Shotts Line
| Shotts Line | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Overview | |
| System | National Rail |
| Locale |
Glasgow Scotland |
| Termini |
Glasgow Central Edinburgh Waverley |
| Operation | |
| Owner | Network Rail |
| Operator(s) | Abellio ScotRail CrossCountry |
| Rolling stock | Class 156; Class 158 |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) |
Glasgow
South Lanarkshire
North Lanarkshire
West Lothian
The Shotts Line is a suburban railway line linking Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley via Shotts in Scotland. The route from Glasgow to Shotts is part of the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport network. Between Glasgow Central and Uddingston, the line is shared with the West Coast Main Line (WCML), before branching off towards Bellshill, rejoining the Edinburgh branch of the WCML at Midcalder Junction.
The Shotts line does not carry the principal service between the cities, with the journey taking around half as long again as the fast and frequent Glasgow Queen Street-Edinburgh service via Falkirk, which is the premier commuter link between the two cities.
The majority of the route follows ex-Caledonian Railway metals, with the North British Railway at the Edinburgh end.
The line was threatened with closure in the Beeching Report of 1963, but subsequently reprieved. Services were however diverted from their original terminus at Edinburgh Princes Street to Haymarket & Edinburgh Waverley when Princes Street closed in September 1965.
In 2002, the Scottish Association Public Transport (SAPT) published a report suggesting that electrification of the Shotts Line would open up the Glasgow suburban electric network to Edinburgh and beyond, principally linking the capital to the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (now cancelled). This has been proposed as an alternative to the Glasgow Crossrail scheme, since it would not depend on the heavily used North Clyde Line, and would also provide a more direct electric link between Edinburgh and Glasgow without using the longer route via the WCML through Carstairs Junction.
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Wikipedia