VIDEO: Glasgow Central’s Platform 1 improvement project

Credit: Network Rail

Passengers travelling through Scotland’s busiest station will soon benefit from this £1.2 million project to improve the track at Platform 1 as part of efforts to enhance the safety and reliability of the railway for years to come.

Engineers have been on site since early March 2023, removing rail along the length of the platform and breaking out sections of the concrete slab beneath.

More than 100 timber sleepers have been replaced with focus now turning to hanging and installing all 723 baseplates which sit under the rail and help keep it stable. Network Rail teams will also plan to renew signalling cables, clean the buffers and upgrade the tactile paving along the platform. A progress video of the project can be viewed below.

Platform 1 has been closed during the works, with the project running alongside the existing closure of the West Coast Main Line (WCML) at Carstairs Junction to minimise the impact on passengers and is expected to open on time on 12 May 2023.

Liam Sumpter, Scotland’s Railway Route Director, said: “These essential works at Glasgow Central station will ensure we continue to run a safe and reliable railway.

“Had we used normal access arrangements this work would be spread over a period of approximately four years’ worth of Saturday nights and would be considerably more costly. Instead, we’ve planned this 10-week programme to run at the same time as the closure of Carstairs Junction so that disruption to passengers is kept to a minimum.

“We have made some efficiencies in costs and timescales and have used this to allow for a deep clean of Platform 1 and removal of overgrown vegetation which is difficult to access during normal circumstances.”