Argyle Line
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Principal stations
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The Argyle Line is a suburban railway located in West Central Scotland.
Opened in 1979, the Argyle Line was created by reinstating a number of redundant sections of track in the Glasgow area which had been closed by the Beeching Axe. Outside of Glasgow's central area, it uses sections of the North Clyde and West Coast Main Line (WCML). Services on the line are operated by First ScotRail on behalf of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT).
The line serves stations between Dalmuir (a sub district of Clydebank) or Milngavie, and the Clyde Valley, terminating at either Motherwell, Larkhall, Coatbridge Central or Lanark. Some services also terminate at Carstairs. The principal station on the route is Glasgow Central Low Level - part of Glasgow Central station.
At Lanark, the line originates on a two platform terminal station, to run on a single track branch for 2 miles, where it joins the WCML at Cleghorn Junction, before calling at Carluke. This is the fastest section of the line, with a maximum linespeed of 115mph, well above the 90mph maximum of the Class 334's used on the route.
The line diverges from the WCML just north of Carluke, to join the Motherwell Deviation line, before calling at Wishaw. Here, the line splits into two sections. The main Argyle line rejoins the WCML at Shieldmuir before approaching Motherwell from the south. A newly re-opened spur continues along the Motherwell Deviation line towards Holytown before approaching Motherwell from the north.
Trains approaching Motherwell from Shieldmuir then leave the WCML again to call at Bellshill before rejoining the mainline at Uddingston. It then meets the Hamilton Circle line just after Newton.
Trains approaching Motherwell from Holytown, cross the WCML to travel onto the Hamilton Circle, before calling at Airbles. Between here and Hamilton Central, a spur from Larkhall joins. The line then passes through Hamilton West, Blantyre and Newton before rejoining the WCML and the main route of the Argyle line between here and Cambuslang.
The line then leaves the WCML for the last time at Rutherglen. Between Dalmarnock and Exhibition Centre (previously called Finnieston and Stobcross), the line runs below ground. On this section, there are ghost stations at Glasgow Green and underneath Glasgow Cross (adjacent to the Tollbooth) both constructed by the Glasgow Central Railway - the original builders of the 6.25 mile long underground line between Rutherglen and Stobcross. Today the frontage of Glasgow Green station still exists, whilst the entrance to Glasgow Cross station have been turned into ventilation ducts which can still be seen on the traffic island between Trongate and London Road. West of Stobcross, to Partick and Hyndland, a section of the Lanarkshire and Dunbartonshire Railway tunnel towards Partick Central, together with a 1970s constructed tunnel for eastbound trains, and a link ramp for westbound trains are used to reach the North British Railway line from Queen Street station.
Going North-westwards, Partick is currently undergoing a multi million pound redevelopment to create and improve the access to this busy interchange station, the fifth busiest in Scotland.[1] The Argyle Line connects to the North Clyde Line, and shares the same track. Heading to the south east, it connects with, and shares the same track as the West Coast Main Line after Rutherglen until Shieldmuir, near Motherwell, where it branches off towards Wishaw and Lanark.
[edit] Rolling Stock
At its opening, the staple rolling stock on the Argyle Line was the brand new Class 314 electric multiple units. These were accompanied by a number of the older Class 303 "Blue Train" sets from the North Clyde route. After the 303's were finally retired in 2002, the route was operated by a mixture of new Class 334 Alstom "Juniper" units, alongside a small number of 1980s vintage Class 318 trains cascaded from the Ayrshire routes, with the original Class 314 sets transferred to the Cathcart Circle.
[edit] References
- ^ The usage information (Station Entries and Station Exits) is based on ticket sales in the financial year 2002/03 and covers all National Rail stations. Continued usage notes, and Excel format table for all stations available.
