Glasgow's pride, Britain's best urban rail network (Trains in Glasgow)

Member Name: jamesontheroad

Product:	Trains in Glasgow
Date:	07/01/09 (148 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fast, frequent and cheaper than the buses

Disadvantages: Still no continuous north/south link, no night time service

To put it briefly, Glasgow has the largest urban rail network anywhere in the UK outside London. A legacy of Glasgow's dynamic industrial and commercial past, the city has managed to preserve a reliable, fast and affordable transport system that puts other British cities to shame.

All suburban trains in and around Glasgow are operated by ScotRail and use the stations and tracks of Network Rail (only the circular Glasgow Subway is completely independent of that infrastructure). In the past the trains have been operated by or for the SPT (Strathclyde Passenger Transport, now Strathclyde Partership for Transport) but with the re-organisation of public transport authorities in Scotland that name will gradually vanish from the network. The Scottish Government has also set to do away with the multicoloured privatised railway and to stop successive holders of the ScotRail franchise from spending money repainting trains. From late 2008 onwards, a "permanent" livery of blue with white Saltire crosses will appear on trains throughout Scotland. The elegant old SPT colours of carmine and cream (a.k.a. "blood and vomit", surely visible every Friday and Saturday night on Sauchiehall Street) will also disappear.

A useful network map can be found on the National Rail pages at http://nationalrail.co.uk/system/galleries/downloa d/print_maps/glasgow.pdf There are a number of radial lines that connect suburban stations with Glasgow's two main railway stations: Central for trains heading south of the River Clyde and Queen Street for stations to the north. In addition there are two cross city lines that travel east-west through the city, each calling at underground stations beneath those two main termini. These two lines meet in the west of the city at Partick, which is also a useful interchange for the Subway, the University of Glasgow and the west end.

As with all National Rail services, fares are sold by distance, normally starting at around £1.00 for a single ticket. Daytripper or weekly tickets offer great value, especially when compared to the more expensive bus passes sold by First and other bus companies. The connections offered by the high and low levels stations at Queen Street and Central stations means you can travel from one side of the city to another with only one or two changes.

For comprehensive travel information (bus, train, subway, ferry etc) in Glasgow, see http://www.spt.co.uk/ For fares, times and through travel information from any UK railway station to a station in Glasgow, see http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

Summary: Forget the bus and explore Glasgow by train