Glasgow Queen Street railway station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Glasgow Queen Street | |||
| Sràid na Banrighinn | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||
| Glasgow Queen Street high level platforms | |||
| Location | |||
| Place | Glasgow | ||
| Local authority | Glasgow | ||
| Operations | |||
| Station code | GLQ | ||
| Managed by | First ScotRail | ||
| Platforms in use | 9 (2 on low level) | ||
| Live departures and station information from National Rail | |||
| Annual Passenger Usage | |||
| 2002/03 * | 2.029 million | ||
| 2004/05 ** | 3.731 million | ||
| Passenger Transport Executive | |||
| PTE | SPT | ||
| History | |||
| 21 February 1842 | High Level Station opened | ||
| 15 March 1886 | Low Level Station opened | ||
| National Rail - UK railway stations | |||
| Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Glasgow Queen Street (source) | |||
|
|||
Glasgow Queen Street is a railway station in Glasgow, Scotland and is the city's second main line terminus. The station is the third busiest station in Scotland. It is situated between George Street to the south and Cathedral Street Bridge to the north, at the northern end of Queen Street adjacent to George Square.
Contents |
[edit] Services
Queen Street is the main gateway to northern and eastern Scotland from Glasgow (with Glasgow Central station serving the South and rest of the UK), and is built on two levels. The station is managed by First ScotRail who operate all of the passenger services including the flagship Glasgow to Edinburgh shuttle.
[edit] High Level
The high level station serves a mainline to Edinburgh, with modern diesel trains completing the journey to the capital in about 45 minutes, with onward connections to Fife. The mainline to Aberdeen also runs from Queen Street Station. This Aberdeen line runs to Perth and Dundee while terminating at Aberdeen/Dyce. Services to Inverness along the Highland Main Line also depart from here, as do trains on the West Highland Line to Fort William and Mallaig. The main line approaches to the station come through the 1000 yards long Queen Street Tunnel, which runs beneath the Buchanan Galleries shopping centre to the Sighthill area northeast of the city centre where the tracks emerge and diverge to their various routes. Following the demolition in 1977 of St Enoch Station, which was situated near the opposite end of Queen Street, the high-level station is now the only vaulted railway station left in Scotland. Following the construction of an office block in front of the George Square station entrance in the 1970s, the main station building is effectively screened from view.
[edit] Low Level
The low level station forms the hub of the North Clyde Line of the Glasgow suburban electric network. Trains run frequently between Helensburgh, on the Firth of Clyde, and Airdrie — on the edge of the Greater Glasgow conurbation. The stretch of this line between High Street, Queen Street and Charing Cross was in fact built before the Glasgow Subway, making it the oldest piece of underground railway in the city.
 A Class 320 train leaves the low level station |
 The exterior of the station, on George Square |
 Bilingual sign. English: "Welcome to Queen Street"; Gaelic: "Fàilte gu Sràid na Banrighinn". |
[edit] History
The station was originally built for the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, opened in 1842, which became part of the North British Railway. The climb through the tunnel to Cowlairs was at 1 in 47 and until 1900 trains were hauled up on a rope operated by a stationary engine. In 1945 there was a minor railway accident when a train leaving the station slipped to a standstill and rolled back into another train. Modern diesel trains have no difficulty with the climb.
The adjacent Buchanan Street station of the rival Caledonian Railway was closed in 1965 as a result of the Beeching axe and its services to Stirling, Perth, Inverness, Dundee and Aberdeen were transferred to Queen Street. This caused difficulties with longer trains, as Queen Street is in a confined position between George Square and the tunnel and barely takes six coaches. Current trains, however, are usually of two to four coaches, running more frequently.
[edit] Signalling
Queen Street signal box, opened in 1881, was located on a gantry spanning the tracks close to the tunnel mouth. It closed on 26 February 1967 when control of the High Level station was transferred to a panel in Cowlairs signal box. That box was superseded by the new Cowlairs signalling centre on 28 December 1998.
The Low Level station had two signal boxes, 'Queen Street West' and 'Queen Street East'. Both boxes were situated over the tracks and both were closed on 8 February 1960. The low level lines came under the control of Yoker Signalling Centre (IECC) on 19 November 1989.
In early 2007, Network Rail began construction work on a new Glasgow Signalling Centre on the Cowlairs site which will ultimately replace signal boxes in the Glasgow area, north and south of the River Clyde.
[edit] Proposals
Various schemes to link Queen Street to Central Station have been considered over the years, as Glasgow's weakest link in railway terms is that passengers travelling from the north of Scotland to the south via Glasgow and vice-versa have to traverse the city centre by road via a shuttle bus, or on foot. Even the Glasgow Underground serves neither main line station, although Buchanan Street underground station is at least adjacent to Queen Street.
The preferred solution to the problem is a Crossrail initiative which would use a disused freight line which links High Street to the Gorbals area. This initiative [1] was recently awarded a grant from the Scottish Executive to investigate costs for possible link to be built between the two halves of the Glasgow rail network. A date of 2009 is estimated for completion of the project.
In August 2006, Network Rail revealed that it intends to redevelop Queen Street substantially, making use of the Hanover Street car park area to provide more retail space, and also to upgrade the station's entrances.
[edit] External links
- Train times and station information for Glasgow Queen Street railway station from National Rail
- Street map and aerial photo of Glasgow Queen Street railway station from Multimap.com
- Glasgow and District Transport Plans - 1951 with details of Queen Street and proposed new station
| Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glasgow High Street | First ScotRail |
Charing Cross | ||
| Terminus | First ScotRail West Highland Line |
Dalmuir | ||
| Terminus | First ScotRail |
Bishopbriggs | ||
| Terminus | First ScotRail |
Springburn | ||
| Terminus | First ScotRail |
Ashfield | ||
| Terminus | First ScotRail Glasgow to Edinburgh via Falkirk Line |
Croy | ||
| Historical Railways | ||||
| Glasgow High Street Line and Station open |
Glasgow City and District Railway | Charing Cross Line and Station open |
||
| Terminus | Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway | Cowlairs Line open; Station closed |
||
| Major UK railway stations |
|---|
| Managed by Network Rail: Birmingham New Street • Edinburgh Waverley • Gatwick Airport • Glasgow Central • Leeds City • Liverpool Lime Street • Manchester Piccadilly |
| Managed by train operator: Aberdeen • Belfast Central • Belfast GVS • Birmingham Snow Hill • Brighton • Bristol Temple Meads • Cardiff Central • Crewe • Derby • Doncaster • Dundee • Glasgow Queen Street • Hull • Manchester Victoria • Newcastle • Nottingham • Reading • Sheffield • York |
| Railway stations of London: Central area | Greater London |
| Managed by Network Rail: Cannon Street • Charing Cross • Euston • Fenchurch Street • King's Cross • Liverpool Street • London Bridge • Paddington • Victoria • Waterloo |
| Managed by train operator: Blackfriars • Marylebone • Moorgate • St Pancras |
