There are four electrified railway lines linking

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

with

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, the two largest cities in Scotland. These are, from north to south: * Glasgow–Edinburgh via Falkirk line:

Glasgow Queen Street Glasgow Queen Street () is a passenger railway terminus serving the city centre of Glasgow, Scotland. It is the smaller of the city's two mainline railway terminals (the larger being Glasgow Central) and is the third-busiest station in Scotland ...

to Edinburgh Waverley via Falkirk High *

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. As a result of the incorporation of the Airdrie–Bathgate rail ...

: Glasgow Queen Street (low level platforms) to Edinburgh Waverley via Airdrie and

Bathgate Bathgate ( or , ) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston, Scotland, Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway (Scotland), M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Linlithgow, Livingston, and West Calder. A number of villages fall under ...

Shotts Line The Shotts Line is a suburban railway line in Scotland linking and via . It is one of the four rail links between the two cities. Between Glasgow Central and , the line is shared with the West Coast Main Line (WCML), before branching off to ...

: Glasgow Central to Edinburgh Waverley via

Shotts Shotts is a small town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located almost halfway between Glasgow () and Edinburgh (). The town has a population of about 8,840. A local story has Shotts being named after the legendary giant highwayman Bertra ...

* Glasgow–Edinburgh via Carstairs line: Glasgow Central to Edinburgh Waverley via

Carstairs Carstairs (, Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteal Tarrais'') is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Carstairs is located east of the county town of Lanark and the West Coast Main Line runs through the village. The village is served by Carstairs r ...

Historically, the first line between Glasgow and Edinburgh was the

Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway The Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway was authorised by act of Parliament on 4 July 1838. It was opened to passenger traffic on 21 February 1842, between its Glasgow Queen Street railway station (sometimes referred to at first as Dundas Street) and ...

, equivalent to today's Glasgow to Edinburgh via Falkirk Line.

Former routes

Glasgow–Edinburgh via Cumbernauld line: used the Cumbernauld Line from

, and the

Edinburgh–Dunblane line The Edinburgh–Dunblane line is a railway line in East Central Scotland. It links the city of Edinburgh via Falkirk to the city of Stirling and the town of Dunblane. Service provision Connections to other services This line connects into othe ...

. The use of this line as a secondary route between Glasgow and Edinburgh was introduced as part of the December 2018 timetable and later removed. Services now only go as far as

Cumbernauld Cumbernauld (; ) is a large town in the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Dunbartonshire and council area of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the tenth List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, most-populous locality in Scotl ...

/ Falkirk Grahamston from Glasgow Queen Street as of May 2022 timetable change.

Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme

''See main article, Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme'' At a conference in 2009, major upgrades were proposed for completion by 2016. The first of these was the Airdrie–Bathgate rail link, completed in late 2010. The Glasgow–Edinburgh via Falkirk line was electrified in 2017. The Shotts Line was electrified in 2019. Currently the quickest services between Edinburgh and Glasgow run on the Falkirk line (to and from Glasgow Queen Street).

References

Railway lines in Scotland {{Scotland-rail-transport-stub