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Glasgow Central Station closed to all trains until further notice

Due to a serious fire off railway property outside Glasgow Central station, all trains to and from the station are cancelled. The fire has been in progress since 1540, and is not yet under control as at 2116, it is now reported to be threatening the Blue Lagoon fish and chip shop- dangerously close to the station.
The last train movement before full evacuation was at 1724.

The Voco Grand Hotel is also reported to have been evacuated.

This is expected to last until at least the end of today, maybe longer depending on the damage.

Some sources are saying that assisting fire crews have been sent from as far away as Stirling and Edinburgh.

A number of Avanti and TPE trains are being held on the tracks at various places between Lockerbie and Central, others are being terminated short at Carlisle or Preston. In due course they may have to be terminated at Lockerbie, Carstairs or Motherwell or diverted to Edinburgh.

Check before travel tomorrow, as trains and crews will be out of position, leading to short notice changes, cancellations and maybe diversions to Edinburgh if possible. Tickets are being accepted from Queen Street to Edinburgh on Scotrail then LNER forward.

Services are still running (but non stop) through Central Low Level.

Sleeper passengers tonight are to travel (at no extra cost) with Scotrail from Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh on the 2100 - 2130 - 2200 - 2230 and 2300 services, from where the train will leave at midnight.
Tomorrow morning they are expecting to be diverted to Edinburgh, for Scotrail to Queen Street.

Posted by
380 posts

This is terrible news! I hope they get the fire under control quickly, with minimal damage. Huge thanks to all who are working to control the fire and helping to evacuate people. We were there just last week and I spent a lot of time at the beautiful station and at that Blue Lagoon.

Posted by
11310 posts

The videos and photos from the scene are really something

Posted by
11367 posts

MONDAY SERVICE PLANS- UPDATED AT 0100 Monday-

TPE* no trains to or from Central all day Monday 9 March. Due to train crew disruption this may also affect their Edinburgh to Newcastle and Edinburgh to Manchester Airport routes as well. All Ticket Types will be valid on Tuesday and Wednesday 10 and 11 March. No rail replacement transport will be provided as this is an official Red Do Not Travel Notice.

Avanti West Coast have ticket acceptance in place on 9 March with Scotrail from Queen Street to Edinburgh (also to Motherwell), then LNER to Kings Cross or Cross Country to Birmingham and TPE to Manchester.

They will also run a shuttle service from Motherwell to Preston (change for stations to Euston).

Ticket acceptance for tickets dated 8 and 9 March on trains on 10 March for all ticket types. or full refunds where travel is abandoned

CROSS COUNTRY Use Scotrail to Edinburgh, ticket acceptance on the two previous and two later trains from Edinburgh to your booked service

Scotrail-
CANCELLED ROUTES- Glasgow Central to Edinburgh via Shotts or Carstairs; Glasgow suburban circulars; Glasgow Central to Paisley Canal. Newton, Barrhead, Neilston. East Kilbride, Ardrossan (for the Isle of Arran) and Auchinleck
REVISED ROUTES-
Gourock trains reduced to one per hour, turning at Paisley Gilmour Street
Wemyss bay trains reduced to one per hour, turning at Port Glasgow, where they connect with the Gourock trains
Largs services turning at Kilwinning, where they connect with the Ayr trains
Ayr services reduced to one per hour, turning at Paisley Gilmour Street
Lanark services turning at Motherwell
Dumfries/Carlisle services turning at Kilmarnock
Stranraer services diverted to turn at Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock all stations turning at Barrhead

Continuing ticket acceptance on McGills buses into Glasgow from Paisley. No replacement buses and no local bus ticket acceptance from Kilmarnock and Barrhead- pay own fares, you should be able to claim back from Scotrail

Expect overcrowding on local bus routes, also very busy LNER, TPE and Cross Country services- make seat reservations before travel either at local stations or on the GWR app/website.

Posted by
1193 posts

This is terrible! I really hope this is not another "accidental fire" in a listed building that someone wants to develop. That seems to happen a lot in Glasgow. The Guardian says the fire started in a vape shop so perhaps it really was an accident? Glad to see at least there have been no casualties.

Posted by
1790 posts

One good side it was a Sunday, not a weekday. Tomorrow's commute is going to be impossible for a lot of people from the south side.

Posted by
2352 posts

Yes Cat. It's happened for decades. News sources are attributing it to the vape shop but I'm always suspicious when buildings catch fire in Glasgow. I think the last time we talked about it here was Carlton Place when that went up in flames. I remember the Ca' d'Oro building right across the street from today's fire suffered a similar fate many years ago and was subsequently redeveloped.

I can't remember the name of the budget hotel that Mardee stayed at. Not 100% sure it was in that building in Union Street. I worked in Jessops camera shop in the run up to Christmas one year, which was where you see Paddy Power in the news pictures.

Posted by
11367 posts

It was the Grasshoppers hotel which Mardee stayed at. It's hard to tell from the pictures if the former Grasshopper's is involved or not, I know it was back in use (so not vacant) last Autumn- I believe (from memory) as a hotel again.

Posted by
13341 posts

Collapsing buildings and one news source using "apocalyptic". Truly a mess.

The well aged and dried lumber burns really well..

Be interesting to see if there is enough evidence left to determine the cause.

Posted by
345 posts

Current reports are that the fire is out and there was no structural damage to the station. No services tomorrow and probably in subsequent days as well while they clean up and check for damage.

Posted by
11367 posts

Avanti- Confirmed Train Plan (as amended, now no change at Preston needed)-
0428 from Glasgow- starts Preston
0533, 0629, 0736, 0838, 0936, 1038, 1136, 1240, 1333, 1434, 1538, 1557, 1640, 1740 and 1840 starts Motherwell
0800 starts Preston
0939, 1336 and 2006 start at Edinburgh- NOTE the 2006 leaves Edinburgh at 2004

0515 Wolverhampton to Glasgow also 0716 and 1340 Euston to Glasgow diverted to Edinburgh
0531 from London terminates at Preston
0730, 0830, 0930, 1030, 1130, 1140, 1230, 1330, 1430, 1530, 1630, 1640, 1730, 1830 and 1930 London to Glasgow terminate at Motherwell

TPE Confirmed Train Plan
0422 from Glasgow cancelled
0612 and 1812 from Edinburgh to Manchester Airport starts at Carlisle
0812 and 1412 from Edinburgh to Manchester Airport cancelled
0711, 0909, 1110 and 1707 Glasgow to Manchester Airport starts Carlisle
1309 and 1508 Glasgow to Manchester Airport starts Preston
0745, 1204 and 1611 Glasgow to Liverpool starts Carlisle

0454, 0704, 1304, 1704 Manchester Airport to Glasgow terminates Carlisle
1804 Manchester Airport to Edinburgh cancelled
0904 Manchester Airport to Glasgow runs Preston to Carlisle only
1004 Manchester Airport to Edinburgh starts Carlisle
1104, 1504 Manchester Airport to Glasgow terminates Preston
1204, 1404 and 2004 Manchester Airport to Edinburgh starts at Preston
0813 Liverpool to Glasgow cancelled
1212 Liverpool to Glasgow terminates Preston
1612 Liverpool to Glasgow terminates Carlisle

TPE also have East coast changes-
0543 and 1208 Edinburgh to Newcastle cancelled
0917 Newcastle to Edinburgh cancelled

Scotrail have limited Rail Replacement buses in place between Paisley Gilmour Street and Glasgow and Barrhead and Glasgow, also ticket acceptance with Lothian buses all stations on the Shotts route Edinburgh to Curriehill, also ticket acceptance with JMB travel for Motherwell to Lanark and with Stagecoach west on all services in Greater Glasgow and Ayrshire (this includes to Ardrossan Harbour). also on all McGills services in the Glasgow and Inverclyde areas.

Posted by
1790 posts

Article here about some of Glasgow's mysterious recent fires. The reason the question of was it 'wilful fire raising' (the Scots Law equivalent of arson) to clear the spot is because, well, that has happened. Not just in Glasgow. These are older buildings which means they are more at risk of fire anyway than a modern building.

From what we've heard this morning SFRS are still checking. It is believed to be out, but they are not sure. Central Station will need to be checked before it can open which could take days.

Posted by
11367 posts

The station will remain closed on Tuesday 10 March, pending structural inspections, especially of the glass roof. Similar service plans in place.

The Voco Grand Central hotel also remains closed, the Blue Lagoon was reportedly destroyed.

The difficulty for TPE services out of Edinburgh is that they have no train crew base there. Train crew book on and off at Glasgow Central, then travel passenger from Queen Street or by taxi to Edinburgh. As the crew base at Glasgow is not accessible that is obviously not possible (info from a member of TPE staff).
Services are being covered by Preston based crew in the main.

Posted by
1790 posts

BBC Scotland has had a live feed on its website today. One of the witnesses says he heard someone call 'fire' and went to help. Sparks were coming from a plug adaptor. We'll see what comes of the investigations from Scottish Fire and Rescue, and from Police Scotland, but hearing that I heard every fire officer I have worked with in offices groan at once. Overloaded adaptors still are a massive cause of fires.

At its height SFRS says they had 18 appliances on the scene and were taking water from the River Clyde directly so as not to cut off the domestic water supply in the city centre.

Street view here everything from the Subway round to the Blue Lagoon based on pictures on the BBC is gone.