Glasgow "Subway"
Background
Modernisation
Operation
Stations
Rolling Stock
Background
Glasgow was the third city in the
world
to build an underground rail system, after London and Budapest. In
August
1890 the Glasgow District Subway Company was given authority to build a
six and a half mile long route under the streets of Glasgow. The
circular
line is formed of parallel pair of tunnels built by tunnelling or cut
and
cover. A third of the running tunnels are lined with iron, the rest
with
concrete or brick. The system uses an unusual gauge of four feet (about
1200mm), with the tunnels just eleven feet in diameter. The entire line
is underground, but the depth varies from 7 feet to 155 feet.
The trains were originally moved
by
gripping a continuous moving cable, which was moved by a coal-fired
boiler
in Scotland Street. The network
has 15 stations, seven south of the Clyde and eight to the north.
Buchanan
Street and St. Enoch provide interchange with the Mainline railways.
All
the stations originally had a single island platform, which was about
10
feet wide. In the peak-hour control methods were necessary to prevent
overcrowding.
Island platform at Hillhead station, 1950 (Dewi Williams)
The depot was at Broomloan, Govan.
Built
at street level the depot had no connection to the running lines, so
had
a overhead crane to lift cars onto and off the running lines.
The underground was opened on
December
14 1896, but a collision that day meant that the network did not open
again
until January 21 1897.
The Glasgow Corporation, which
was
at the time running the largest tram network in Britain, took over the
company in 1923. In 1935 the decision was taken to electrify the
railway
to reduce operating costs. A raised third rail was used electrified to
750V d.c.
The system is locally known as the subway rather
than the underground.
Modernisation
In 1973 the Greater Glasgow
Passenger
Transport Executive took over control of the Glasgow Underground. In
1977
the system was closed to allow a £60 million modernisation scheme
to replace the 1890 rolling stock and infrastructure. The work that was
carried out included: a new rail connection from the tunnels to the
surface
depot; crossovers allowing access from the circles; new maintenance
buildings;
new track, power supplies and signalling; longer platforms to
accommodate
three-car trains and a new fleet of trains. Six of the busier stations
were modified with side platforms to ease congestion and provided with
escalators. Three stations, St Enoch, Partick and Govan were completely
rebuilt.
The Underground was reopened on
16
April 1980, the time for a complete circuit reduced to 24 minutes, with
trains every four minutes during the peaks. The new trains in the
orange
livery soon got the nickname 'Clockwork Oranges'. After the
refurbishment
passenger level rose from 7.34 million before the closure to 9.93
million
in 1980. By 1994 14.70 million people were using the network. A Sunday
service was introduced for the first time in 1988.
Operation
During the peak a four-minute
frequency
is operated using 12 trains. A six-minute headway is operated between
0945
and 1530 using eight trains. During the evening a eight-minute service
is provided using six train sets. From the control room at Broomloan
Depot
one person can control the whole network. The CCTV from all the
stations
is also monitored here. The controller can speak to any driver by radio
or to the passengers on any train or station. Over 300 staff are
employed
made up of 120 station staff, 40 drivers, 20 inspectors and
controllers,
120 maintenance staff and 30 in administration and engineering.
Stations
Most of the stations have their
concourse
and ticket area at street level. Tickets are issued from vending
machines
or the manned ticket office. Each station has two staff on duty. Ticket
barriers cover all stations.
Rolling Stock
The Glasgow Underground fleet
consists
of 33 powered cars built by Metro Cammell in 1978/9 and later
refurbished
by Adtranz Derby between 1993 and 1995. Eight extra non-powered cars
were
purchased from Hunslet TPL, with bogies and shells being built in Leeds
and fitted out at the Hunslet Barclay works in Kilmarnock in 1992. Each
three-car set has a seating capacity of 112 and standing of around 165.
Most trains are run a three-car
units
with a power car at each end and either a trailer or powered car in the
centre. For the peak hour service 12 train sets are needed, meaning
that
one set can be out of service for overhaul or maintenance.
Automatic Train Operation is
used,
but each train has a driver to operate the doors and restart the
train.
© A.Boodoo & Duncan
Pflaeger,
04-Mar-99, r2.2
