Glasgow Attractions

Glasgow Queen Street

Glasgow Queen Street railway station is one of the main railway stations in the City of Glasgow, Scotland.  The city is served by two stations and this one lies on Queen Street’s northern end by the Queen Street Tunnel and next to George Square.  The station serves approximately 14 million passengers a year and operates on two levels, high and low.

The station began operations in 1842, when it was built by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway. The high level terminus operates routes the north of Scotland including Edinburgh.  Trains access this part of the station via the Queen Street Tunnel and in the early days, stock was hauled through the tunnel using a rope and engine system.  Other methods were tried unsuccessfully and eventually the introduction of diesel engines made the tunnel climb for trains to Cowlairs, much easier and less problematic. Above the tunnel is a modern shopping centre called the Buchanan Galleries.

The low level station was operated by the Glasgow City and District Railway and this is the central stop for the suburban electric network ran by the North Clyde Line.  It operates a busy section of line between the Firth of Clyde and Airdrie and it is the oldest section of underground railway in the City of Glasgow.

A Glasgow Signalling Centre has been constructed on the Cowlairs site, in recent years and this replaces the signal boxes operated from both the high and low level stations. The signalling for the high level station was originally on a gantry across the tracks at the tunnel mouth and then moved to Cowlairs signalling centre. The two separate signal boxes on the low level lines were Queens Street East and West and eventually controlled by Yoker Signalling Centre.

A recent initiative backed with funding from the Scottish Government, has been set up to look at the future development of Glasgow’s two central stations.  This initiative hopes to find a solution to link Central Station to Glasgow Queens Street Station together and make rail travel for Glasgow passengers a smooth transition for one route to another.