Glasgow Queen Street Railway Station


(Queen Street Station, Glasgow Queen Street, Sràid na Banrighinn)

Buchanan Street (Underground) and Queen Street (Rail) Stations, Glasgow
©2022 Gazetteer for Scotland

Buchanan Street (Underground) and Queen Street (Rail) Stations, Glasgow

Originally called Dundas Street Station, Queen Street Station (Gael: Sràid na Banrighinn) is the oldest station in Glasgow and dates back to 1842. It was the western terminus for the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway and was unique in that it was approached from the north via the Cowlairs Incline, a 46-m / 150-foot high slope, of 1¼ miles (2 km) length, which required early trains to be hauled from the station by means of a steam-driven winding cable. This system was abolished as more powerful trains were introduced to the network. The iron and glass roof was added as part of the rebuild of 1878. Queen Street Low Level station opened in 1886 for the Glasgow City and District Railway. When the nearby Buchanan Street Railway Station closed in 1966 as a result of the Beeching rail rationalisation process, its services to Stirling, Perth, Inverness, Dundee and Aberdeen were transferred to Queen Street High-Level. Queen Street was re-developed 1969-73, including the demolition of 19th-C station buildings and the building of an eight-storey office block, Consort House, but the lengths of the platforms restricted the size of trains. The station has been rebuilt as part of the £742-million Edinburgh-Glasgow Improvement Programme (2016-20), including electrification of the line, modification of the Cowlairs Tunnel and the removal of Consort House to create space for significantly-extended platforms, giving increased capacity through much longer trains.

Today, the station is operated by ScotRail and is staffed full-time. It was used by 16.5 million passengers in the 2016, the third busiest station in Scotland. Queen Street is linked to Buchanan Street Underground Station to the west. The Low Level Station lies between High Street Railway Station, a half-mile (1 km) to the east southeast and Charing Cross, a half-mile (1 km) to the west northwest. The first station after Queen Street High Level Station is Bishopbriggs, 3 miles (5 km) to the north northeast.


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