The Motherwell–Cumbernauld line is a suburban railway line linking

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 ...

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 part of the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport network.

History

The line was built as part 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 of ...

between and * Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway between and Gartsherrie South Junction * Caledonian Main Line between Gartsherrie Junction and . The line had previously been used by a limited number of through Inter-City passenger trains between Motherwell and

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

up until the end of the 1980s, having earlier served as part of the Caledonian Railway's main trunk route avoiding Glasgow. The surviving trains (the London Euston to ''Clansman'' daytime through service and the ''Royal Highlander'' overnight sleeper) had subsequently been diverted away (via Edinburgh Waverley) by 1990, leaving only the Motherwell–Coatbridge Central section in use by Argyle Line local trains. In May 1996 the SPT introduced a new timetable on the line, that saw an hourly diesel service through to Cumbernauld alongside an hourly electric service that terminated at Coatbridge Central. Between 1996 & 2000 this was worked by a British Rail class 101. This allowed the Argyle Line services to be re-routed elsewhere from January 2003(eventually to via ) whilst offering a new range of journey opportunities for the intermediate stations en route. A limited number of peak-hour electric services via the Hamilton Circle were retained for commuters and these still operate today.

Infrastructure

The line is now electrified at

25 kV AC Railway electrification systems using alternating current (AC) at are used worldwide, especially for high-speed rail. It is usually supplied at the standard utility frequency (typically 50 or 60Hz), which simplifies traction substations. The d ...

overhead throughout - the wires having been extended to Cumbernauld from their former limit at Gartsherrie South Junction (north of ) in the spring of 2014 as part of the Cumbernauld Line electrification scheme. Passenger services 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 ...

on behalf of SPT.

Services

Connections to services on other lines can be made at: * and to the Cumbernauld Line between and * to the Whifflet Line to * to the Argyle Line and services on the WCML,

ECML The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a Railway electrification system, electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham, England, Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle. The line is a k ...

, and North Berwick Line

2006 to 2011

There was an hourly service, usually operated by a Class 156 and calling at all stations. During the

peak Peak or The Peak may refer to: Basic meanings Geology * Mountain peak ** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics * Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion * Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-di ...

this was supplemented by Argyle Line services extended from to .

2011 to May 2014

There was an hourly service, usually operated by a Class 156; however, Class 158 were occasionally sighted. This called at all stations. During the

this was supplemented by Argyle Line services extended from to .

May to December 2014

There was an hourly service operated by a

Class 318 The British Rail Class 318 is an electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger train, which operates in west central Scotland. The units were introduced on 29 September 1986 as part of the electrification of the Ayrshire Coast Line between and / Ar ...

or a Class 320 as the line had by this time been fully electrified. This called at all stations and was supplemented during the

by Argyle Line services extended from to .

December 2014 onwards

The hourly EMU service remains in operation, but now fully interworks with Argyle Line services via the Hamilton Circle west of Motherwell. Southbound trains continue via Hamilton & Newton to via Yoker, whilst those in the opposite direction originate at .GB NRT Dec 2014 - May 2015, Tables 225 & 226 There is no Sunday service on the route except on the portion between Whifflet & Motherwell (which is served by trains on the Whifflet Line).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Motherwell-Cumbernauld Line Transport in Glasgow Railway lines in Scotland Standard gauge railways in Scotland