Shotts Line

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Glasgow-Edinburgh via Shotts Line

Principal stations Glasgow Central Cambuslang Uddingston Bellshill Holytown Carfin Cleland Hartwood Shotts Fauldhouse Breich Addiewell West Calder Livingston South Kirknewton Curriehill Wester Hailes Kingsknowe Slateford Haymarket Edinburgh Waverley

The Shotts Line, is a suburban railway line linking Glasgow and Edinburgh via Shotts in Scotland. The route from Glasgow to Shotts is part of the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport network.

This line is not meant to be a service between the cities: the journey would take twice as long as the frequent main Glasgow Queen Street-Edinburgh service via Falkirk and Linlithgow. There is also at certain times a Glasgow Central-Edinburgh service via Motherwell and Carstairs.

The line is not electrified.

In 2002, the Scottish Association Public Transport (SAPT) published a report suggesting that electrification of the Shotts line would open up the Glasgow suburban electric network to Edinburgh and beyond, principally linking the capital to the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (timetabled for completion in 2009). This has been proposed as an alternative to the Glasgow Crossrail scheme, since it would not depend on the heavily used North Clyde Line, and would also provide a more direct electric link between Edinburgh and Glasgow without taking the long winded route via Carstairs Junction currently only used primarily by long-distance inter-city trains.

[edit] Stations

The Shotts line serves the following stations:

• Glasgow Central
• Cambuslang railway station
  • connections for Larkhall railway station and services via Newton railway station and Blantyre
• Uddingston railway station
• Bellshill railway station
  • connections to Motherwell railway station, Hamilton West and Central, Lanark railway station. Up to here is also part of the Strathclyde network.
• Holytown railway station
• Carfin railway station
• Cleland
• Hartwood railway station
• Shotts railway station
• Fauldhouse railway station
• Breich railway station (This station is only served by one eastbound & two westbound trains per day)
• Addiewell railway station
• West Calder railway station
• Livingston South
• Kirknewton
  • from here is within the City of Edinburgh
• Curriehill railway station
• Wester Hailes railway station
• Kingsknowe railway station
• Slateford railway station
• Edinburgh Haymarket
• Edinburgh Waverley

(Stations in bold are express stations) The line follows the Glasgow branch of electrified West Coast Main Line as far as Uddingston Junction where it branches off to the east. Until Holytown Junction the line is electrified and also used by Argyle Line services. From Holytown it continues through open countryside past Shotts and joins the Edinburgh branch of the WCML at Kirknewton. The central section between Holytown and Kirknewton is not electrified. Most of the stations between WCML and Edinburgh Haymarket are served principally by trains on the Shotts line, which are operated by First ScotRail.

Train services on the line are provided by First Scotrail Class 156 DMUs on an hourly basis from early morning to late night. The services via Motherwell and Carstairs are provided by First Scotrail Class 156 DMUs or Class 322 EMUs on a peak time only basis.

[edit] References