Oban railway station


Oban railway station is a railway station serving Oban in Scotland. It is the terminus of one branch of the highly scenic West Highland Line, sited from Callander, via Glen Ogle. It was originally the terminus of the Callander and Oban Railway. All services are operated by ScotRail, who also manage the station.
Oban station provides interchange with the adjacent ferry terminal, offering connections to a number of destinations in the Inner and Outer Hebrides via ferry services operated by Caledonian MacBrayne. Oban is CalMac's busiest ferry terminal.

History

Oban station opened on 30 June 1880 as the terminus of the Callander and Oban Railway, which joined the present railway at Crianlarich, and which was absorbed into the LMS Railway in 1922. Two additional platforms were constructed on the west side of the station in 1904, following the opening of the branch from to. The route from Dunblane and Callander to Crianlarich closed in 1965, as well as the Ballachulish line. Formerly, a branch to Ballachulish railway station diverged just east of Connel Ferry railway station. A triangular junction was planned at Connel, but never completed.
The original station building was a large timber structure with an overall glass roof covering the platforms. A clock tower was located next to the entrance. By the 1980s the condition of the timber building was deteriorating and a new, very basic ticket office was built next to the old station. The original station was subsequently demolished.

Facilities

The station is well-equipped with a ticket office, toilets, a help point, a car park, bike racks and a pay phone. All of the station has step-free access.

Passenger volume

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April

Services

On Monday to Fridays, there are six trains per day to Glasgow Queen Street, plus an additional afternoon service that runs only as far as Dalmally, primarily for schools traffic. On Saturdays, the service is very similar to that on weekdays, with the exception of the Dalmally train, which does not run. On Sundays there are four trains per day to Glasgow Queen Street all year round.

Oban Ferry Terminal

Oban station is located next to Oban ferry terminal. Caledonian MacBrayne ferries sail daily from here to the islands of Lismore, Colonsay, Coll, Tiree, to Craignure on Mull, to Castlebay on Barra and to Lochboisdale on South Uist. Ferries also operate to Mallaig. The times of connecting trains to/from Glasgow Queen Street are included on CalMac timetables.