Milngavie railway station


Milngavie railway station serves the town of Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire, near Glasgow in Scotland. The station is north west of Glasgow Central on the Argyle Line and north west of Glasgow Queen Street on the North Clyde Line.
Its principal purpose today is as a commuter station for people working in Glasgow city centre. The station itself is a category B listed building. Milngavie station is generally well kept and has had a history of winning many awards and commendations for the quality of the flower baskets and tubs in station garden competitions.
The station is the usual access point for the long West Highland Way, a long-distance trail which officially starts in Milngavie town centre marked by a granite obelisk. The first few hundred yards of the way follow the line of short spur of the railway originally built to serve the Ellangowan Paper Mills.

History

The station was opened on 28 August 1863, and was then part of the Glasgow and Milngavie Junction Railway. Originally built with three platforms, one platform has since been removed. The land where the third platform once stood has been sold and is now the site of a Kwik-Fit garage. The double track line from Hillfoot station was singled in 1990.
For December 2020, the 141 metre long platforms will be extended to 205 metres by reinstating 39 metres of unused platform and adding a further 25 metres of new platform. The project will cost £5 million.

Facilities

Milngavie station has a ticket office, staff facilities, and disabled access. There is no taxi rank, but there is a regular bus service operating from the bus stop outside the station entrance. A pedestrian underpass links the station to the town centre, which is also pedestrianised, and the southern end of the West Highland Way long-distance footpath to Fort William.

Signalling

Milngavie signal box was situated to the south of the station, on the east side of the railway. It opened in 1900 when the line was doubled. A new lever frame with 35 levers was installed in 1959.
The signal box was closed on 21 October 1990 under a resignalling scheme that saw control of the whole North Clyde Line transferred to Yoker Signalling Centre.

Services

Passenger services are operated by Abellio ScotRail with assistance from Strathclyde Partnership for Transport. Trains to Glasgow operate on a regular schedule, with a departure once every 15 minutes on weekdays. Two trains per hour go to via and on the North Clyde Line, while the other two travel to via and on the Argyle Line. In the evenings and on Sundays a half-hourly service operates via Glasgow Central to Motherwell via Hamilton. Return services on the Argyle Line arrive from via Hamilton Central. Argyle line services are operated by Class 318, Class 320 and less frequently by Class 334 electric multiple units; services to and from Edinburgh are operated solely by class 334s.