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Time to upgrade ‘world’s 3rd oldest’ Subway
April, 2010
The case for modernising the Glasgow Subway has never been stronger. SPT’s Subway tunnels - still the originals built in 1891 - were cut almost 10 years before the Boer War.
The Glasgow Subway officially opened to the public in 1896 and it is thought to be the third oldest in the world after London and Budapest.
It has served the city of Glasgow and its residents well for a long time, but frankly it is now fraying at the edges.
The last major Subway rehab took place about 30 years ago. In November 1979, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh reopened the refurbished system. Another one is now needed and at today’s prices, the cost is approximately £290million.
Glasgow Subway facts
- It is the world’s third oldest underground railway
- It was built in just six years and opened in December 1896
- Power originally came from a sole steam boiler at Scotland Street
- A record 69,290 people used it in one day for the Pope’s visit in 1982
- In 1988, 250,000 travelled on it to the Glasgow Garden Festival
- It is now responsible for over 14 million passenger journeys every year
Stevie Shannon, SPT’s nightshift supervisor, coordinates the teams who work under Glasgow each and every night, patching and repairing tunnels and track while the city sleeps.
“Stand in the tunnel directly next to the River Kelvin with heavy rain in Glasgow and you’ll see the water flooding in.
“We cannot possibly stem the water back. All we can try and do is divert it into appropriate drains and take it away via our pumps.”
For tunnel roofs, Stevie’s team injects polyurethane resin into the brickwork to reduce water penetration - effectively papering over the cracks.
Broken rails are also replaced with welding apparatus that looks like it belongs to the Victorian era.
Stevie explained: “Normally these types of jobs would be done by machine but because of the size of the tunnels and the unique gauge of the Subway tracks, manpower is all we can rely on.”
As a result, it costs between £5million and £7million every year to just keep the Subway running. As the system gets older, these costs can only go up.
On top of the problems with the tunnels and the running repairs, the rolling stock is also more than 30 years old and showing its age.
SPT’s Partnership Committee has already approved the case for Subway modernisation and has committed £20million in the first phase to upgrade some stations.
It’s now time to determine where the money for a full scale improvement programme above and below ground can be found.