Culrain railway station

Culrain railway station serves the village of Culrain in Kyle of Sutherland in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is located on the Far North Line. It is 61 mi from Inverness, between Ardgay and Invershin. ScotRail, who manage the station, operate all services.

History
The station opened in 1871, as part of the Sutherland Railway, later becoming part of the Highland Railway and later the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.

The original nameboard is now preserved at the Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway, in Kent (see left).

Location
The station is close to Carbisdale Castle, which operated from 1945 to 2011 as a youth hostel owned by the Scottish Youth Hostels Association. The hostel has been closed since 2011 as a result of structural damage. Following its sale to a consortium in 2016, planning permission was granted in 2017/2018 to turn the castle back into a private residence but now with swimming pool.

Facilities
The station has a waiting shelter, a bench, a help point and cycle racks, and has step-free access. As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.

On 20 December 2022, Transport Scotland introduced a new "Press & Ride" system at Culrain, following successful trials of the system at Scotscalder over the previous four months. Previously, passengers wishing to board a train at Culrain had to flag the train by raising their arm (as is still done at other request stops around the country); this meant that the driver needed to reduce the train's speed before a request stop (to look out for any potential passengers on the platform and be able to stop if necessary), even if the platform was empty. The new system consists of an automatic kiosk (with a button for passengers to press) at the platform; this will alert the driver about any waiting passengers in advance and, if there is no requirement to stop, the train can maintain line speed through the request stops, thus improving reliability on the whole line.

Platform layout
The station has a single platform which is long enough for a five-coach train. The railway line through Culrain is single track, with the nearest passing loop to the north being at Lairg and to the south at Ardgay.

Passenger volume
The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services
On Mondays to Saturdays, there are four trains a day southbound to Inverness and four northbound to Wick. On Sundays, there is one train in each direction.