Glasgow Central station
Encyclopedia : G : GL : GLA : Glasgow Central station
Glasgow Central Station is the larger of the two main-line railway terminals in Glasgow, Scotland. It is operated by Network Rail. It is the northern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, and was opened by the Caledonian Railway on July 31 1879.
Original station
The original station, opened in 1879 on the north bank of the River Clyde, had eight platforms and was linked to Bridge Street station by a railway bridge over Argyle Street and a four-track railway bridge, built by Sir William Arrol, which crossed the Clyde to the south.
The station was soon found to be too congested. A temporary solution of widening the bridge over Argyle Street and inserting a ninth platform on Argyle Street bridge was adopted. It was also initially intended to increase Bridge Street station to eight through lines and to increase Central Station to 15 platforms.
The low level platforms, in what was originally a separate station, were added to serve the underground Glasgow Central Railway, which was authorised on 10 August 1888 and opened on 10 August 1896. The Glasgow Central Railway was taken over by the Caledonian Railway in 1890 .
According to Network Rail, over 34m people visit the station every year.
The station is on two levels - the High Level station at the same level as Gordon Street and which bridges over Argyle Street, and the underground Low Level station.
The High Level station has 14 platforms covered by a large steel ridge/furrow roof. These platforms are numbered 1 - 11, 11a and 12 - 13. It has a spacious concourse containing a variety of shops, catering outlets, ticket offices and a travel centre. The station is fronted by the Central Hotel on Gordon Street, designed by Robert Rowand Anderson. The station building also houses a long line of shops and bars down the Union Street side. Although not obvious to the general public, there is also an extensive system of tunnels and underground caverns used for car parking and utility purposes built underneath the station.
The station's most famous architectural feature is the large glass-walled bridge that takes the station building over Argyle Street, nicknamed as the "Highlandman's Umbrella" by locals because it was used as a gathering place for visiting Highlanders. Underneath the Umbrella is a bustling array of shops and bars, as well as the "Arches" nightclub.
The Low Level station has two platforms, numbered 14 & 15. It consists of a single island platform and currently serves the Argyle Line of the Glasgow suburban railway network. Services through the Low Level station were withdrawn in 1964, said to be due to competition with the tram. However, the trams had actually been withdrawn by 1962, so this may be another contradiction of the Beeching cuts. In 1979 the line was electrified and the Low Level station was re-opened. Over the festive period at the end of 1994, torrential rain caused the River Kelvin to burst its banks and the Low Level station was completely submerged by the resultant flash flood. It was closed for many months while repairs were made.
In order to accommodate the proposed Glasgow Airport Rail Link, scheduled to open in 2008 - 09, an extended Platform 11a will be created by demolishing the present platform-level car park, and passenger drop off area.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.The 1901 - 1905 station
Between 1901 and 1905 the original station was rebuilt. The station was extended over the top of Argyle Street and thirteen platforms were built. An additional eight-track bridge was built over the Clyde; with the power operated signal box, opened on 5th April 1908, sitting suspended between the two river bridges. Bridge Street station was then closed.
20th Century refurbishment
In 1998, a five-year renovation programme was initiated by Railtrack, which saw the station completely re-roofed and internally refurbished. The old oval destination boards were replaced by a relocated electronic destination board and a smaller repeater board. The building housing the old boards was retained and converted into shops and an upstairs pub and restaurant. The final improvement, the installation of new electronic destination signs, was completed at the end of 2003.Train Operating Companies
Three train operating companies operate trains to and from this station:
A taxi rank is to the north of the station; buses operate from adjacent streets. The Glasgow Underground operates from St Enoch, about 5 minutes' walk away to the south-east, or Buchanan Street station, 5 minutes' walk to the north.References
External links
Services
{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 0.5em auto; text-align: center;"
|-
! Preceding station
! colspan="3" | National Rail
! Following station
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.