Glasgow Central Station, Scotland's busiest railway station, will partially reopen its main concourse on Wednesday, including for cross-border services, following a fire that gutted the adjoining Victorian building. The fire, believed to have started in a vape shop on Union Street, has affected an estimated 953,000 passenger journeys over the past week.
The station typically handles about 116,000 journeys daily, with approximately 103,000 through the high-level station to destinations across the UK and 13,000 local services through the low-level station. However, due to ongoing demolition work on the damaged structure, much of the station remains closed. Travellers will only be able to access the station via entrances to low-level platforms and the Hope Street carriage driveway, normally used for vehicle access.
A reduced timetable will be in operation, including a scaled-down service to London Euston. Passengers are advised to check their journeys before travelling. David Ross, ScotRail's chief operating officer, said the timetable would be kept under regular review and more services would be added 'when it is safe'. He apologised for the disruption, stating: 'Resuming services on more than half the high-level platforms is a big step forward.'
Avanti West Coast reported that 220 weekday trains were diverted or cancelled last week, with trains stopping at Motherwell or being rerouted to Edinburgh. TransPennine Express cancelled or diverted more than 140 trains, while CrossCountry said 35 of its trains were affected. ScotRail, which operates nearly all domestic rail services in Scotland, said it could not immediately quantify the impact on its services due to the extensive disruption.
