Scotland’s busiest station, Glasgow Central, will partially reopen its main concourse on Wednesday, including for cross-border services, after a fire severely damaged the adjacent 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.
A reduced timetable will be in place, with a scaled-down service to London Euston. Passengers are advised to check their journeys before travelling. The Category B-listed building adjoining the station was gutted by the blaze, and demolition work is ongoing to bring down the remaining structure.
Much of the station will remain closed off, with access limited to entrances to low-level platforms and the Hope Street carriage driveway, normally used for vehicle access. Glasgow Central typically handles about 116,000 journeys per day, with approximately 103,000 through the high-level station and 13,000 via the low-level station.
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 and noted that resuming services on more than half the high-level platforms was a significant step forward.
Avanti West Coast reported that 220 weekday trains were diverted or cancelled last week, with services stopping at Motherwell or rerouted to Edinburgh. TransPennine Express cancelled or diverted over 140 trains, while CrossCountry said 35 of its trains were affected. ScotRail could not immediately say how many of its trains were affected due to the extensive disruption to both high-level and low-level platforms.
