Argyle Street railway station

History

The Glasgow Central Railway was formed in 1888 to link the Clydesdale Junction Railway and Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway with the Lanarkshire and Dunbartonshire Railway. By the time it was opened between 1894 and 1897, the GCR had been taken over by the Caledonian Railway. Although there were three stations under Argyle Street - Anderston, Glasgow Central and Glasgow Cross, there was no station on the site of the current station.

The line closed in 1964, but it was reopened by British Rail in 1979 and operated by the Scottish Region of British Railways by arrangement with the Greater Glasgow PTE. Although the Central Low Level station was reopened, Glasgow Cross was not reopened; instead the new Argyle Street station was constructed, midway between Glasgow Cross and Glasgow Central.

Station access

When the 1979 reopening took place, a simple island platform was required, but footings of adjacent buildings and other physical constraints limited the available tunnel width for the new station. Moreover, the roadway above had not yet been pedestrianised, and street access and station building construction was not acceptable within the road limits. Accordingly, station building premises were constructed within the ordinary building line on the south side of the street; access to the platforms is via Argyle Street and Osborne Street into the ticket hall, then down an escalator into the station lower level, below track level. A passageway then leads under the westbound track and a second escalator leads up to the island platform which is located directly under Argyle street.

Lift access was not considered on the grounds of expense and the physical limits of the platform space.

During the 2006/7 escalator renewal work the only passenger access to the lower level (under platform) of the station was via the steep emergency exit steps.

Ticket barriers came into operation on 17 June 2011.

Disabled access

This station does not have any disabled access due to the narrowness of the island platform; this is the source of many complaints. Installation of lift access would require platform widening, which would in turn require widening of the tunnel, requiring massive alteration to the buildings adjacent.

From 1979

Mondays to Saturdays

2014

On Monday to Saturdays, trains leave approximately every ten minutes, destined for Dalmuir, Milngavie, Partick, Yoker, Singer, Lanark, Larkhall, Hamilton Central, Whifflet and Motherwell. During peak hours, services to Cumbernauld via Coatbridge and Carstairs are also available.

On Sundays, no services call here before 10am or after 6pm so services on Sundays are Balloch-Motherwell, Milngavie-Motherwell or Lanark, and Partick-Larkhall.

2015

The basic service still runs every 10 minutes each way, but southbound trains now run onto the Whifflet Line rather than to Lanark following a major timetable recast. Likewise on Sundays the frequency remains the same but Balloch trains run either to Motherwell via Whifflet or to Larkhall (hourly to each).