The new Glasgow Queen Street station

In this Blog I am going to talk about the new Queen Street station in Glasgow.

Glasgow Queen Street (Scottish Gaelic: Sràid na Banrighinn) is a passenger railway terminus serving the city centre of Glasgow, Scotland. It is the smaller of the city's two mainline railway terminals (the larger being Glasgow Central) and is the third busiest station in Scotland behind Central and Edinburgh Waverley.

 

It connects Glasgow with Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, via the Glasgow–Edinburgh via Falkirk line and the North Clyde Line. Other significant connections include the West Highland Line for services to and from the Scottish Highlands, the Highland Main Line and Glasgow–Dundee line. The station is split into two levels with high level trains predominantly serving the Edinburgh shuttle and further afield destinations, while the low level platforms serve trains covering the Central Belt of Scotland.

 

The station has been renovated to have longer train tracks for fastest trains and to make the station more inclusive for everyone.

 

Couple of years ago I attended a meeting ran by gap (Glasgow access group) the meeting was for to see what disabled accessibility was needed.  It was interesting to see what the plans were like and we were able to give our feedback on things too, I think this was a very good thing to have because when you are renovating a place it is good to get feedback for people to make sure that it is inclusive for everyone.

 

It took a few years to get all of the renovations done, and because of Covid it took even longer, but it is open now.

 

As I was in involved in the plans of the station, I was very keen to go to the station to have a look around to see what they have in place for disabled people.

 

So I met with the station manager Maggie, who took me on a tour of the station and I must say that it is a lovely station.

 

Maggie took us all around the station explaining everything.  There are 3 entrances to the station which are all accessible either by lift, ramps or just flat. 

 

In terms of the toilets in the station. You wouldn't go without!  Downstairs in the basement there are the usual toilets, a baby changing, a standard disabled toilet which it is quite big but also there is a great Changing Places. On main level there are quite a few toilets.

 

Before the renovation there was only 1 or 2 lifts but now there are about 7 which it is quite good. They even have a lift that goes up to the management bit so they can employ disabled people in the future, which I think it is a very good idea.

 

If you are travelling through the station, there is a app that you can get to book assistant to help you in the station and the ticket office has moving desks if you are in a wheelchair.

 

Over all, I think the station is fantastic for disabled people and it is great to see that they have so many things in place. This is really important because when you are disabled like me, to see a place like Queen Street Station which is all kitted out for you, you do feel included. I hope now, if any other stations are being renovated, they will follow in Queen Street Station’s steps and make sure that they are inclusive for everyone.

Written by Jill