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Dyce railway station

Coordinates: 57°12′20″N 2°11′33″W / 57.2056°N 2.1926°W / 57.2056; -2.1926
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For the station in Manitoba, Canada, see Dyce railway station (Manitoba).

Dyce Railway Station (2009)
General information
LocationDyce, Aberdeen City Council
Scotland
Coordinates57°12′20″N 2°11′33″W / 57.2056°N 2.1926°W / 57.2056; -2.1926
Grid referenceNJ884128
Managed byScotRail
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeDYC[2]
Key dates
20 September 1854Opened
6 May 1968Closed
15 September 1984Reopened
Passengers
2019/20Decrease 0.356 million
2020/21Decrease 86,520
2021/22Increase 0.216 million
2022/23Increase 0.260 million
2023/24Increase 0.302 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Dyce railway station is a railway station serving the suburb of Dyce, Aberdeen, Scotland. The station is managed by 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. It is sited 6.25 miles (10.06 kilometres) from Aberdeen, being the first stop north of the station.[3]

History

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The station here was opened (along with the line) in 1854 by the Great North of Scotland Railway. 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.[4] 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 on 15 September 1984.[5]

Signalling

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Dyce signal box (2005)

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

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Raith's Farm railfreight terminal (2009)

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.

Location

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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.

Facilities

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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.[7]

Passenger volume

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Passenger Volume at Dyce[8]
2002–03 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
Entries and exits 238,949 269,263 334,731 401,021 453,635 487,972 515,524 579,660 677,860 759,898 810,678 823,866 664,396 517,586 466,700 358,670 356,388 86,520 216,102 260,000

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

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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. Seven Aberdeen trains run through to Edinburgh and one (two on Saturdays) to Glasgow, along with an evening commuter service to Stonehaven. There are nine southbound and eleven northbound departures on Sundays, five of the latter running to Inverness.[9]

2018 Service improvements

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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.[10] 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.[11]

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.[12] The line was duly redoubled between Aberdeen and Inverurie by the end of 2019.

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Aberdeen   ScotRail
Aberdeen to Inverness Line 		  Kintore
Aberdeen
To Montrose 		  ScotRail
Aberdeen Crossrail 		  Kintore
To Inverurie
  Historical railways  
Stoneywood
Line open; Station closed 		  Great North of Scotland Railway
GNoSR Main Line 		  Pitmedden
Line open; Station closed
Terminus   Great North of Scotland Railway
Formartine and Buchan Railway 		  Parkhill
Line closed; Station closed

Connections

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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.[13][14] In 2019, First Aberdeen launched its X27 service which connects the railway station to the airport, heliports, and the P&J Live.[15][16][17]

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

References

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  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. ^ Deaves, Phil. "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  3. ^ 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. 96. ISBN 978-1909431-26-3.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ Holme, Chris (15 September 1984). "Dyce first stop in new rail era". Evening Express. p. 19. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  6. ^ Drysdale, Neil (14 August 2019). "Historic Dyce signal box from the 1890s demolished in less than 90 minutes". Press and Journal. Archived from the original on 9 September 2020. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  7. ^ "National Rail Enquiries -". www.nationalrail.co.uk. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  8. ^ "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
  9. ^ eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 214
  10. ^ "‘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
  11. ^ "Aberdeen to Inverness Rail Improvement Project, Scotland" Archived 20 August 2016 at the Wayback MachineRailway-technology.com article; Retrieved 19 August 2016
  12. ^ "Major Improvement Work: Aberdeen - Dyce Archived 22 February 2019 at the Wayback Machine Scotrail press release 18 April 2018; Retrieved 20 June 2018
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ "Assessing the State of the Bus Network in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire" (PDF). North East Bus Alliance. p. 45. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 November 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  15. ^ "X27 Guild Street to Dyce Railway Station" (PDF). First Group. October 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 November 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  16. ^ Merson, Adele (16 November 2016). "Aberdeen bus bosses rule out extending talks over controversial changes". Evening Express. Archived from the original on 15 September 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  17. ^ "X27 Timetable" (PDF). Aberdeen Airport. 17 January 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
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