Glasgow Central Low Level to reopen after fire as Edinburgh commuters warned of ongoing disruption
Glasgow Central Low Level is set to reopen for train services tomorrow, but commuters have been warned that the main station will not reopen this week following Sunday’s devastating fire.
The station, which is Scotland’s busiest, has been closed since Sunday evening (March 8) when a fire broke out at a vape shop on Union Street and resulted in the partial collapse of a nearby building.
Glasgow Central has been completely closed since the blaze, with all services to and from the station having been cancelled.
This includes the Edinburgh-Glasgow Central (via Shotts) and Edinburgh-Glasgow Central (via Carstairs) services, reducing the amount of train connections between the two cities.
The Glasgow Central (via Carstairs) have been completely cancelled, while Edinburgh-Glasgow Central (via Shotts) services are running on a limited scheduled and will only be running between Edinburgh and West Calder, with no onward transport between West Calder and Glasgow.
Glasgow Central remains closed on Tuesday evening but the station’s low level is set to fully reopen on Wednesday.
Network Rail said the station’s high level ‘will not reopen this week’.
Route Director Ross Moran said: “We are grateful to Scottish Fire and Rescue teams who have been working tirelessly to contain the fire on the Union Corner site.
“I am pleased to advise passengers that we will be able to open Glasgow Central Low Level station from tomorrow morning (Wednesday).
“Unfortunately, further work is required to ensure the high level station is safe for trains to operate. Our priority is to make sure that we can reopen Glasgow Central as soon as it is safe to do so and we will continue to work with emergency services, the local council and our train operators to restore services.
“We want to reassure passengers that we are doing everything we can to open the high level station, but we must enable the emergency services and Glasgow City Council to complete their critical work to secure the Union Corner site and make it safe.”
Speaking about the disruption, First Minister John Swinney said: “It’s still a very live site, that is still under not just investigation, but under stabilisation adjacent to Glasgow Central.
“There’s a building adjacent to the Gordon Street entrance which is extremely vulnerable, so the reassurance I would give is that will be undertaken as quickly as we possibly can do, but I can’t give a definitive timescale on that.
“It would be the wrong thing to do to open the station prematurely without all the safety issues being guaranteed.”
Commuters looking to travel between Edinburgh and Glasgow via ScotRail service are being advised that serviced to and from Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Queen Street remain unaffected by the disruption.