Carstairs railway station

Locale

Just south of the station, there is an important triangular junction (Carstairs Junction) where the WCML divides. The north-westerly route goes via Motherwell to Glasgow and the north-easterly route goes towards Edinburgh, where the East Coast Main Line begins. The southbound route goes towards Carlisle and London. The line between Edinburgh and Glasgow is the only part of the West Coast Main Line used by Virgin Trains East Coast services. Carstairs is also a marshalling point and the final boarding point (both sleeping car and overnight coach) in Scotland for the Lowland Caledonian Sleeper trains from Glasgow and Edinburgh to London Euston.

Northbound (Down) WCML services usually pass the station on an avoiding line (known as the Down Main), away from the platform line (known as the Down platform), but northbound services coming off the chord from Edinburgh (ECML and Cross Country) usually pass Platform 1: they can be signalled from Platform 2, but this rarely happens. However, all southbound (Up) services must pass Platform 2 (on the Up Main), as there is no avoiding line on that side of the station. The Up Main and Down Platform lines are both signalled for bi-directional working, and are often used as passing loops for passenger and freight services. For example, the early morning departure for Glasgow Central from North Berwick will wait at the Down Platform as a fast Transpennine service from Manchester passes.

There is also the Down Passenger Loop (which is adjacent to the station) and the Up Passenger Loop (immediately to the north of the station) which are both used to stop freight services while faster passenger services pass. It is also common for northbound freights to be stopped in both the Down Platform line and Down Passenger Loop and for fast passenger services to be passed between them on the Down Main.

Electrification

The route through the station was electrified in 1974 electrification scheme that covered the West Coast Main Line between Weaver Junction and Glasgow Central. As part of this the station was re-signalled. The critical point was the connection from the Edinburgh on a minimum radius curve to provide a connection into the down platform whilst avoiding the installation of a diamond crossing. The requirement for superelevation through the Up platform for 90 mph running required deep ballasting the side effect of which required the platform to be raised. The original station buildings were being retained therefore continuous railings were provided to prevent passengers inadvertently falling down from one level to the other. This height difference has now been removed as the original station buildings were demolished and replaced with a more modern alternative and the entire platform was levelled off. The only remnant of the original station buildings to remain was the integral footbridge, now adapted as a stand-alone structure.

The route to Edinburgh was not part of the 1970s scheme, however, it was included as part of the late 1980s ECML scheme, with electric services starting to use the line in 1989 (prior to the commencement of the main East Coast Main Line (ECML) electric services).

Historical

Carstairs was an important junction station where northbound West Coast Main Line trains were split into separate portions for Glasgow, Edinburgh and (to a lesser extent) Stirling and Perth, and for the corresponding combining of southbound trains. However, the introduction of push-pull operation on the WCML and the availability of surplus HST sets for Cross Country traffic (as a result of the ECML electrification) largely eliminated this practice in the early 1990s. Apart from the sleeping car trains, express traffic through Carstairs now consists of fixed-formation trains which do not require to be remarshalled en route. As a result, few express trains now call at Carstairs. There were some local stopping services to Edinburgh and Glasgow, but they were relatively infrequent, Before December 2012, Only 2 trains per day to North Berwick called and only 5 trains to Glasgow (3 trains went to Dalmuir and 2 to Central and 1 terminated at Motherwell) There were very large gaps in between trains with the 2 Edinburgh bound trains calling at 07:49 and then again at 15:40 as with the Glasgow trains a 9-hour gap from 07:55-18:41.

2015

Monday to Saturday, there is a roughly two-hourly service between Edinburgh and Glasgow Central via Carstairs with various extensions to North Berwick and Ayr throughout the day. There is also a local weekday peak time service to and from Glasgow Central (Low Level), with one morning run continuing to Dalmuir. In the evening, the service returns to Motherwell upon completion of the Anderston - Carstairs 'peak' service. Additionally in the morning, one TransPennine Express service from Preston to Glasgow Central calls at Carstairs to allow for an earlier connection to Edinburgh from the North West of England. There is no return service heading south. Passengers must travel to Glasgow, Motherwell or Edinburgh for travel south of the border.

Serco Caledonian Sleepers Ltd also call at Carstairs six times per week (no service on Saturday evenings) whilst working services between Edinburgh/Glasgow and London Euston. These services combine/split at Carstairs and is the last remaining service to do so at this location.

Virgin Trains West Coast, CrossCountry and Virgin Trains East Coast operate services between Glasgow Central and various locations in England however these services do not call at Carstairs and merely pass through.

Southbound services towards Carlisle along the WCML were suspended from early January 2016 for seven weeks, due to the River Clyde viaduct at Lamington being seriously damaged by Storm Frank. A replacement bus service was in operation, with some trains to/from Glasgow diverted via an alternative route. The line reopened to traffic on 22 February 2016 upon completion of repairs to the structure.