The Cumbernauld Line is a suburban

railway line Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...

linking

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

via

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 ...

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 ...

. Since May 2014, the newly

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...

track between

Springburn Springburn ( gd, Allt an Fhuairainn) is an inner-city district in the north of the Scottish city of Glasgow, made up of generally working-class households. Springburn developed from a rural hamlet at the beginning of the 19th century. Its indu ...

and

has become an extension of the North Clyde network.

Services

All passenger services on this Line are operated 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 ...

. Following

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histor ...

between June 2013 and May 2014, Cumbernauld services became an extension of the

North Clyde Line The North Clyde Line (defined by Network Rail as the ''Glasgow North Electric Suburban'' line) is a suburban railway in West Central Scotland. The route is operated by ScotRail Trains. As a result of the incorporation of the Airdrie–Bathgat ...

's Springburn Branch. Services from Cumbernauld arrived at

Glasgow Queen Street , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Queen Street railway station (geograph 6687389).jpg , caption = Main entrance in 2020 , borough = Glasgow , country = Scotland , coordinates = , grid_name = Grid reference , grid_positi ...

Low Level platforms, freeing up capacity in the High Level station. Due to cancellation of the Garngad Chord, trains must reverse from

. As of 2019, the existing

Falkirk Grahamston , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Falkirk Grahamston railway station, Stirlingshire (geograph 5979986).jpg , caption = Falkirk Grahamston station in 2018, following electrification , ...

service has been extended through to Edinburgh Waverley. All services to Cumbernauld have also been extended with services now departing from Glasgow Queen Street High Level instead of Low Level. All services now use Class 385 EMUs instead of diesel units.

Future developments

Upon completion 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 ...

, a series of Diversionary Route electrification projects have been outlined for completion in 2018. These plans include full electrification between Cumbernauld and Falkirk Grahamston. With the cancellation of the Garngad Chord in November 2011, the potential to remove the timely reversing procedure at Springburn is still an option. There are also tentative plans to extend passenger services from Falkirk to

Grangemouth Grangemouth ( sco, Grangemooth; gd, Inbhir Ghrainnse, ) is a town in the Falkirk council area, Scotland. Historically part of the county of Stirlingshire, the town lies in the Forth Valley, on the banks of the Firth of Forth, east of Falkirk ...

, a town which lost its train service in January 1968. This is an idea put forward by

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

to improve freight access and is supported by

Falkirk Council Falkirk (; sco, Fawkirk; gd, An Eaglais Bhreac) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas of Scotland. It was formed on 1 April 1996 by way of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 from the exact boundaries of Falkirk District, one ...

, who are currently undertaking a feasibility study into the project's potential.

References

Notes

Sources

* Transport in Glasgow Railway lines in Scotland Standard gauge railways in Scotland {{Glasgow-stub