| East Kilbride–Glasgow Central line | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Thorntonhall railway station in 2019, before the line was electrified. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other name | Busby Railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Operational | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locale | Glasgow, Scotland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Termini | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stations | 10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Service | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operator(s) | ScotRail | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Completed | 1868 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of tracks | 1–2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Electrification | 25 kV OHLE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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TheEast Kilbride–Glasgow Central line,[1][2] historically known as theBusby Railway,[citation needed] is a branch line of theGlasgow South Western Line that runs betweenPollokshaws West andEast Kilbride. The line was first opened in two stages in 1866 and 1868; it was upgraded and electrified over a four month closure in 2025,[2] reopening on 18 May.[3]
The line diverges from theGlasgow South Western Line at Busby Junction, betweenPollokshaws West andKennishead.[4] The junction was also formerly known as Eglinton Street Junction.[5] The line isdouble track until Busby, then single track untilHairmyres,[4] before it redoubles untilEast Kilbride.[2] The line iselectrified with 25 kV ACOHLE.[3] The maximum speed on the line is 50 mph (80 km/h).[4]
The stations on the line, ordered from northwest to southeast are:[4][6]
The line formerly extended beyond East Kilbride to Huntill Junction, where it joined the Argyle line between Blantyre and Hamilton West.[6] However, the line has since been cut back to East Kilbride,[when?] where itterminates today.[7]
BetweenClarkston andGiffnock, the railway passes underneath theCathcart Circle Lines betweenMuirend andWilliamwood. There were formerly two curves of track which connected the two lines; the Clarkston West curve connected Clarkston and Williamwood and the Clarkston East curve connected Clarkston and Muirend. By 1967, only the West curve was still in use;[8] it was still open in 1989 but has closed since.[4][6] The Williamwood High Bridge, which used to carry the West Curve, is still in situ.[9]
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In the 1860s, developing residential areas outside the immediate conurbation ofGlasgow began to emerge. Local people promoted a line to connectBusby to the growing Glasgow network, and on 11 May 1863 the Busby Railway obtained an authorising Act of Parliament with a capital of £36,000, equivalent to 4,351,000 in 2023.[10][11][page needed][12][page needed] It was to run from a junction with theGlasgow, Barrhead and Neilston Direct Railway (GB&NDR) which at that time was leased to, and worked by, theCaledonian Railway. The line would be 3 miles 43 chains (3.54 miles, 5.69 km) in length. The speculative nature of the line was indicated in the prospectus, which described the area served as being ideal for villa residences: business people could live in rural surroundings and travel daily to their places of business in the City. There was also important quarrying activity in the area; their product was much in demand at the time; there were also textile mills in the area served.
The creation of the line was authorised in the Busby Railway Act 1863, which receivedroyal assent on 11 May 1863.[13]
The line opened on 1 January 1866, and the point of junction with the main line was named Busby Junction. Train services operated from theSouth Side station in Glasgow. There was a1⁄2 mile (800 m) goods branch to a print works at Busby.
During the construction period the decision was taken to extend the line to the village ofEast Kilbride, at an additional cost of £45,000. The Caledonian Railway subscribed one-third of this sum. The extension was opened on 1 September 1868. In 1881 the line was doubled between Busby Junction and Busby.
On 18 July 1881 an Act was passed authorising the Caledonian Railway to absorb the Busby Railway, and in December 1881 it was determined to buy out the remaining shareholders of the Busby Railway Company, and the line passed fully into Caledonian Railway ownership on 2 February 1882. The Caledonian Railway built a line eastwards from East Kilbride to join theStrathaven line nearHigh Blantyre, where there was considerable mining activity; the intervening land was very thinly populated.
On 19 March 1883, the 18:15 passenger train from Glasgow Central to East Kilbridge was hit by another passenger train travelling from Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Central at Eglinton Street Junction, which was the name for Busby Junction at the time. In a report byCharles Scrope Hutchinson, the collision was deemed to be caused by the Edinburgh trainpassing a signal at danger. Four people were killed and fifty-three were injured in the accident.[5]
When theLanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway (L&AR) line was opened betweenCathcart andNeilston in 1903 a south curve connection was built so that trains could run direct fromBlantyre via East Kilbride and Neilston (High) toArdrossan. The junction on the Busby line was Clarkston East Junction. The intention was to shorten the mileage for mineral trains, but this only lasted for nine months, until the opening of the section of the L&AR from Newton to Cathcart, when nearly all of the mineral traffic ran that way. The Clarkston curve then had very little traffic, and it was closed on 29 October 1907. Clarkston East Junction remained in use as a block post on the Busby line until 1930.[14][page needed][15][page needed]
Around the end of the nineteenth century the industrial activity on the line declined, but residential travel increased considerably.
East Kilbride transformed from a village to a New Town from 1947 onward, and this gave new significance to the branch line. However the station, located to suit the core of the earlier village, was not well placed for the centre of the New Town, and there have been numerous initiatives to extend the railway accordingly.[11][page needed] None of these have been implemented, and the dispersed nature of the community's housing, and changing travel habits, mean that the station serves better now as a railhead, than as a terminal to which people might walk. At present, there is no active proposal to extend.
The East Kilbride line was included for closure in the reportThe Reshaping of British Railways that led to theBeeching cuts of the 1960s. The significance of the line made it a surprising addition.[16] In 1966, this was reversed as part of a plethora of improvements to the line byBritish Rail; starting on 18 April 1966,steam services were withdrawn in favour ofdiesel multiple units (DMUs), trains began terminating at Glasgow Central rather thanSt Enoch, the service was increased from 13 trains per day to 20, and the fares were decreased from 3s 3d (equivalent to £3.82 in 2023) to 1s 10d (equivalent to £2.16 in 2023) for a single fare.[10][17]
In March 1967, the Glasgow–East Kilbride Railway Development Association created a ten-point proposal to improve the quality of the service on the East Kilbride line, which they calculated to cost £5,000,000 (equivalent to 115,000,000 in 2023); however, they also calculated the savings on road infrastructure projects as a result would be £7,500,000 (equivalent to 172,000,000 in 2023).[10][8] The proposals included the complete electrification of the line, extension of the double track to Hairmyres, new stations at East Kilbride Town Centre, Nerston, and Long Calderwood. The proposal also included a new rail link between Clarkston andMuirend,[8] which would fulfil the same purpose as the closed Clarkston East curve.[6]
In August 1985, no trains ran on the line for two weeks due to guards'industrial action at the introduction of trains which only required a driver, making their job redundant. Of the 186 guards based at Glasgow Central that went on strike, 147 were fired after they had not returned to work by the official deadline.[18]
As part of a Scottish Government investment, the line is in the process of being electrified and upgraded at a cost of £140 million. The purpose of the enhancement project has been cited to be increasing reliability on the line and contributing to thedecarbonisation of Scotland's railways. This primarily occurred during a 16-week closure of the line between 25 January and 18 May 2025. During this time, no services ran on the line, however Network Rail provided rail replacement buses as an alternative. The project is aiming to be completed in full by December 2025.[3][19]
As part of the upgrade, the double-track was extended by 1.4 km (1,530 yd) between East Kilbride and Hairmyres, and 22 km (14 mi) of new overhead power cables have been installed.[2] To accommodate the overhead line equipment, the existing track was also lowered[19] underneath three bridges. New signalling systems were also installed on the line.[2] The upgrade also includes major station works, including new stations at East Kilbride and Hairmyres;[19] new footbridges have been built at Busby, Giffnock, and Clarkston, where a new station entrance was built and access to platform 2 was improved.[2][19] The new station at Hairmyres is located 500 m (550 yd) west of the original site.[2]
The initial passenger train service on the line was three trains each way with an extra train on Saturday. The trains used the GB&NDR terminus atSouthside railway station in Glasgow. When that closed in 1877, the trains used Gorbals on theGlasgow, Barrhead and Kilmarnock Joint Railway extension to St Enoch as a temporary arrangement, until in June 1879 they transferred to the newGlasgow Central station.[citation needed]
As of May 2025, the current service on the line is 2tph betweenGlasgow Central andEast Kilbride; all services are operated byScotRail.[20] Although overhead power cables have been installed as part of the East Kilbride Enhancement project, electric trains will not be introduced on the line until later in 2025.[3] Therefore, services remain operated usingBritish Rail Class 156DMUs.[citation needed]
