, symbol_location = gb
, symbol = rail
, image = CoatbridgeCentralRailwayStation1.JPG
, caption = Coatbridge Central railway station
, borough =
Coatbridge
Coatbridge ( sco, Cotbrig or Coatbrig, gd, Drochaid a' Chòta) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known as ...
,
North Lanarkshire
North Lanarkshire ( sco, North Lanrikshire; gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It also ...
, country = Scotland
, coordinates =
, grid_name =
Grid reference
A projected coordinate system, also known as a projected coordinate reference system, a planar coordinate system, or grid reference system, is a type of spatial reference system that represents locations on the Earth using cartesian coordin ...
, grid_position =
, manager =
ScotRail
ScotRail Trains Limited, trading as ScotRail ( gd, Rèile na h-Alba), is a Scottish train operating company that is publicly owned by Scottish Rail Holdings on behalf of the Scottish Government. It has been operating the ScotRail franchise a ...
, platforms = 2
, code = CBC
, transit_authority =
SPT
, original =
Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway
The Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway was an early railway built primarily to carry coal to Glasgow and other markets from the Monkland coalfields, shortening the journey and bypassing the monopolistic charges of the Monkland Canal; passenger traffic ...
, pregroup =
Caledonian Railway
The Caledonian Railway (CR) was a major Scottish railway company. It was formed in the early 19th century with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively extended its network and reached Edinburgh an ...
, postgroup =
LMS
, years = March 1842
, events = Opened as Coatbridge
[Butt (1995), page 64]
, years1 = 8 June 1953
, events1 = Renamed as Coatbridge Central
, mpassengers =
, footnotes = Passenger statistics from the
Office of Rail and Road
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the economic and safety regulation of Britain's railways, and the economic monitoring of National Highways.
ORR regulates Network Rail by setting its ...
Coatbridge Central railway station is a station in
Coatbridge
Coatbridge ( sco, Cotbrig or Coatbrig, gd, Drochaid a' Chòta) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known as ...
,
North Lanarkshire
North Lanarkshire ( sco, North Lanrikshire; gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It also ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. It is on the
Argyle Line
The Argyle Line is a suburban railway located in West Central Scotland. The line serves the commercial and shopping districts of Glasgow's central area, and connects towns from West Dunbartonshire to South Lanarkshire. Named for Glasgow's Argyl ...
. Train services are provided by
ScotRail
ScotRail Trains Limited, trading as ScotRail ( gd, Rèile na h-Alba), is a Scottish train operating company that is publicly owned by Scottish Rail Holdings on behalf of the Scottish Government. It has been operating the ScotRail franchise a ...
.
Architecture and history
The station was originally named Coatbridge and opened in 1842.
It was renamed Coatbridge Central in 1953 after the 1826
Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway
The Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway was an early mineral railway running from a colliery at Monklands to the Forth and Clyde Canal at Kirkintilloch, Scotland. It was the first railway to use a rail ferry, the first public railway in Scotla ...
station named Coatbridge Central closed in 1951. It is on what was originally the
Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway
The Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway was an early railway built primarily to carry coal to Glasgow and other markets from the Monkland coalfields, shortening the journey and bypassing the monopolistic charges of the Monkland Canal; passenger traffic ...
, which later became the Glasgow, Garnkirk and Coatbridge Railway. The connection southwards came courtesy of the
Wishaw and Coltness Railway
The Wishaw and Coltness Railway was an early Scottish mineral railway. It ran for approximately 11 miles from Chapel Colliery, at Newmains in North Lanarkshire connecting to the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway near Whifflet, giving a means o ...
, with their first passenger train arriving from Morningside in May 1845. Both companies were taken over by the
Caledonian Railway
The Caledonian Railway (CR) was a major Scottish railway company. It was formed in the early 19th century with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively extended its network and reached Edinburgh an ...
in 1849. A further route to the station, the
Rutherglen and Coatbridge Railway
The Rutherglen and Coatbridge Railway was a railway line in Scotland built by the Caledonian Railway to shorten the route from the Coatbridge area to Glasgow. It opened in 1865. It was later extended to Airdrie in 1886, competing with the riva ...
from Glasgow via
Rutherglen
Rutherglen (, sco, Ruglen, gd, An Ruadh-Ghleann) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having existed as a Lanarkshire burgh in its own ...
and , was opened in August 1866.
The existing station layout is the result of a re-build by the Caledonian Railway in 1900, but the platform level buildings were demolished in the 1970s when the station was a likely candidate for closure due to dwindling patronage and services. Trains from Glasgow Buchanan Street over the original GG&CR route had ceased in November 1962, whilst those over the R&CR were withdrawn four years later due to the
Beeching Axe
The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...
, leaving only a skeleton service between and Stirling/Perth to call here. However, for much of the 1970s and early to mid 1980s this consisted of a pair of through long-distance expresses between
London Euston
Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city rail ...
and —the daytime ''Clansman'' (via
Birmingham New Street
Birmingham New Street is the largest and busiest of the three main railway stations in Birmingham city centre, England, and a central hub of the British railway system. It is a major destination for Avanti West Coast services from , and vi ...
) and overnight ''Royal Highlander'' sleeper—along with a mid-morning to Motherwell passenger & parcels train and evening northbound return working that started back at .
All of these workings had been either withdrawn or diverted by 1987, but by then Strathclyde PTE had introduced a regular local service from Motherwell as an extension of the
Argyle Line
The Argyle Line is a suburban railway located in West Central Scotland. The line serves the commercial and shopping districts of Glasgow's central area, and connects towns from West Dunbartonshire to South Lanarkshire. Named for Glasgow's Argyl ...
's Hamilton Circle route (the line through here had been electrified by
British Rail
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
in 1981 to allow electrically hauled freight trains to access the nearby Gartsherrie container terminal). The link northwards to was re-established in 1996 when the Motherwell to Cumbernauld DMU service was inaugurated. That provided the main service from the station up until the May 2014 timetable change, as Argyle Line trains only called here at peak periods. Electrification was extended north to Cumbernauld in 2014 as part of the
Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme
The Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme or EGIP was an initiative funded by Transport Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government to increase capacity on the main railway line between Edinburgh and Glasgow, with new, longer electric train ...
upgrade scheme, and thereafter all passenger trains began to be worked by EMUs. Following a timetable recast in December 2014, Motherwell services once again run on through via the Hamilton Circle to the city's north west suburbs throughout the day.
Access to the station is now by a ramp from West Canal Street leading to the Down (Cumbernauld bound) platform with access to the Motherwell-bound island platform via the original underpass. Original access to both platforms of the station was via this underpass from the category C(S)
listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
two-floor structure at the end of the station. The main building was disused for many years after the removal of staffing in the 1970s, but was renovated in the early 2000s and used initially as a public house and more recently as commercial premises for an office supplies company.
With a container terminal just north of the station, and the location on link between the
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...
and the lines to Grangemouth, Stirling and points north, there are also freight trains passing through the station.
Facilities
Amenities here are somewhat basic: the station is unmanned, and no permanent buildings remain on the platforms apart from standard waiting shelters. There are timetable poster boards and customer help points on each platform. CCTV cameras and an automatic announcement system are also installed here. Step-free access is only possible on platform 2, as the underpass to the opposite side has steps.
Passenger services
2006-2014
An hourly train operates to
Motherwell
Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...
and
Cumbernauld
Cumbernauld (; gd, Comar nan Allt, meeting of the streams) is a large town in the historic county of Dunbartonshire and council area of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the tenth most-populous locality in Scotland and the most populated t ...
Mondays to Saturdays. This is operated as a diagram.
There are a few peak time services on the
Argyle Line
The Argyle Line is a suburban railway located in West Central Scotland. The line serves the commercial and shopping districts of Glasgow's central area, and connects towns from West Dunbartonshire to South Lanarkshire. Named for Glasgow's Argyl ...
which terminate at the station, operated by a mixture of , and trains. These services call at before joining the "main" Argyle line at , operating to and .
2014 onwards
With the electrification of the Cumbernauld Line, services now operate with electric traction. The hourly Motherwell-Cumbernauld service (since 14 December 2014) interworks with Argyle Line services all day, originating at Dalmuir and running via Clydebank and the Hamilton Circle. Some additional services run at peak times.
There is no Sunday service.
References
Notes
Sources
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{{Railway stations served by Abellio Scotrail
Railway stations in North Lanarkshire
Former Caledonian Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1842
SPT railway stations
Railway stations served by ScotRail
1842 establishments in Scotland
Coatbridge