped to every 30 minutes, with several of the existing Inverness trains combined with Aberdeen to Glasgow & Edinburgh express services to maintain through journey opportunities. A £170 million project to upgrade the Aberdeen to Inverness line also saw the track through here redoubled by 2019.[14]

The first stage of this work began in May 2018, with trains from the north terminating here and a rail-replacement bus service in operation to/from Aberdeen to allow the required track and signalling improvements to be carried out. The line was closed from 12 May until 19 August 2018.[15] The line was duly redoubled between Aberdeen and Inverurie by the end of 2019.

References

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. Railscot - Great North of Scotland Railway Railscot; Retrieved 2014-02-07
3. Daniels, Gerald David; Dench, Leslie Alan (May 1973) [1964]. Passengers No More (2nd ed.). Shepperton: Ian Allan. p. 47. ISBN 0-7110-0438-2. OCLC 2554248. 1513 CEC 573.
4. Scot-Rail Station Openings since 1960 www.scot-rail.co.uk; Retrieved 2014-02-07
5. Dyce station facilities National Rail Enquiries
6. Drysdale, Neil (14 August 2019). "Historic Dyce signal box from the 1890s demolished in less than 90 minutes". Press and Journal. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
7. GB National Rail Timetable May 2017, Table 240 (Network Rail)
8. GB National Rail Timetable 2017, Table 229
9. Beattie, Keiran (15 May 2017). "Bumpy Ride for Passengers". The Press and Journal. Aberdeen. Archived from the original on 6 September 2017. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
10. "X27 Guild Street to Dyce Railway Station" (PDF). First Group. October 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
11. Merson, Adele. "Aberdeen bus bosses rule out extending talks over controversial changes". Evening Express. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
12. "X27 Timetable" (PDF). Aberdeen Airport. 17 January 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
13. "‘Rail revolution’ means 200 more services and 20,000 more seats for Scots passengers" Archived 20 August 2016 at the Wayback MachineTransport Scotland press release 15 March 2016; Retrieved 19 August 2016
14. "Aberdeen to Inverness Rail Improvement Project, Scotland"Railway-technology.com article; Retrieved 19 August 2016
15. "Major Improvement Work: Aberdeen - Dyce Scotrail press release 18 April 2018; Retrieved 20 June 2018

External links

• Railscot - Dyce