Dunbarrailway station serves the town of Dunbar in East Lothian, Scotland. It is located on the East Coast Main Line and is a two platform station. The main platform is located on a loop adjacent to the main through lines. The second platform is on the main northbound line which has officially operated trains stopping there since 15 December 2019. It is from and from. Prior to December 2019, the line on which the main platform is located was bi-directional. With all Northbound services now using the second platform and no longer using the main platform loop, this now leaves Syston station in Leicester as the only rare example of a single platformed main line railway station used on a major route.
History
The station, which was first opened by the North British Railway in June 1846, used to have two platforms and an overall roof. The northbound platform loop line was taken out of use and lifted in the early 1970s, whilst the platform itself and the station roof were both removed during the modernisation and electrification by British Rail of the northern end of the East Coast Main Line in 1987–88. For approximately five months in 1979, this was the terminal station for a shuttle service to Edinburgh Waverley. The shuttle service was provided after the East Coast Main Line was blocked due to the collapse of Penmanshiel Tunnel. Buses linked Dunbar with Berwick-upon-Tweed, from where rail services to London King's Cross resumed. Preliminary work into a new second platform began in October 2015. In December 2018, Network Rail announced that Amco has been appointed the contractors in the construction of the second platform which started in Summer 2019 and have the works completed by early 2020. Construction of the new platform necessitated a new footbridge with lifts, and improvements to the station carpark were carried out as part of the project. The bridge was completed ahead of schedule and the new platform opened in December 2019. Final fitting work and completion of the carpark continued, however it was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Accidents and incidents
On 3 January 1898, an express passenger train collided with a freight train that was being shunted. One person was killed and 21 were injured.
Facilities
The station is fully staffed, with the ticket office open throughout the week. Self-service ticket machines are also provided for use outside these times and for collecting pre-paid tickets. There are toilets, a payphone and vending machines on the concourse. Train running information is provided by manual announcements, digital CIS displays, a customer help point and timetable posters. Level access is available from the entrance and concourse to the platform. There are two platforms. The station entrance is to the east, adjacent to the southbound platform. The northbound platform, reinstated in 2019, is accessible via a footbridge with lifts.
Services
The station is served by Abellio ScotRail, CrossCountry, London North Eastern Railway and TransPennine Express. It was managed by the InterCity East Coast franchise holder until June 2015 when responsibility was transferred from Virgin Trains East Coast to Abellio ScotRail. The station is served mainly by CrossCountry trains on the to Edinburgh route with projections to/from , or in the north and in the south. These trains serve Dunbar at roughly two-hourly intervals throughout the day. Some London North Eastern Railway services between London King's Cross/Leeds and Edinburgh Waverley call at Dunbar. Abellio ScotRail also provides some Monday to Saturday services to Edinburgh. The weekday ScotRail services were introduced in the May 2010 timetable. A year later in May 2011, all ScotRail services between Dunbar and Edinburgh introduced a one intermediate stop at Musselburgh to allow the connection of Dunbar students to Queen Margaret University. From the beginning of the December 2011 timetable, a late Saturday night service to Dunbar from Edinburgh was introduced. The Saturday daytime services were introduced in the December 2012 timetable. The Abellio ScotRail services enhance Dunbar every two hours during the day making the daytime services hourly on Mondays-Saturdays. Abellio ScotRail does not serve Dunbar on Sundays. Train services on Sundays are two hourly throughout the day except for the evenings where these services are hourly until mid/late evening. From December 2019, one southbound TransPennine Express service began to call at Dunbar.
