Aberdeenshire railway station requires Â£3m to reopen

Kinmore Station has been closed since 1964 but could reopen within the next 3 years. Picture: Contributed.

Kintore railway station in Aberdeenshire will be brought back into use 52 years after it was closed if bosses at Nestrans, the region’s transport partnership, can agree how to source nearly £3 million of funding.

Opening a new station at Kintore will cost £12.2 million, with 50% of that total already secured via contributions from Aberdeenshire Council and the Scottish Stations Fund (SSF), administered by Transport Scotland.

Nestrans transport chiefs will meet soon to decide how to plug the funding gap of £2.97 million required to complete the project, and will push for SSF to increase their contribution by 10%.

In partnership with Nestrans, the local authority have pledged £3.2 million towards the station’s final bill, but another £800,000 may still be required by the council and Nestrans even if SSF increase their contribution to 60%.

The new station is set to be located off the Northern Road and will feature a 180-capacity car park, passenger facilities and a new access road.

Nestrans first mentioned the reopening Kinmore in 2009, as part of its Rail Action Plan for the next decade. Initial projections for the works were estimated at well over £18 million, though this appears to have been scaled back.

Kintore Station was axed back in 1964 as a part of the cuts proposed by Dr Beeching. It had served as junction between the main line and an abandoned branch line to Alford Valley.

Authorities hope to have the new line and station open by 2019. The project will form part of a wider £170 million plan to upgrade the line between Aberdeen and Inverness.