North Clyde Line, Glasgow
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The North Clyde Line (sometimes called the North Electric line) is a suburban railway in West Central Scotland. It links the towns of Airdrie and Coatbridge on the eastern edge of the Greater Glasgow conurbation to the northern Clyde coast, principally to the towns of Helensburgh and Balloch.
In addition to this there are two spurs from the line which serve the town of Milngavie, and the Glasgow suburb of Springburn.
The route is operated by First ScotRail, on behalf of Strathclyde Passenger Transport.
Route
The line runs through Central Glasgow, and the main station on the line is the low-level platforms of Queen Street station. The Central Glasgow section of the line is built underground between the medieval High Street and Exhibition Centre (previously called Finnieston), near Charing Cross. This is in fact the oldest stretch of underground railway in Glasgow, predating the Glasgow Underground by several years. The eastern end of the line was extended from Airdrie to Drumgelloch in 1989, and as of 2005 there are plans to extend the line onwards to Bathgate.
Rolling Stock
The line was electrified in 1960, and marked the introduction of the legendary Class 303 electric multiple unit, joined later by the similar Class 311. These were quickly nicknamed the "Blue Trains" by Glaswegians owing to their bright Caledonian Blue colour scheme. This was later changed to the standard British Rail blue/grey livery in the 1970s, then to the distinctive SPT orange-and-black scheme in the 1980s. A few units received the new SPT carmine/cream livery in the late 1990s.
The Class 303 fleet was progressively phased out over the years; it was joined on the North Clyde route by the Class 314 (which were introduced to mainly serve the Argyle Line) in 1979, and then in 1990, more Class 303s were made extinct on the route by the introduction of the Class 320. The remaining Class 303 fleet was completely withdrawn from the entire SPT network by December 2002, when it was replaced by the Class 334 "Juniper" trains.
Future Development
There are no immediate plans to extend or upgrade the North Clyde Line itself, but some related developments will affect in the coming years. SPT has long pressed for a "Crossrail" initiative which will link the North Clyde with the railways emanating to and from Central Station, thus giving Glasgow a valuable rail corridor linking the northern and southern halves of the city. The plan would involve reinstating the Tron Line (a route used mainly for freight and service traffic) for passenger use. The Tron Line presently leaves the North Clyde at High Street, and joins the West Coast Main Line near the Gorbals area. Funding for the scheme has yet to be sought, and is further complicated by the need to realign the platforms of High Street station, which would be expensive.