Broughty Ferry railway station
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 Broughty Ferry railway station | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | Broughty Ferry, Dundee City Scotland | ||||
| Coordinates | 56°28′04″N 2°52′27″W / 56.4677°N 2.8741°W | ||||
| Grid reference | NO462309 | ||||
| Manager | ScotRail | ||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | BYF | ||||
| Key dates | |||||
| 8 October 1838 | Opened | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2020/21 |  21,720 | ||||
| 2021/22 |  76,182 | ||||
| 2022/23 | 84,268 | ||||
| 2023/24 | 0.124 million | ||||
| 2024/25 | 0.149 million | ||||
Listed Building – Category A | |||||
| Designated | 8 May 1985 | ||||
| Reference no. | LB25823 | ||||
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Broughty Ferry railway station is a railway station serving the suburb of Broughty Ferry in Dundee, Scotland. It is sited 3 miles 38 chains (5.6 km) from the former Dundee East station, on the Dundee to Aberdeen line, between Dundee and Balmossie.
It is the oldest railway station in Scotland which is still in operation.
History
The station was opened on 8 October 1838 on the Dundee and Arbroath Railway.
Railtrack planned to demolish the station in 1997, although campaigns against the proposals led to a £700,000 development of the station. Although the footbridge was removed, the signal box (built circa 1887) was resited, and refurbished for £650,000 in 2013.
The station underwent refurbishment work in 2018 to raise the platforms for new trains.
Accidents and incidents
At 7:20 pm on 21 October 1991, a Dundee bound Aberdeen–London Intercity express destroyed two out of the four gates of the level crossing. The fifty passengers on board and five people in a passing car were fortunate to avoid collision when the train passed through the crossing at around 80 miles per hour.
In May 2016, a man died after being hit by a train near the station.
Facilities
The station is unstaffed, with benches and help points available on both platforms, plus a payphone and cycle racks on platform 1, although a shelter is available on platform 2. Step-free access is available to both platforms from the main road, but both platforms are also joined via the subway. As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train. Network Rail, in 2025, said that the level crossing at the station had the largest number of misuse incidents across Scotland.
Passenger volume
In recent years, passenger usage has grown phenomenally, from under 10,000 in 2011–12 to over 90,000 in 2019–20, including a 24,000 rise between 2018–19 and 2019–20. 15 years earlier, usage hovered around 5,000 passengers per year.
| 2004–05 | 2005–06 | 2006–07 | 2007–08 | 2008–09 | 2009–10 | 2010–11 | 2011–12 | 2012–13 | 2013–14 | 2014–15 | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | 2017–18 | 2018–19 | 2019–20 | 2020–21 | 2021–22 | 2022–23 | 2023–24 | 2024–25 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entries and exits | 4,943 | 4,996 | 6,271 | 6,277 | 5,918 | 5,570 | 5,362 | 9,288 | 23,180 | 34,970 | 41,246 | 43,276 | 40,718 | 43,330 | 57,454 | 91,678 | 21,720 | 76,182 | 84,268 | 124,272 | 148,586 |
The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.
Services
Service frequencies at the station have varied significantly over the years - prior to 1990, there were regular local trains to Arbroath and Dundee or Perth throughout the day along with a small number of longer-distance workings. For the next twenty years, only a handful of trains (4 per day each way on average) stopped here, but since then there has a gradual increase in provision following a campaign by the local authority & rail user groups (for example, eight additional stops were added in December 2011).
As of May 2026, on weekdays and Saturdays there is an hourly service in each direction, to Dundee westbound (with one extended to Glasgow and one to Perth), and eastbound to Arbroath (with one extended to Aberdeen, one to Inverurie and one to Inverness). On Sundays, there are only 3 northbound services to Aberdeen and 4 southbound services: two to Edinburgh, one to Glasgow Queen Street and one to Perth.
| Preceding station |  National Rail |
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dundee | ScotRail Dundee–Aberdeen line |
Balmossie | ||
| Historical railways | ||||
| West Ferry Line open: Station closed |
Dundee and Arbroath Railway | Monifieth Line and Station open | ||
| Dundee and Arbroath Railway Broughty Ferry Pier Branch |
Broughty Ferry Pier Line and Station closed | |||
| Caledonian Railway Dundee and Forfar Direct Line |
Barnhill Line and Station closed | |||
References
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Deaves, Phil. "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
- 1 2 Quick 2022, p. 105.
- ↑ Historic Environment Scotland. "Broughty Ferry, Gray Street, Railway Station including Subway (Category A Listed Building LB25823)". Retrieved 26 March 2019.
- ↑ Bridge, Mike, ed. (2017). TRACKatlas of Mainland Britain: A Comprehensive Geographic Atlas Showing the Rail Network of Great Britain (3rd ed.). Sheffield: Platform 5 Publishing Ltd. p. 92. ISBN 978-1909431-26-3.
- ↑ "Fun facts - station edition | ScotRail". www.scotrail.co.uk. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
- 1 2 Reporter (27 February 2013). "£650,000 revamp of Broughty Ferry landmark signals successful end to campaign". The Courier. Retrieved 14 September 2026.
- ↑ "Oldest station saved". The Herald. 23 June 1999. Retrieved 14 September 2026.
- ↑ "Broughty Ferry platform works get underway". Network Rail Media Centre. Retrieved 14 September 2026.
- ↑ "80 mph train misses five "by yards"". Dundee Courier and Advertiser. 23 October 1991. pp. 11, 14.
- ↑ "Man dies after being struck by train at Broughty Ferry". BBC News. 6 May 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2026.
- ↑ "National Rail Enquiries -". www.nationalrail.co.uk. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
- ↑ "Action to tackle Broughty Ferry level crossing misuse". Network Rail Media Centre. Retrieved 14 September 2026.
- ↑ "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
- ↑ "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
- ↑ Reporter (16 September 2011). "Campaign pays off with more train stops at Broughty Ferry". The Courier. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
- ↑ eNRT May 2026, Table 214
Bibliography
- Quick, Michael (2022). Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain: A Chronology (PDF) (5th ed.). London: Railway and Canal Historical Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 March 2023. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
External links
- Train times and station information for Broughty Ferry railway station from National Rail
- RailScot History of Broughty Ferry station
