Glasgow Central Station- Full Re-opening on Wednesday 25 March

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.

The videos and photos from the scene are really something

That looks bad. That's a serious fire in some really nice old buildings.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/mar/08/glasgow-central-station-train-station-rail-disruption

Not to make light of it, but I don't know if you'll remember I joked about the hotel that Mardee once stayed at not catching fire once it failed, as is customary in Glasgow. Well, spoke too soon.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

We have no further news on the station re-opening (UPDATE AT 1242- CLOSED ALL DAY WEDNESDAY). However overnight West Coast Railways (better known for running the Jacobite train) have used a 'Thunderbird' rescue diesel locomotive to recover two 11 car Avanti West Coast Pendolino sets and one TPE set, which were stranded in the station during the fire.
They have been taken to Polmadie depot just outside Glasgow for assessment, especially any smoke damage, and technical damage from being off power for so long.

Scotrail still have 8 trains in the station requiring recovery- all electric- so they will also need to be dragged clear from Platforms 3, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13 and 14.

Until they are moved it will be difficult just to access the Overhead electric lines in the station to check their integrity, before switching the power back on.

Caledonian Sleeper are still running from Edinburgh- in the evening free travel is available from Glasgow Queen Street on the 2115, 2145 and 2215 trains, in the morning to Queen Street on the 0730, 0745, 0800, 0815 and 0830 trains.

As of lunchtime on Tuesday the fire service remain on site, still pumping water. Meanwhile the destroyed premises are said to be " "in ongoing and uncontrolled collapse".

Avanti tickets (of all types) for the dates of 8 to 12 March are automatically valid until last train on 13 March- that is all restrictions have been lifted. They are also still valid on LNER, Cross Country and TPE West Coast without restriction, and full refunds for all ticket types are available, free of fees.
EDIT (13 March)- This extended validity is now for tickets dated 8 to 19 March, which can all be used until end of service on 19 March.
On TPE all ticket types dated 8 to 17 March can be used until end of service on 19 March

This is such an unfortunate situation. From what I’ve read over here in the States, the men and women of the Scottish Fire and Rescue really saved the beautiful train station. So very thankful there were no deaths or injuries to anyone nearby, but I feel so bad for the businesses in the building that collapsed and for those whose business traffic will be impacted by the cleanup. And for travelers who have their job commute or vacation travel schedule completely disrupted. Just an awful fire.

FURTHER UPDATE 1820 on 13 March- The High Level station is now confirmed to be CLOSED until at least Wednesday 18 March.

The Low Level Station is open.

Tickets are NOT valid on LNER on 14 and 15 March due to the engineering work on the LNER route.

Per Radio Scotland this evening driving home the building in question will be demolished.

Sadly this is in large part to it being sandstone, which is one of the worst materials it could have been built out of given this last weekend.

STV News is reporting that the station cannot fully reopen until that is done. This may take weeks given the location of Glasgow Central

It's a crying shame. It's going to leave a big gaping hole right in the centre of Glasgow for years probably, without even considering the architectural history that's been lost. You take these sort of things for granted until they're gone.

I'm less sure it was arson than I was on Sunday. I think it's just been a terrible accident, going on the subsequent reporting.

The First Minister was talking about new regulations for vape shops after this. Though this will have to wait until after the Scottish Parliament election in May.

Sadly it looks like a cascade of 'if it could go wrong, it will'.

From the eyewitness saying sparks coming from an overloaded plug adaptor, in a shop that sells materials that by their very nature are meant to be flamable, in a multi storey warren of a building, in a city centre, built when Victoria had only had 14 years on the throne, out of materials that don't do well in the conflict of the rapid heat of the fire and the rapid cold of the water.

A good reminder to take your phone or pad off of charge over night.

it will take a while for Central to reopen fully, but it will. And a bit of good news, a local business owner has offered facilities for some of the small businesses hit by this to continue trading.

As an added bit of info - if you are planning to stay at the voco Grand Central hotel anytime soon they are currently closed with no set date to reopen. The hotel is attached to the station. I have stayed here in the past and it is very convenient.

When the Voco Grand are allowed back in, as well as checking for any damage, the staff will have the job of packing up and forwarding the personal belongings of all guests who were staying there at the time (even things like laptops).
It will be a difficult job for them.
In most cases (hopefully all) the staff were allowed back in briefly to collect the passports of guests- but some people had to wait for several days after their planned departure from Glasgow for even that to be safe to do.

thanks for the comprehensive and frequent updates, Stuart