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Glasgow Subway

The world's third-oldest underground railway, after London's and Budapest's: two parallel circular tunnels under the West End and the city centre, crossing the Clyde twice, with 15 stations. It opened in 1896 hauled by cable, was electrified in 1935, rebuilt from 1977 to 1980, and is being modernised again, with new Stadler trains, new signalling and platform screen doors. Its 4 ft gauge and 11 ft tunnels are unlike any other railway in Britain.

1896Opened
6.5 miles (10.5 km)Round the circle
15Stations
13.1 millionJourneys a year, SPT (2024)

Facts

Opened
14 December 1896
Route
A circle: the Outer Circle runs clockwise and the Inner Circle anticlockwise
Type
underground metro, circular
Depots
Broomloan
Operating company
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), which owns it

unverified Some of these figures haven’t yet been checked against an official source or a published history. What’s in doubt ↓

Glasgow Subway Stadler trains · Stadler (Stadler Bussnang AG), in a consortium with Ansaldo STS for the signalling · shown in SPT
4 cars, 130 ft (39.5 m)

Route 15 stations

Glasgow Subway circle: schematic, not to scale Buchanan StreetBuchanan Street St EnochSt Enoch Bridge StreetBridge Street West StreetWest Street Shields RoadShields Road Kinning ParkKinning Park CessnockCessnock IbroxIbrox GovanGovan Partick — change for ScotRailPartick KelvinhallKelvinhall HillheadHillhead KelvinbridgeKelvinbridge St George's CrossSt George's Cross CowcaddensCowcaddens Outer Circle: clockwise Inner Circle: anticlockwise River Clyde

Schematic, not to scale. Ringed stations are interchanges. The circle is drawn as a ring, clockwise from Buchanan Street at the top right; Outer Circle trains run clockwise, Inner Circle trains anticlockwise. Every train calls at every station; Partick is inside Partick Interchange, with ScotRail. Station order from SPT's Subway map (see Sources).

StationInterchanges
Buchanan Street
St Enoch
Bridge Street
West Street
Shields Road
Kinning Park
Cessnock
Ibrox
Govan
PartickScotRail
Kelvinhall
Hillhead
Kelvinbridge
St George's Cross
Cowcaddens

Stations from the operator’s published routes, entered by hand (see Sources).

Rolling stock

Earlier trains on this line

History 9

  1. Building starts, at St Enoch Square.
  2. The Subway opens to the public, its trains hauled by cables driven by a stationary steam engine.
  3. The Subway is electrified.
  4. It closes for a three-year modernisation: new trains, rebuilt stations and track, and ramps into Broomloan depot.
  5. It reopens, with Metro-Cammell's orange trains.
  6. SPT orders 17 four-car trains and new signalling from Stadler and Ansaldo STS.
  7. The first new train enters the tunnels for testing.
  8. The first new train carries passengers.
  9. From the end of June the new trains run the whole service, and the old ones are withdrawn.

Sources 8

How we source figures →  ·  Spotted a mistake? Tell us → (opens in a new tab)

Show the 8 sources from Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, Rail Engineer, Department for Transport and 1 more
unverified
  • Length: Rail Engineer gives 6.5 miles (10.5 km) for each circular tunnel; SPT's station page says "10 mile", and other sources give 6.2 miles (10 km) or 10.4 km
  • The line colour: the orange of SPT's station signs, sampled from a photograph; SPT publishes no colour value
  • Glasgow Corporation's take-over (1923 or 1935) and the renaming as the Glasgow Underground (1936 to 2003): Wikipedia only
  • The 1977 closure date (21 March or 22 May 1977) and the reopening day (16 April 1980): sources differ

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