Argyle Line

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Argyle Line

Legend Dalmuir (for West Highland Line and North Clyde Line westwards) Clydebank Yoker Singer Drumry Drumchapel Milngavie Hillfoot Bearsden Westerton Anniesland (for Maryhill Line) Garscadden Scotstounhill Jordanhill Hyndland Partick (for Glasgow Subway and North Clyde Line eastwards) Exhibition Centre (for the SECC) Anderston Glasgow Central (for WCML & ECML) Argyle Street Bridgeton Dalmarnock Rutherglen Cambuslang Newton (for the Cathcart Circle) Blantyre Hamilton West Hamilton Central Uddingston Chatelherault Merryton Larkhall Bellshill Airbles Coatbridge Central Whifflet (for Whifflet Line) Motherwell (for WCML & ECML) Holytown Shieldmuir Wishaw Carluke Lanark Carstairs (for WCML)

The Argyle Line is a suburban railway located in West Central Scotland. It connects the Lanarkshire towns of Lanark, Larkhall and Motherwell to West Dunbartonshire via Glasgow.

Contents 1 History 2 Service lines 3 Service Patterns 3.1 Monday-Saturday 3.2 Sunday 4 Rolling stock 5 References

[edit] History

Opened in 1979, the Argyle Line was created, as joint venture by British Rail and the Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive (SPTE), by reinstating a number of redundant sections of track in the Glasgow area which had been closed by the Beeching Axe.^[1] 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).

[edit] Service lines

The line serves stations between Dalmuir (a sub district of Clydebank), Milngavie or Balloch on Sundays 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 Lanark Junction, before calling at Carluke.

The line diverges from the WCML just north of Carluke, to join the Wishaw 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. This is the fastest section of the line, with a maximum linespeed of 105mph, well above the 90mph maximum of the Class 334s used on the route. A spur recently reopened to regular passenger services continues along the Wishaw 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 at Newton.

Trains approaching Motherwell from Holytown or Coatbridge Central, 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 'Stobcross', then 'Finnieston'), 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.^[2] The Argyle Line connects to the North Clyde Line, and shares the same track. Trains then either travel towards Dalmuir via Yoker, or go via Anniesland to Milngavie or Dalmuir and on Sundays, Balloch via Yoker.

[edit] Service Patterns

[edit] Monday-Saturday

2tph Larkhall-Dalmuir via Singer (Express)

1tph Motherwell-Milngavie via Blantyre

1tph Lanark-Milngavie via Holytown & Blantyre

1tph Motherwell-Dalmuir via Bellshill & Yoker

1tph Lanark-Dalmuir via Bellshill & Yoker

Peak Services to Coatbridge Central & Carstairs

[edit] Sunday

2tph Motherwell-Balloch via Blantyre & Yoker

1tph Lanark-Milngavie via Bellshill

1tph Motherwell-Milngavie via Bellshill

From December 2007, there are plans to include an hourly Sunday service from Larkhall, probably to Dalmuir via Singer.

[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 303s 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