North Clyde Line
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The North Clyde Line (defined by Network Rail as the Glasgow North Electric Suburban line) is a suburban railway in West Central Scotland. The route is operated by First ScotRail, on behalf of the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (part of Transport Scotland).
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[edit] Route
The North Clyde Line runs east-west through the Greater Glasgow conurbation, linking northern Lanarkshire with western Dunbartonshire, by way of the city centre. The main line runs from Drumgelloch (in Airdrie) to Helensburgh Central via Glasgow Queen Street (Low Level). To the east of the city centre, there is a short branch to Springburn, while to the west there are two routes between Hyndland and Dalmuir (via Singer and via Yoker), as well as branches to Milngavie and Balloch.
The lines from Partick to Dalmuir and Milngavie are also used by Argyle Line services, whilst West Highland Line services share the line between Westerton and Craigendoran. In addition to the interchange with services from Glasgow Queen Street (High Level), there are interchanges with the Cumbernauld Line at Springburn, with the Maryhill Line at Anniesland, and with the Glasgow Subway at Partick. Some sections of the North Clyde Line are also traversed by freight trains.
The line runs through central Glasgow, and the principal station on the line is Glasgow Queen Street (Low Level). The section through the city centre largely runs in tunnels between High Street and the former Finnieston station (west of Charing Cross at the intersection of Argyle Street and Kent Road). This is in fact the oldest stretch of underground railway in Glasgow, opened as the Glasgow City & District Railway in 1886 and predating the Glasgow Subway by some ten years.
[edit] History
Like most of Glasgow's suburban railways, the North Clyde Lines as they are known today were built piecemeal from a patchwork of routes from various Victorian-era railway companies. These are listed below:
- 1850 Dumbarton Central to Balloch Pier opened by Caledonian and Dunbartonshire Junction Railway;
- 1858 Cowlairs to Bowling and Dalreoch to Helensburgh Central opened by Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway;
- 1862 Bathgate to Coatbridge Sunnyside opened by Bathgate and Coatbridge Railway;
- 1863 Westerton to Milngavie opened by Glasgow and Milngavie Junction Railway;
- 1870 Coatbridge Sunnyside to Bellgrove opened as the Coatbridge Branch of North British Railway;
- 1870 Bellgrove to High Street Junction opened by City of Glasgow Union Railway;
- 1871 High Street Junction to College opened as the Coatbridge Branch of North British Railway;
- 1874 Stobcross to Maryhill opened by Stobcross Railway;
- 1874 Anniesland to Whiteinch opened by Whiteinch Railway;
- 1875 Springburn to Bellgrove opened by City of Glasgow Union Railway;
- 1882 Jordanhill to Clydebank East opened by Glasgow, Yoker and Clydebank Railway;
- 1886 High Street to Stobcross, Hyndland branch, Jordanhill cord and Anniesland to Westerton cord opened by Glasgow City and District Railway;
- 1891 Bowling to Dumbarton Central opened by Lanarkshire and Dunbartonshire Railway;
- 1892 Bridgeton Central to High Street opened by Glasgow City and District Railway;
- 1897 Clydebank to Dalmuir opened by Glasgow, Yoker and Clydebank Railway;
The majority of these lines were absorbed by (or were subsidiaries of) the North British Railway; the exceptions being the Lanarkshire and Dunbartonshire Railway, which was part of the (Caledonian Railway), and the western part of the Caledonian and Dunbartonshire Junction Railway (which was joint between the North British and the Caledonian). At the time of the Grouping in 1923, the North British Railway became part of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), while the Caledonian Railway became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS).
Following nationalisation in 1948, all of the lines came under the ownership of British Railways. A number of former LNER branch lines which fed into the North Clyde system were closed during the 1950s because they duplicated former LMS lines. Other lines closed due to lack of traffic, or later because they were not selected for inclusion in the electrification project. Notable withdrawals of passenger service occurred on:
- 1 May 1930: Manuel and Bathgate to Coatbridge Central (via Blackstone);
- 2 April 1951: Whiteinch Victoria branch, also the Kelvin Valley Line (Maryhill to Kilsyth);
- 10 September 1951: Bothwell to Coatbridge Sunnyside;
- 15 September 1952: Hamilton to Bothwell;
- 4 July 1955: Bothwell to Shettleston;
- 9 January 1956: Ratho to Airdrie;
- 14 September 1959: Clydebank East terminus;
- 5 November 1960: Hyndland branch (replaced by new Hyndland station on main line)
In 1960 the remainder of the North Clyde suburban system (Airdrie, Springburn and Bridgeton Central to Milngavie, Balloch Pier and Helensburgh Central, including both routes between Partick and Dalmuir) was electrified. A new junction between the former LNER and LMS lines was built at Dunglass, just west of Bowling, allowing North Clyde Line services to use the former LMS (Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire) line through Dumbarton East, and the original LNER (Caledonian and Dunbartonshire Junction) line from Dunglass to Dumbarton Central was closed. The outer areas were electrified to the 25kV AC 50Hz standard, with the central area, the Springburn, Bridgeton and Milngavie branches and the Yoker line being at 6.25kV AC due to restricted clearances in tunnels. As insulation technology improved these lines were eventually converted to 25kV.
The former LMS lines in north-west Glasgow and Dunbartonshire closed to passengers in 1964, under the Beeching Axe. However, the section from Rutherglen through Glasgow Central (Low Level) was reopened as the Argyle Line in 1979. A new flying junction was built east of Partick to connect the Argyle Line with the North Clyde Line. The Bridgeton Central branch closed on 5 November 1979, having been replaced by the re-opened Bridgeton Cross station on the Argyle Line. On 17 December 1979, Partick Hill station was replaced by the new Partick (Interchange) slightly to the south, which provides a connection with the Subway.
Pleasure steamer operations on Loch Lomond ceased in the 1980s, leading to the closure of Balloch Pier terminus station on 28 September 1986. The Balloch line was further truncated in April 1988 when Balloch Central station was replaced by the new Balloch station on the opposite site of Balloch Road, which allowed the elimination of a level crossing. The catenary from the closed section to Balloch Pier was then used to reopen the line east of Airdrie to its current terminus at Drumgelloch in May 1989.
[edit] Service pattern
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[edit] 2008
The typical weekday service pattern on the North Clyde Line in 2008:
- Drumgelloch - Helensburgh Central (limited stop, via Yoker line), 30 minute frequency;
- Airdrie - Balloch (all stations via Singer), 30 minute frequency;
- Springburn - Dalmuir (all stations via Yoker), 30 minute frequency;
- High Street - Milngavie (all stations), 30 minute frequency;
In addition, Argyle Line services provide services through Glasgow Central (Low Level) running all stations to Milngavie, Daluir (via Yoker) and Dalmuir (via Singer), all running on 30 minute frequencies. The section through Patrick and Hyndland stations is therefore one of the busiest in Scotland, with 28 trains per hour using the double track line.
[edit] Rolling stock
Prior to electrification passenger services were operated primarily by tank engines, notably Class N2 0-6-2T and Class V1/V3 2-6-2T, which were allocated to depots at Parkhead and Kipps (Coatbridge).
Electrification brought the introduction of the legendary and locally-built Class 303 EMUs, operated from a new depot at the former Hyndland terminus station. From 1967 they were joined by the similar Class 311 EMUs, which were built for the Inverclyde Line electrification but which were initially allocated to Hyndland for maintenance and were occasionally used on the North Clyde Line. The Class 303 and 311 trains were nicknamed the "Blue Trains" because of the bright Caledonian Blue colour scheme they carried in the 1960s, at a time when most British Railways passenger stock was painted either green or maroon. In the late 1960s they began to be repainted in the new standard Rail Blue, and from the late 1970s they received coaching stock blue/grey livery. This was followed by the distinctive Strathclyde PTE orange-and-black scheme in the 1980s. A few of the last surviving Class 303s eventually received the new SPT carmine/cream livery in the late 1990s.
In the 1970s, a new electric locomotive/EMU depot was built at Shields Road south of the Clyde, and this took over maintenance of the EMUs used on the Cathcart Circle and Inverclyde Lines, including all of the Class 311s. However, reopening of the Argyle Line in 1979 resulted in the introduction of Class 314 EMUs, which were allocated to Hyndland but used almost exclusively on the Argyle Line. In 1987, Hyndland depot closed and was replaced by new carriage sidings at Yoker, with maintenance transferred to Shields Road. Thereafter, Class 311s began to appear more frequently on some North Clyde services. However, it was not until 1990 that a start was made on replacing the Class 303s, which still operated the great majority of services on the North Clyde Line.
Class 320 EMUs were introduced in 1990 and took over most North Clyde services, enabled the withdrawal of many Class 303s and all of the 311s. A few Class 303 units continued to operate on the North Clyde Line until December 2002, when they were finally withdrawn. They were replaced by the Class 334 Alstom "Juniper" EMUs, together with Class 318 units which had been cascaded from the Ayrshire Coast Lines. The Class 318s and 334s also replaced the Class 314 units on the Argyle Line, and these were in turn been displaced to the Cathcart Circle and Inverclyde Lines (to replace the last 303s).
With the planned re-opening of the Airdrie-Bathgate line in 2010, it is expected that the current fleet of Class 320s will be cascaded elsewhere, as their maximum speed is only 75mph and the new line is being built for 80mph running. They may be replaced by cascaded Class 318s or 334s or by new-build units.
[edit] Future development
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[edit] Crossrail Glasgow
With many passengers travelling north-south through the city centre having to walk or use a shuttle bus between Central and Queen Street stations, SPT has long proposed a direct rail link between the North Clyde system and the lines radiating from Glasgow Central (High Level). This would allow direct service from Renfrewshire and Ayrshire stations to Glasgow Queen Street (Low Level), and would also allow new cross-city services such as Airdrie to Paisley. The plan would involve re-opening to passenger traffic the freight-only City Union Line between Shields Junction and Bellgrove, and building a new curve between Gallowgate and High Street. Reopening of the closed line from Strathbungo to Gorbals would allow trains from Barrhead and East Kilbride to use Crossrail. Funding for the scheme has yet to be sought, and the project remains a long term aspiration only.
[edit] Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link
Passenger services from Edinburgh to Airdrie ceased in 1956, but the line between Edinburgh and Bathgate was reopened to passenger traffic on a trial basis in 1986 and proved an instant success. In 2005, the Scottish Executive declared that in line with plans to upgrade the remaining section of the A8 road to motorway standard, public transport links between Glasgow and Edinburgh must also be improved. The closed section of the Bathgate and Coatbridge Railway between Bathgate and Drumgelloch will be re-opened, and the existing lines from Ratho to Bathgate and Drumgelloch to Airdrie will be upgraded. The whole line will be double track and electrified, with a maximum line speed of 80mph. The existing 30 minute frequency Drumgelloch services will be extended all the way to Edinburgh Waverley, with additional services between Bathgate and Edinburgh to give that section a 15 minute frequency.
The new link received the final approval of the Scottish Parliament on 28 March 2007 and gained Royal Assent on 9 May 2007. Work commenced with a sod cutting ceremony at Livingston North in June 2007, with reinstatement of double track between Ratho and Bathgate being the first stage. The line is expected to be operational by the end of 2010.
[edit] Accidents and Incidents
- On 11 September 1986 two railwaymen were killed in a collision between two trains at Bridgeton Central carriage sidings;
- On 6 March 1989 two people were killed when two trains collided head-on on a single lead junction at Bellgrove.
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