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Glasgow Queen Street station

Delivering a modern and fully accessible transport hub at Glasgow’s gateway to Scotland.

Glasgow Queen Street south side
Glasgow Queen Street South side

The redeveloped station, which is due for completion in 2021, gives passengers:

  • A contemporary building both internally and externally
  • An expanded concourse
  • Improved, fully accessible, entrances on Dundas Street and George Square
  • New station facilities including accessible toilets, lost property and ticket office as well as space for retail
  • Extended platforms to accommodate longer trains of up to eight carriages
  • The £120m redevelopment of Glasgow Queen Street station is part of the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP) – a Scottish Government-investment in the railway infrastructure across central Scotland

Video shows CGI impression of Glasgow Queen Street station redevelopment

The £120m redevelopment of Glasgow Queen Street station is part of the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP) – a Scottish Government-investment in the railway infrastructure across central Scotland

Transforming for the future 

Glasgow Queen Street station is Scotland’s third busiest railway station, providing rail connections to and from the city to the wider Glasgow area as well as throughout the country.

Popular amongst commuter and leisure travellers, the number of people using the station is set to increase by 40 per cent to reach 28m by 2030. To manage this growth in passenger numbers, work is  nearing completion ,   providing a spacious and accessible transport facility that has been carefully designed to be a positive and prominent addition to Glasgow’s historic George Square.

Creating space to expand the station

Glasgow Queen Street station was last re-developed between 1969 and 1973. The modernisation involved the demolition of station buildings dating back to the mid- 19th century.

At this time an eight-floor office building – Consort House – was constructed along with an extension to the adjoining hotel.

In 2017 Network Rail secured powers, through the Transport and Works Scotland (TAWS) Act, to compulsorily purchase Consort House and the Millennium Hotel extension. In October 2018, work was completed to demolish these buildings, making way for the new station frontage, concourse and entrances and new longer platforms being delivered as part of the station’s redevelopment.

Video shows a time lapse of the demolition work.

Making way for longer trains

In addition to providing more space for passengers to move around within the station, the redevelopment will also lengthen some platforms to permit the operation of eight carriage trains on the Edinburgh-Glasgow via Falkirk High Route.

Preparatory work to lengthen platforms 2-5 took place during a station closure in August 2016 while Glasgow Queen Street station’s tunnel was being renewed. During this time, the ground below the existing concourse was excavated to clear space for longer platforms. This was temporarily covered to allow the station to reopen and will be revisited in 2019 when the main platform works begin.

Platform 1

In May 2018, the redevelopment team completed a six month project to extend platform 1 by 50 metres, providing additional space for longer four-carriage trains.

Work started in November 2017 with the demolition of the former ticket office and staff accommodation block to clear the space needed to lengthen the platform. During the project, engineers worked over 11,500 hours to remove more than 4,000 tonnes of demolition material before laying 200 tonnes of ballast, 35 metres of new sleepers and rails, and installing overhead power masts.

Between June and October 2019, work then began to extend platforms 2, 3, 5 and 5 by 26m each. Completion of the platform works marked a key milestone for the project, enabling trains of up to eight carriages to be introduced with the December 2019 timetable change.


The new station building takes shape

The extent of Glasgow Queen Street station’s transformation was gradually revealed as engineers built the steel skeleton of the new expanded concourse.

The steelwork was produced in Scotland by J&D Pierce Ltd, based in Glengarnock, North Ayrshire. Installation of the steel support structure completed in summer 2019 and wraps around the existing arched trainshed, providing additional space to extend platforms.

The autumn of 2019 saw the completion of the station’s new glass frontage, made up of 310 glass panes installed across a 21-metre-high structure and covering an area of 734m2.

Throughout 2020 work focused on completing the internal fit out including the installation of a fully compliant accessibility ramp and a new lift that provides step-free access, as well as completion of the basement area where new station toilets, including a ‘changing places’ facility, lost property and left luggage are located. Now in the final phase of activity, when the redevelopment of Glasgow Queen Street station completes in 2021 it also marks the end of EGIP, which has delivered 150 single track kilometres of new electric railway in Scotland.

Contact us

If you’re interested in finding out more about this project, please contact us by visiting our contact us page or by calling our 24-hour national helpline on 03457 11 41 41.

On Twitter: @NetworkRailGQS

Email: GlasgowQueenStreet@networkrail.co.uk

Network Rail is part of the ScotRail Alliance, working together with ScotRail to build the best railway that Scotland has ever had. Read more about ScotRail’s services from Queen Street here

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