Travel
Glasgow says goodbye to old subway trains – BBC News
Image source, Getty Images
It is the end of the line for Glasgow’s 44-year-old subway cars, as the last old-style trains travel the underground loop for the final time.
The city’s subway has been gradually phasing out the old trains since December and replacing them with new wheelchair-accessible modern cars.
In total 17 trains have been gradually brought into service during 2024.
The new rolling stock is just one part of a £288m upgrade programme to the subway system that will feature platform doors and driverless trains in future.
- Author, Jamie Russell
- Role, BBC Scotland News
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), which operates the subway, said the two final trains were completing an estimated 2.6million miles each in passenger service – 400,600 loops of the system.
The legacy trains will be driven on their final journeys by Julie Baker, who has 42 years’ service with SPT, and Eileen MacPhail who has been with the operator 27 years.
The old-style trains were introduced to passenger service on 16 April 1980 as part of the system’s second modernisation project, which started in May 1977.
This project closed the subway for three years.
It introduced 33 Metro-Cammell trains to the system, with eight additional carriages built in 1992 to make all trains three carriages long.
One of the legacy carriages has been moved to Glasgow’s Riverside Museum as part of its transport exhibits.
The new third-generation trains are the same length as the older carriages, but feature a “walk-through” design and are air-conditioned.
SPT said the trains should be more comfortable and quiet.
The new trains are also the first to be wheelchair-accessible with a dedicated wheelchair space – however only two out of 15 stations on the subway have a lift to aid those with mobility issues.
Glasgow’s Subway, often dubbed the ‘Clockwork Orange’ due to its striking orange colour and single loop design, has undergone its third modernisation since 2012.
This included a refurbishment of all 15 stations, a new smart ticketing system, new rolling stock (trains), and a new signalling, communication and control-room system being introduced.
The third-generation trains also have the capability to be driverless, which the operator aims to introduce in the future.
SPT will also introduce platform screen doors to station platforms, as part of the £288m upgrades.
Interior designer Anna Campbell Jones, who is also a judge on ‘Scotland’s Home of the Year’, designed the seat pattern (moquette) on the legacy trains.
Glaswegian Campbell-Jones told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme that it was her first design job after graduating Glasgow School of Art.
The old chairs featured 100% mohair upholstery and Scottish leather.
“It was in the early 90s when the old carriages were refitted”, she said.
“It’s incredible how long they’ve lasted and I feel incredibly old that something I designed will now be in a museum.”
SPT chairman, Councillor Stephen Dornan, said it was a sad day saying goodbye to the much-loved fleet.
“I know many of the staff, current and retired, and many passengers have been keen to come along over the last couple of weeks for one last loop round the system,” he said.
SPT’s director of transport operations, Richard Robinson told Good Morning Scotland that the new designs help bring the Subway into the 21st Century.
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