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Glasgow Central Station is a major railway station in Glasgow. It is operated by Network Rail. It is the northern terminus of the West Coast Main Line. It was opened on July 31 1879.
The station is on two levels - the High Level station slightly above street level, and the underground Low Level station.
The High Level station has 13 platforms covered by a large steel ridge/furrow roof. It has a spacious concourse containing a variety of shops, catering outlets, ticket offices and a travel centre. The station is fronted by the Central Hotel on Gordon Street, designed by Robert Rowand Anderson. The station building also houses a long line of shops and bars down the Union Street side. Although not obvious to the general public, there is also an extensive system of tunnels and underground caverns used for car parking and utility purposes built underneath the station.
The station's most famous architectural feature is the large glass walled bridge that takes the station building over Argyle Street, which is nicknamed by locals as "Heilanman's Umbrella", which stems from the local urban myth that thrifty Highlanders would rather stand under the bridge than buy an umbrella and venture out into the rain. Underneath the Umbrella is a bustling array of shops and bars, as well as the "Arches" nightclub.
The Low Level station has 2 platforms, and serves the Argyle Line of the Glasgow suburban railway network.
In 1998, a five-year renovation programme was initiated by Railtrack, which saw the station be completely re-roofed, internally refurbished. The final improvements, the installation of new electronic destination signs were completed at the end of 2003.
Several different companies operate trains to and from this station:
A taxi rank is to the north of the station; buses operate from adjacent streets. The Glasgow Underground operates from St Enoch, about 5 minutes' walk away to the south east, or Buchanan Street station 5 minutes' walk to the north.
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