Services
In the latter years of British Railways, operations were sectorised. All Scottish operations (excluding the WCML and ECML services), including this line, became part of the Regional Railways operation - being branded as ScotRail.
Following privatisation, passenger services upon the line were taken over by ScotRail, (part of National Express), and are now operated by First ScotRail with the track and signalling being operated (nationally) by Network Rail. The Dumfries route remains one of only three railway lines between the Scottish border and lowland areas alongside the East Coast Main Line and West Coast Main Line. Along with the Settle-Carlisle Railway, the line is much used as both a diversionary route, especially during the recent West Coast Main Line modernisation, and for freight, notably coal from the several open cast coalmines of the Ayrshire Coalfield that adjoin the line.
Between Glasgow Central and New Cumnock and Girvan the line is operated by Scottish Train Operating Company (TOC) - currently First ScotRail - on behalf of the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport. Electric train services are also provided between Glasgow and Troon and Ayr via the Ayrshire Coast Line. Some services continue on from Carlisle to Newcastle, with a daily direct service between Newcastle and Stranraer via Kilmarnock.
Read more about this topic: Glasgow South Western Line
Famous quotes containing the word services:
“We now in the United States have more security guards for the rich than we have police services for the poor districts. If you’re looking for personal security, far better to move to the suburbs than to pay taxes in New York.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)
“Working women today are trying to achieve in the work world what men have achieved all along—but men have always had the help of a woman at home who took care of all the other details of living! Today the working woman is also that woman at home, and without support services in the workplace and a respect for the work women do within and outside the home, the attempt to do both is taking its toll—on women, on men, and on our children.”
—Jeanne Elium (20th century)
“A good marriage ... is a sweet association in life: full of constancy, trust, and an infinite number of useful and solid services and mutual obligations.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)