The Clockwork Orange

Buchanan St. and Glasgow Queen Street Mainline Rail

SPT Car Logo

This “Clockwork Orange” is not Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 movie based on Anthony Burgess’s novel featuring Alex, Droids and ultra violence. Rather, this "Clockwork Orange" is the affectionate name for Glasgow's perfectly formed circular subway, so called from the orange livery and seating which carries 14 M passengers a year between 15 stations. It is one of the few things which all Glaswegian’s agree is a “good thing” and it provides a valuable orbital route linking the city on both banks of the River Clyde. With its four foot gauge track and its rolling stock made by Metro Cammell looking like a scaled down version of London Underground’s 1973 Piccadilly Line stock it is a self contained system majoring on both charm and convenience.


Car Interior

Originally built for the Glasgow District Subway Company, the railway first opened in 1896 as a cable-hauled system. Propulsion was provided by stationary steam engines and the railway was hailed as the first of its type in the world. The Subway is generally recognised as the world's third underground railway, after London and Budapest. In 1923 the Subway passed into the hands of Glasgow Corporation Transport Department, and in the following decade the railway was converted to electric traction, introducing a third 'live' rail for the purpose.


Car 41

The railway ran with little further change until 1977, when the new operators, Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Executive, closed it for major modernisation investment. The railway in its present form reopened for operation on 16 April 1980. Now part of Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive, the railway is one of the very few railways in UK remaining in public ownership and "vertically integrated", where SPT responsibility covers all aspects of operation and infrastructure.




Glasgow Underground station & train in the 1950's before modernisation

The railway forms a small circle in the centre-west of Glasgow. The entire passenger railway is underground, contained in twin tunnels, allowing clockwise circulation on the “outer” circle and anticlockwise on the “inner”. Fifteen stations are distributed along the route length of just over 10km. Eight of the stations are north of the River Clyde which dissects the circular route.


New Buchanan St Entrance

Most of the tunnels are relatively shallow, following the alignment of the city streets. The deeper sections that pass under the rivers are lined with cast iron segments, whilst the majority of the tunnels are formed from concrete and brick. Tunnels are very small, at only some 3.4m in diameter. This is in scale with the unusually small and unique track gauge of 1220mm (4 feet from rail-to-rail), and represents a major constraint inherited from the early origins of the railway. The route, though nominally 'circular', has many directional transitions creating some further constraints on the operation. There are also significant gradients (up to 6%), and the tunnels generally rise to stations and fall to low points between.


Buchanan St Platform

Trains are normally formed from three cars, the maximum length of train that can be accommodated in each station. Thirty-three "power cars" from the 1977-80 modernisations form the majority of the rolling stock fleet. These are self-contained cars, each with a driving cab, controls and motorised to be able to be driven independently. Eight additional “trailer” cars were provided in 1992 and these have no cab or traction motors.



Prior to the 1977-80 modernisations, the 15 stations were very basic and similar at track level, having a simple central “island” platform serving either direction of travel. Modernisation introduced separate “flank” platforms to six of the busier stations improving platform safety with a glass partition separating the two directions of travel. At the same time, 28 sets of escalators were provided, even though there are no deep stations in the Subway.

All stations have staffed ticket offices, normally at street level, and access to platforms is through controlled turnstiles operated by the magnetically encoded tickets – I imagine these turnstiles can be awkward for passengers with mobility problems or with luggage. A “flat” fare applies to any journey on the Subway, and exit from the station is by freely-rotating turnstiles. Vending machines are also provided for ticket sales. The three busiest stations are Buchanan Street and St Enoch in the city centre and Hillhead to the west.



Trains are timed to take 24 minutes to complete the circular route. Thus three trains in one direction in evenings and Sundays provide an eight-minute service. At peak times, the normal maximum of six trains in each direction provides a four-minute service. Intermediate variations to the service apply according to time of day and time of year. Operation starts at 6.30am and ends at 11.30pm, except on Sundays, when the operation is from 10.00am to 6.00pm. A depot at Govan on the extreme west of the route provides maintenance and administration services. Trains access the tunnels for passenger service from the depot by ramped tracks.


Govan Station

System Control at the depot is staffed round the clock, and provides an overview of the whole railway operation. This includes train location and identity, backed up by CCTV images of station platforms. The signaling system is also controlled from here. The System Controller has radio communication with all train drivers. Public address facilities enable announcements to customers in stations and in trains. Traction power supplies are remotely controlled from the System Control centre, and the centre also monitors tunnel water pumps, station alarms and other essential functions.

The railway has more than 160 CCTV cameras. Each station has viewing facilities for those cameras local to the station. All images can be viewed at the depot control centre, and are routinely recorded there for safety and security. Some 370 staff are employed directly on the railway. The majority are operational staff comprising train drivers, station staff and the supervisory and control staff. The next largest group covers maintenance, and the remainder includes an engineering section and administrative and management posts. Support functions such as finance, personnel and procurement are provided corporately.


Shields Road

The Subway's long-standing position as a small circular route in the centre of Glasgow has placed it in a well-recognised role for movement between the city centre and west end, and for north-south river crossings. The limited size of the railway provides reduced scope for full commuting journeys, but modal interchange opportunities provide links to radial routes in the city and beyond. It is a well run system and has an air of cleanliness and brightness throughout pointing both to high maintenance standards and active management as well as identification by the passengers with “their” railway. The technical limitations of the narrow gauge track and tunnels limit both capacity and the possibility of expansion preserving the Glasgow Subway as a unique stand alone example of a self contained circular subway.

One quibble is that you get approached and told no photography is permitted. This is obviously a reaction to the terrorist situation after the Glasgow Airport Bomb attempt on 30th June 2007. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6257194.stm ) However the reason I was surprised with this is I had checked the bylaws, posters and restrictions before taking photos without a flash. When told I then approached a station supervisor who confirmed it was a “policy”. What does surprise me is that National Rail and London Underground receive the same security advice (and it was the 3rd anniversary of the terrible 7/7/ 2005 suicide bombs on the Underground) and they still allow photography. So this would appear to be a reaction not based on an actual risk assessment or security advice and more importantly, not enforceable as there has been no change to the Bylaws or Conditions of Carriage?

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Tunnel Headwall