Reston
Station 116Rudy visited Reston on
Monday, 23rd May 2022
arriving at 12:13 on a train from Edinburgh Waverley
Reston Station
This is the first station Rudy has visited on its official opening day! We waited until after the very first trains had been & gone to avoid the busy opening ceremony crowd but there was still a steady stream of visitors when we were there. It was nice to get a glimpse of how important a new railway station can be to a community.
The first station at Reston opened in 1846 on the line between Edinburgh and Berwick-upon-Tweed. It survived until the Beeching cuts of 1964. In 2019 Transport Scotland confirmed a new station for the village would open by 2024 so it’s two years early! This may be the reason that it doesn’t feel fully integrated with the timetable on opening day with no ScotRail trains stopping here, just LNER and TransPennine Express services.
The new station is on a site further east than the original and the design is distinctly different from the previous two newest stations in Scotland. We definitely prefer the footbridge & lift looks here than the utilitarian ones at Kintore & Robroyston! It’s also very future-proofed with platforms longer than any train stopping here and space for expanding the carpark already identified if needed.
Disappointingly for a brand new station it’s initial timetable is quite scarce and seems to almost fit the old idea of morning & evening peak time travel.
We’d love to see further investment in the line here to make it easier to run more trains. Our daytrip was great so we’d love regular Edinburgh to Berwick-upon-Tweed trains – of course with MORE NEW STATIONS please! 😅
A Different Train for Rudy
Our trip to Reston included Rudy’s first journey on a TransPennine Express train. I don’t think he noticed the different shade of blue or the newer type of train but we were both impressed by how clean the train was (almost as if special effort was made for a special day?!) It was also really comfortable and the staff friendly so we’re looking forward to our next journey with them soon!
Reston is just over half an hour by train from Edinburgh Waverley.
The station is unstaffed. There are no toilets and no fully enclosed waiting shelters. The lift provides step-free access to both platforms.
