The Clyderail Report

The authority outlined major plans for the development of the system in the Clyderail report , which was was a development study of four main proposals affecting British Rail lines in the Glasgow area which had been laid down in the 1971 Greater Glasgow Transport Study report.   Of these proposals only one has so far been completed, that being the restoration and electrification of the former Central low-level route between Rutherglen and Stobcross, eventually brought into use in November 1981.

The proposals that were not completed were:
 

1. Electrification of the existing freight line from Shields Junction to High Street Junction with a new station at Trongate, on an elevated site on the London Road overbridge, and provision of a westward connecting link to join the existing Glasgow North electric line. The connection was to be made at a re-sited High Street station and this part of the scheme would link the Glasgow-Ayrshire coast electric services with those on the northern lines.  Re-siting High Street Station was seen as essential because the new connecting line was to diverge from the Shields Junction-High Street Junction line at the east end of the proposed Trongate station, cross Bell Street and descend through the former College goods station yard to break through the existing retaining wall to join the present Glasgow North line on the site of the present High Street station.  It would have been necessary to rebuild some 400ft of the tunnel to accommodate the new platforms.
2. On of the reasons this scheme did not go ahead in it's original format was that it was very much involved with the abortive plans for the eastern flank of the inner ring road.  Had that project not been synchronised with the rail plan, it would have been necessary to build a new bridge over Bell Street on a much more elaborate scale, albeit for a temporary requirement.  This proposal has since been considered on at least two other occasions albeit in modified format with High Street station remaining at it's present location.
3. A new Blythswood station midway between Queen Street and Charing Cross stations. This was a somewhat costly project for a station be located midway between Queen Street and Charing Cross on the existing Glasgow North line. Two new running tunnels would be built, one each side of the existing tunnel which would be modified to form a passenger circulating area. Although only a quarter-mile from stations on either side, the area was not thought to be conveniently accessible from either and it was felt at the time that the estimated cost of £2.5m could well be justified by the traffic potential.  This opinion has not been sustained and the project has never been considered in any subsequent proposals.
4. Modification of the existing line to Bridgeton Central. The present station would be abandoned and the line projected slightly to the east to join the Central route just north of a new station, which will use the platforms of the former Bridgeton Cross station.  This project was dropped and could not now be revived as the site of Bridgeton Central station has been extensively redeveloped.

One of the great benefits emphasised in the Clyderail proposals for the former Central low-level route between Rutherglen and Stobcross was that little new construction was required, since there was a ready-made 4½-mile formation across the city with a 3-mile stretch in tunnel.  When the decision was originally taken to electrify the Queen Street rather than the Central low-level lines one of the factors taken into account was the more generous clearance margins available, subsequent experience with 25kV overhead operation had shown that earlier calculations were over-cautious.  Even as late as 1966 it was still considered impossible for even the reduced 6.25kV to be used on this route and it took the development of concrete slab track in the 1970s to provide the necessary clearance, giving an incidental benefit of lower maintenance costs.  Passenger services over the Central low-level lines were withdrawn on October 6, 1964, but the formation and track were retained in view of the Greater Glasgow Transportation Study then proceeding. Nevertheless, there was vandalism on such a scale that, ten months later, the then Minister of Transport agreed to removal of track and signalling equipment.

Structurally, the existing Central low-level tunnel from Stobcross to Dalmarnock remained in good condition. However, underbridges at four places (three sewers and the Molendinar Burn) needed to be lowered to give acceptable electrification clearances. Two overbridges at Stobcross and one at Wilkington Street near Glasgow Central also required alteration.
Partick Hill station was re-sited as an interchange with the Underground as originally planned on the river side of Dumbarton Road with escalators to offset the height difference of 23ft from ground level to the new platforms.  (In the original plans this was seen as being an island platform).  In the original GGTS proposals there was to have been a station at Kelvinhaugh, but the re-siting of Partick Hill and the provision of a station at Stobcross (later Finnieston then Exhibition Centre) were held to give almost equally good coverage to the Queens Dock area which the Kelvinhaugh station would have served.  In addition, the site planned ceased to be suitable because of the new burrowing junction at Kelvinhaugh where the existing Queen Street line and the revived Central line now separate. One of the reopened stations which caused concern for traffic levels was Anderston, (formerly Anderston Cross). The street-Ievel station building does not have easy access because of traffic and it was suggested that there might be a pedestrian subway under the link road, which joins the Kingston road bridge approaches to Argyle Street. This was seen as improving access to the (now closed) bus station.  At Glasgow Central the island platform was retained, although it was widened.  The new Argyle Street station was originally envisaged as having side platforms with escalator connections between Miller Street and Glassford Street.  The new Bridgeton station would use the platforms of the former station of Bridgeton Cross, and generally similar treatment would be accorded to Dalmarnock, although there it was deemed necessary to extend the platforms towards Rutherglen to take the western approach to the station out of the tunnel.  Rutherglen station on the West Coast main line was to be closed in favour of a new island platform (originally planned to include a bay), just north of Dalmamock Junction.
Additional rolling stock was to be three-car EMUs, each have a seating capacity of 232. Based on the PEP units then being evaluated on the Southern Region, with passenger-operable doors and gangwayed within each unit. The estimated cost of the rolling stock was estimated at £7.74m as it was considered that 30 three-car units at £180 000 each would be needed for the introduction of the Lanarkshire-Central Low Level service and a further 13 for the Shields Junction-Trongate route.  In the event only 16 more units, later designated class 314, were purchased.
The route from Dalmarnock Junction to Kelvinhaugh Junction was to be equipped with three-aspect long-range colour-light signals, working automatically where possible.  Provision would be made for a 3min headway for stopping trains with station times of 30sec and a maximum speed of 40mph between stations. Kelvinhaugh Junction box was originally to be removed and signalling control transferred to Hyndland. Had this gone ahead then Hyndland would have had an additional small panel to control interlockings at Bridgeton as well as Kelvinhaugh.   Similar signalling equipment was to be installed for the Shields Junction-High Street line.

Original Service Plans:

The main aim was to provide each station with a regular-interval pattern of trains into the central area. The aim was to be achieved by concentrating on a series of 20 to 30 minute basic-interval services, which combined to provide a more intensive service through the central area (with additional trains in the peak hours.  The full service pattern was envisaged as being as follows.
 

From	TO	Route	Trains/Hour
Helensburgh	Airdrie	Singer & Queen Street Low Level	2
Balloch	Airdrie	Yoker & Queen Street Low Level	2
Dumbarton Cen	Hamilton Circle	Yoker, Queen Street &  the Bridgeton link	2
Milngavie	Rutherglen	Queen Street &  the Bridgeton link	2
Dalmuir	Hamilton Circle	Yoker &  Central Low Level	2
Dalmuir	Hamilton Circle	Singer &  Central Low Level	2
Dalmuir	Springburn	Singer &  Queen Street	2
Milngavie	Motherwell	Central Low Level and Uddingston*	1

*This was to replace the outer end of the present Central-Motherwell (via Kirkhill) service which was to be cut back to Newton where passengers could change. The Lanark branch was not included in the original proposals


The Shields Junction-High Street Junction electrification was planned to involve rather less extensive reorganisation.  The service pattern here was planned as two trains per hour between
 

From	To	Route	Trains/Hour
Gourock	Airdrie	Paisley Gilmour St. and Trongate (Non-stop Paisley - Trongate)	2
Paisley Gilmour Street	Balloch	Trongate and Queen Street Low Level	2

This section of the line was considered to be ripe for further development as the proposed initial service of four trains hourly by no means represents line capacity.  Had the East Kilbride and Barrhead lines been considered for electrification together with the (now closed) section from Strathbungo Junction to Gorbals Junction, it would have been possible for these services to reach the Glasgow North lines via the Trongate route. Even Cathcart Circle and Kirkhill services could have been included if a new junction were to be put in at Pollokshields West as envisaged in an earlier report.
It was anticipated that Sunday services would not be provided on the Milngavie line or over the Bridgeton link, while Springburn would be served only in summer. Stations shut on Sundays on other lines would be Bowling, Dalmamock, Kilpatrick, Newton, Rutherglen and Stobcross. After opening of the Trongate route there was expected to be justification for an hourly service in summer between Airdrie and Gourock.

Subsequent Plans

Maryhill

The possibility of extending the Glasgow Central Low Level route back to Maryhill was given consideration, and space was provided in the basement of the Supermarket build on the site of the original Maryhill central Station for a one platform station.  The reopening of the former North British route to Maryhill rendered this scheme unnecessary.

Bridgeton - Parkhead - Carmyle

When the plans were drawn up for reintroducing passenger services to the Rutherglen & Coatbridge Route, part of the scheme was to follow the original route from Bridgeton Cross via Parkhead to Carmyle.  This part of that particular scheme was not implemented and the reintroduced service employed DMUs running via Rutherglen to Glasgow Central High Level.

The Crossrail Tunnel

Probably one of the most unlikely schemes ever to see the light of day was the proposal to construct a tunnel linking the South side lines near West Street with the Glasgow to Edinburgh main line at Cowlairs.  This scheme would never have been realistic for the following reasons

1. Since there are no electrified routes anywhere near the Northern postal on the tunnel the route would have had to be operated by DMUs.
2. The gradients involved would have been even more severe than the Cowlairs incline as from a point of divergance from the current E&G main line the route would have had to dive under the Queen Street Low Level Station and somehow negotiate around the Subway tunnels to reach its Southern Portal.
3. Tunnelling would have been difficult as Glasgow is unlike London in having a engineering friendly sub strata (reference problems encountered when building the Clyde Tunnel and the Subway)
4. The Deep level station proposed for Queen Street would required a ventilation system of massive capabilities, as Diesel Multiple Units struggling up the severe gradients would emit a substantial amount of exhaust fumes.

Strathclyde Red livery on a class 311 centre car in the sidings at Airdrie station.  The 311's could be identified by the grills next to the guards compartment and the window at the right hand side.

The livery which was ultimately chosen in 1996 was very much a retro style of the 1950's, carmine and cream (or blood and custard!), as originally applied to British Raiways Mark1 coaching stock.   The  class 156 which initially recieved this colour scheme even had its numbers applied in gold in the original gill sans typeface.  The Strathclyde Transport logo also changed to a fairly unimaginative SPT device.  It is somewhat ironic to think that the class 303's which have received this livery were being delivered when the livery was still to be seen on coaches painted in the 1950's!

Following a long period of technical problems ( the term "teething troubles" hardly does justice), the introduction of 40 new "Juniper" class 334 EMU's has now taken place, and the ageing class 303s have finally been withdrawn.  Plans of further expansion of the network seenm to come and go, with the proposals to extend to Larkhall, and the Maryhill to Anniesland spur having been put back on more than one occasion.  There have been extensive discussions, plans and reports about major schemes to enhance the system, including a badly needed link of some sort to Glasgow Airport, and the Crossrail scheme (essentially the City Union line reopening not completed under the original 1973 proposals). 
If you are a visitor to the Strathclyde area, the best way to see the system is to buy a Day Tripper ticket.  This very reasonably priced ticket  gives unlimited travel on the trains and buses for a whole day at Weekends and off peak hours on Weekdays