Haymarket railway station

Haymarket railway station is in Haymarket, Edinburgh, Scotland. It is Edinburgh's second largest station after Waverley railway station, and Scotland's eighth busiest. It is a major commuter and long-distance destination, located near the city centre, in the West End. Trains from the station serve much of Scotland west and north of Edinburgh (including Fife and Glasgow), and local lines to the east, and the trunk route down the east coast of England. It is the fourth busiest railway in Scotland.

History
The station opened in 1842 as the original terminus of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, before the line was extended in 1846 through the Haymarket tunnels and Princes Street Gardens to what is now Waverley station. Its name has always been just 'Haymarket', as opposed to 'Edinburgh Haymarket' - although the latter designation is used in timetables by some companies for the purpose of clarity.

In 1989 the south tunnel was electrified and Platform 1 was extended as part of the East Coast electrification project to allow through electric trains from King's Cross in London to Glasgow Central, and from Edinburgh Waverley to the West Coast Main Line. In 2011 in conjunction with the Airdrie to Bathgate project the North Tunnel was also electrified.

Current station and usage


The station has four through platforms and, since December 2006, one bay platform on the north side of the station. As a general rule, trains to/from stations across the Forth Bridge use Platforms 1 and 2 (the non-electrified lines on the left of the 2004 photograph), with trains to/from Glasgow and the West Coast Main Line using Platforms 3 and 4. The bay platform (Platform 0) was built for services terminating at Haymarket while major engineering works were taking place at Waverley station. All platforms are electrified.

The station is now listed amongst the most congested on the Scottish railway network due to rapid increases in passenger numbers (see usage data to the right). The Network Rail Business Plan 2007 suggested that options for remodelling passenger facilities at the station were to be considered during the period of the plan. The installation of passenger lifts was scheduled to be completed by December 2010; all platforms would then become fully accessible to those with reduced mobility. Further work to expand the capacity of the station is due for completion in December 2013.

Haymarket TMD, a service and maintenance depot, is located 0.6 mi west of the station, on the north side of the railway, adjacent to Murrayfield Stadium.

Edinburgh Trams
Haymarket will be served by Edinburgh Trams, with an interchange with main line railway services. The tram stop (and the entire tram line) are expected to open in mid-2014.