Argyle Line - History

History

The Glasgow Central Railway under central Glasgow had been in 1886, connecting the Lanarkshire and Dunbartonshire Railway at Maryhill Central and Stobcross Railway at Stobcross to the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway near Kirkhill, Rutherglen and Coatbridge Railway at Carmyle, Clydesdale Junction Railway and Polloc and Govan Railway at Rutherglen and Clydesdale Junction Railway at Newton. The line closed in 1964.

In November 1979, the Argyle Line was created, as joint venture by British Rail and the Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive (SPTE), by reopening most of the former route. However, the former Caledonian Railway route from Whiteinch was not to be re-opened, and a new connection with the former North British Railway route via Hyndland was created, incorporating a grade-separated junction with the Queen Street Low Level route.

A key part of the re-opening was the implementation of an intensive electrically operated passenger train service between Dalmuir and Milngavie, and Motherwell and Lanark. The service west of Partick was to be integrated with the existing North Clyde services on the Queen Street Low Level line. Outside of Glasgow's central area, the train service used sections of the North Clyde and West Coast Main Line (WCML).

Two stations were constructed for the re-opening of the line:

• Argyle Street; this was entirely new, i.e. both the site and the construction. Due to its proximity to Glasgow Cross station, the latter was not re-opened.
• Exhibition Centre station (called Finnieston until 1986); whilst this station was located only slightly to the west of the original Stobcross station on the Glasgow Central Railway, the only commonality between the two is the location of much of the eastbound platform (which was originally the westbound one).

On the central tunnel section, there are disused stations at Glasgow Green and at Glasgow Cross (adjacent to the Tollbooth), both constructed by the Glasgow Central Railway. The frontage of Glasgow Green station was demolished in March 2012, whilst the entrance to Glasgow Cross station has been turned into ventilation ducts, visible from the traffic island between Trongate and London Road.