Relocation of Stranraer

[och aye]

Given that ferries are unlikely to dock at Stranraer anytime in the years ahead, and given the current remote location of the station in relation to the town, would relocating the station to roughly where the former Stranraer Town station used to be viable?

I don't know about the land ownership, but it looks like you could redevelop the large plot into a small transport interchange for buses and taxis and perhaps build some housing and retail alongside it.

While not in the town centre, it would be better located for residents and visitors. No doubt money would be the main barrier to a plan like this (if viable) from happening.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I dont think the cost can be justified. In its heyday perhaps but not now. Other ports are now used in West Scotland

 

[Zomboid]

A new platform at the town end of the pier is probably more realistic.

 

[AlastairFraser]

A new platform at the town end of the pier is probably more realistic.

Indeed. This would also be a better interchange for shuttles up the road to Cairnryan, and further afield.

 

[30907]

Most recently discussed here, but there was a specific one not so many years ago...
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/new-rail-lines-in-scotland.281474/page-3#post-7166839

 

[Bald Rick]

I dont think the cost can be justified. In its heyday perhaps but not now. Other ports are now used in West Scotland

If Scotland can justify Reston, it could justify this.

 

[D6130]

Indeed. This would also be a better interchange for shuttles up the road to Cairnryan, and further afield.

I agree....and the large adjacent former lorry park would be able to be converted reasonably easily and cheaply into a bus interchange and park-and-ride car park.

 

[Morayshire]

There were plans to upgrade the existing Marina facilities in Stranraer and revamp the adjacent areas so an upgrade in facilities or location may have been part of that scheme (or not).

 

[ChiefPlanner]

A cursory look at passenger loadings Stranraer to Ayr (exclusive) shows continuing falls in patronage - about 31K a year from the terminus , so it is all a challenge where the once important ferry traffic has gone , no meaningfull freight potential* , illustrating to my mind a reliance on domestic / bit of tourism journeys.

Some money has been spent on care and attention renewals , but any expenditure above that is a matter for local stakeholders and national governance.

(* we discussed the old Speedlink flows before , it was hopeless , with no backloading to speak of - there are , I am sure some serious optimists who dream of ferry HGV traffic converting to rail......)

 

[Bald Rick]

A cursory look at passenger loadings Stranraer to Ayr (exclusive) shows continuing falls in patronage - about 31K a year from the terminus

50% more than Reston!

 

[Bletchleyite]

A fairly obvious thing to do might be to curve the line round to a new station on the Breastworks car park which is much more central than the old Town station was. It appears that could be done without demolishing any buildings, and a single line isn't *that* expensive by railway standards. It might well improve ridership a bit, though it's never going to be a busy line; perhaps if Scotland ever gets round to Wales style proper bus/rail integration closure with a dedicated bus service in the rail timetable and fares system may offer a better and cheaper alternative.

Or if losing access to the slipway would be a problem, it could go just before that with the footpath on the green area realigned slightly and the Breastworks car park becoming the station car park.

Cheapest viable option would probably be to just build a platform further back along the present line and turn the present wasteland into a new station car park. If it can be done for a basket case (annual usage 2000ish) like Dolgarrog (which I'm proud to say I've now used - twice!) it could be done here.

 

[Gloster]

The best I can see would be to curve the line round so that the station building are just on the seaward side of the Port Rodie roundabout at the bottom of Charlotte Street. If too tight a curve then the platform can be about half-way between Port Rodie and the water: a car park/kiss and ride/cab rank/bus stops could fill in between Port Rodie and the rails. The old access to the station would be closed and anything heading that way would leave at the Port Rodie roundabout and pass around the station.

I think that this similar to @Bletchleyite’s suggestion, but my map shows Breastworks Car Park as further along and this one as Port Rodie Car Park. The advantage of this is no demolition except the seemingly abandoned vehicle check building and no level-crossing.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

50% more than Reston!

Population circa 10,000 so 3 trips a year (ish)

Still , better than the University (for now) town of Lampeter with 2,000 pop.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I think that this similar to @Bletchleyite’s suggestion, but my map shows Breastworks Car Park as further along and this one as Port Rodie Car Park. The advantage of this is no demolition except the seemingly abandoned vehicle check building and no level-crossing.

I don't think you'd need a level crossing for either, though you would have to remove public access to the slipway (is it well used?) and potentially fill it in. Nothing would need demolishing either.

I think if you're going to do it you want to do it properly, with it being bang in the centre of town.

Right next to the tourist office at the west end of the Breastworks car park is about as perfect as location for it as I can envisage.

 

[Gloster]

I don't think you'd need a level crossing for either, though you would have to remove public access to the slipway (is it well used?) and potentially fill it in. Nothing would need demolishing either.

I think if you're going to do it you want to do it properly, with it being bang in the centre of town.

Right next to the tourist office at the west end of the Breastworks car park is about as perfect as location for it as I can envisage.

To be honest, I don’t think you could get to the Breastworks Car Park without cutting off the the town from the front or knocking down at least one property (I am not counting the shed opposite the Tesco car park), both of which are likely to be opposed. I also think that you are going to have to allow some sort of permanent access to the old station area, which you can’t do if you go as far as the Breastworks Car Park. Going as far as I suggest may not be perfect, but it still means that the station is really no more than across the road from the end of one of the shopping streets.

 

[Bletchleyite]

To be honest, I don’t think you could get to the Breastworks Car Park without cutting off the the town from the front or knocking down at least one property (I am not counting the shed opposite the Tesco car park), both of which are likely to be opposed. I also think that you are going to have to allow some sort of permanent access to the old station area, which you can’t do if you go as far as the Breastworks Car Park. Going as far as I suggest may not be perfect, but it still means that the station is really no more than across the road from the end of one of the shopping streets.

You would only cut the town off from the front at one end; you could probably put a footbridge at the other end if it was that much of an issue. If willing to fill in part of the slipway, no demolition would be necessary.

The old station area is derelict. If it was redeveloped into anything useful a road bridge could be added to access it.

 

[6Gman]

A cursory look at passenger loadings Stranraer to Ayr (exclusive) shows continuing falls in patronage - about 31K a year from the terminus , so it is all a challenge where the once important ferry traffic has gone , no meaningfull freight potential* , illustrating to my mind a reliance on domestic / bit of tourism journeys.

(* we discussed the old Speedlink flows before , it was hopeless , with no backloading to speak of - there are , I am sure some serious optimists who dream of ferry HGV traffic converting to rail......)

But, but - that's what's going to justify reopening the Port Road!

 

[Trainbike46]

Indeed. This would also be a better interchange for shuttles up the road to Cairnryan, and further afield.

Coach/bus shuttles for the Stena Line ferries currently run to/from Ayr station, and that is unlikely to change.

A fairly obvious thing to do might be to curve the line round to a new station on the Breastworks car park which is much more central than the old Town station was. It appears that could be done without demolishing any buildings, and a single line isn't *that* expensive by railway standards. It might well improve ridership a bit, though it's never going to be a busy line; perhaps if Scotland ever gets round to Wales style proper bus/rail integration closure with a dedicated bus service in the rail timetable and fares system may offer a better and cheaper alternative.

Given how much the one bus that is in the rail timetable - the ferrylink coach for people going to Belfast - is messed around*, I think this is unlikely.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Apr 2025 ==

*Things like setting quota so low that the tickets sell out even when the bus is still mostly empty, many ticket websites not accepting Belfast as a valid origin or destination, (in the past) taking the bus out of the timetable but not providing any information anywhere that such an action was taken, avanti setting the only connection from london that journey planners consider valid as both "reservations compulsory" and not making any reservations available so it becomes impossible to buy tickets from Belfast to any station in the Southeast of England, routing restrictions that mean the tickets aren't technically valid on the only possible route for tickets to certain East Anglian stations, etc.

 

[ainsworth74]

I think if you're going to do it you want to do it properly, with it being bang in the centre of town.

This really is one of those projects where either:

a) You do it properly and just commit to spending a big chunk of capital change as a one off for the next fifty+ years; or

b) You accept that it's a basket case and do nothing beyond the bare minimum to keep it operational.

There is no in between in my mind. If you're going to start fiddling around with the location of the station (which I agree would be a good idea seeing as the current one is a pain to get to) then do it properly or not at all.

Coach/bus shuttles for the Stena Line ferries currently run to/from Ayr station, and that is unlikely to change.

I did that once some years ago and it worked quite well. Far better than continuing to the meander down to Stranraer to change for the coach there.

 

[Trainbike46]

I did that once some years ago and it worked quite well. Far better than continuing to the meander down to Stranraer to change for the coach there.

I agree it is much better - the move of the port reduced travel time from Belfast to Glasgow (and beyond) for sailrail passengers. If the vague suggestions of giving Girvan a more frequent service (at least every half an hour) ever come true I could see the logic in running the coach only between Girvan and the ferry.

Ideally there would be three connections a day each week (connecting to the 7:30am, 11:30am and 15:30 ferry departures from Belfast towards Glasgow, and connecting into the 11:30, 15:30, and 19:30 departures from Cairnryan towards Belfast), and they would fix the various nonsense points I listed upthread that make the connection hard to use. Maybe the Ulsterbus depot in Stranraer could be contracted to run those services? geographically they are definitely the best placed.

Getting back to Stranraer station, I could see the case for relocating it somewhere more sensible, it may help to improve the passenger numbers a bit too, and would be a clear sign that the line is being retained.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Unless all the land for possible relocation of the line (not just the station) is already in Network Rail ownership, would it be necessary to obtain statutory powers?

I did think from the start of this thread that ‘Stranraer’ and ‘viable’ in the same sentence was rather strange. The last time I went that way (and made a genuine local bus connection to Cairnryan for a ferry) I was the only passenger on the train beyond Girvan.

 

[ainsworth74]

I did think from the start of this thread that ‘Stranraer’ and ‘viable’ in the same sentence was rather strange. The last time I went that way (and made a genuine local bus connection to Cairnryan for a ferry) I was the only passenger on the train beyond Girvan.

Well yes that's the sting in the tail really isn't it? As much as I'm loathe to contemplate closing any railway is there really a point to maintaining the service beyond Girvan? I mean Stranraer isn't really in with a fighting chance at the moment with an infrequent service serving a station which is very poorly sited. But with a population of 10,000 odd it's small but not absolute tiny (if Reston with it's 450 people can warrant a station...). But at the same time it's a lot of railway (37 miles) to serve not very many people when it gets there. Is spending a lot of money to give Stranraer a usable service really a worthwhile investment of previous resources? Would it be better spent in wiring up the line between Ayr and Girvan and giving that a better service instead for instance? Or do we just accept the status quo and live with a poor service run on a shoestring?

Tricky questions out on the crumbling edge!

 

[AlastairFraser]

I agree....and the large adjacent former lorry park would be able to be converted reasonably easily and cheaply into a bus interchange and park-and-ride car park.

Exactly.

Coach/bus shuttles for the Stena Line ferries currently run to/from Ayr station, and that is unlikely to change.

For Sail/Rail sure, I was thinking more local/regional traffic (and it also helps if we had the future wisdom to reopen the Dumfries to Stranraer railway).

Unless all the land for possible relocation of the line (not just the station) is already in Network Rail ownership, would it be necessary to obtain statutory powers?

I did think from the start of this thread that ‘Stranraer’ and ‘viable’ in the same sentence was rather strange. The last time I went that way (and made a genuine local bus connection to Cairnryan for a ferry) I was the only passenger on the train beyond Girvan.

The land at my proposed station next to the Cairnryan Road is in a large area of disused land and the establishment of a station/bus interchange/park and ride there could enable the redevelopment of the rest of the former port site (including the current station) for residential purposes.

 

[Zomboid]

Well yes that's the sting in the tail really isn't it? As much as I'm loathe to contemplate closing any railway is there really a point to maintaining the service beyond Girvan? I mean Stranraer isn't really in with a fighting chance at the moment with an infrequent service serving a station which is very poorly sited. But with a population of 10,000 odd it's small but not absolute tiny (if Reston with it's 450 people can warrant a station...). But at the same time it's a lot of railway (37 miles) to serve not very many people when it gets there. Is spending a lot of money to give Stranraer a usable service really a worthwhile investment of previous resources? Would it be better spent in wiring up the line between Ayr and Girvan and giving that a better service instead for instance? Or do we just accept the status quo and live with a poor service run on a shoestring?

Tricky questions out on the crumbling edge!

I think that for a relatively small investment of just moving the station to the landward end of the pier you'd be able to give the line a better chance. I don't think it'd be a huge game changer, but it seems especially useless to run the train through the town and out the other end to serve a closed ferry terminal.
The complete lack of anything at all (except some scenery) between Girvan and Stranraer does make it harder to make a case though. I could see a world where the tourist potential of the area might be leveraged to create something along the lines of the West Highland, but that's a much wider thing than just the railway.

 

[D6130]

I think that for a relatively small investment of just moving the station to the landward end of the pier you'd be able to give the line a better chance. I don't think it'd be a huge game changer, but it seems especially useless to run the train through the town and out the other end to serve a closed ferry terminal.
The complete lack of anything at all (except some scenery) between Girvan and Stranraer does make it harder to make a case though. I could see a world where the tourist potential of the area might be leveraged to create something along the lines of the West Highland, but that's a much wider thing than just the railway.

I have often thought that a small scale development of Barrhill station as a kind of 'Newton Stewart Parkway' might help the line's chances of survival by encouraging people from Western Galloway to travel to Ayr, Prestwick Airport and Glasgow. But I doubt that the additional patronage generated would pay for the costs of maintaining Pinmore Tunnel and the three (or are there four?) viaducts.

 

[HSTEd]

How much would a short platform at the landward end of the pier, a bus shelter and some painted markings for a car park cost, ultimately?

 

[D6130]

How much would a short platform at the landward end of the pier, a bus shelter and some painted markings for a car park cost, ultimately?

.....plus lighting, drainage, disabled access, etc.

 

[WAB]

I've taken a look at the ticket office opening times. They are truly bizarre:

• Monday to Thursday: 10:00 - 11:30
• Friday: 10:00 - 15:00
• Saturday: 10:00 - 11:45
• Sunday: 09:30 - 11:15

What's the point of these hours, given they miss out all train arrivals and departures Monday to Thursday and Saturday, only capture one arrival/departure on Fridays and the first departure on a Sunday? Is there any other staffing at the station?

 

[ChiefPlanner]

But, but - that's what's going to justify reopening the Port Road!

Just thinking of the Freightliner domestic service to both Belfast and Dublin.

Belfast had virtually nil locaded container traffic on the return flows , Dublin had a bit - often Bord na Mona peat to a myriad of garden centres and drink , particularly Guiness and Baileys Irish Cream , bit of crumb traffic for chocolate makers.

Such was the fierce competetion from other UK ports and operators , often using RO/RO , despite "working together" via the Irish Sea Operators club , it was a market with too many participants for the business on offer , so shall we say a challenging scenaro.

Despite every effort , Freighliner eventually withdrew - a simple matter of costs and revenue. They had the capability of course of a box giving no cargo transhipment of contents and decent enough options for Irish deliveries by road. (though there was I understand some limited use of rail within Eire)

We once did (as trainees) , a gruelling fact finding tour , using the 0300 boat from Holyhead and a tour of Dublin docks etc and facilities. A long day - and being held as "suspicious" - no luggage etc by what I assume was Special Branch at Holyhead , we missed the train connections forwards and were forced to find a B&B in Holyhead and carried on the next day. Not so happy day(s) .

 

[D6130]

I've taken a look at the ticket office opening times. They are truly bizarre:



What's the point of these hours, given they miss out all train arrivals and departures Monday to Thursday and Saturday, only capture one arrival/departure on Fridays and the first departure on a Sunday? Is there any other staffing at the station?

IIRC, prior to the ferries being rerouted to Cairnryan in 2011, the booking office at Stranraer was operated and staffed by Sealink and later Stena Line. I wonder if that is still the case? If so, the booking office hours may still be tied to the departure times of now non-existant ferries.