A railway station on the Ayrshire Coast Line, Saltcoats (sometimes known as Saltcoats Central, although there is no other station in the town, and referred to in Gaelic as Baile an t-Salainn) it is located on Glencairn Street in the town centre. It was opened as part of the Ardrossan Railway in 1840 and, for a time in the 19th C., was a junction, with a goods branch connecting to Saltcoats harbour. It comprises a double track which was electrified in the 1980s. Saltcoats is preceded by Stevenston Railway Station, 1¼ miles (2 km) to the east, and followed by Ardrossan South Beach, a mile (1.5 km) to the northwest.
Now operated by ScotRail, Saltcoats Railway Station is staffed part-time and is used by more than 348,000 passengers per annum in 2016-17.