Shotts Line

The Shotts line does not carry the principal service between the cities, with the journey taking around twice as long as the fast and frequent Glasgow Queen Street-Edinburgh service via Falkirk, which is the premier commuter link between the two cities.

The majority of the route follows ex-Caledonian Railway metals, with the North British Railway at the Edinburgh end.

• Glasgow Central Lines (CR)
• Polloc and Govan Railway between Eglinton Street Tunnels and Rutherglen (CR)
• Clydesdale Junction Railway between Rutherglen and Uddingston (CR)
• Cleland and Midcalder Line between Uddingston and Kirknewton (CR)
• Caledonian Railway Main Line between Kirknewton and Haymarket
• Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway between Haymarket and Edinburgh Waverley (NBR)

The line was threatened with closure in the Beeching Report of 1963, but was reprieved.[1] Services were diverted from their original terminus at Edinburgh Princes Street to Haymarket and Edinburgh Waverley when Princes Street closed in September 1965.

The route from Glasgow to Shotts was part of the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport network until it was taken over by First ScotRail.

In 2002, the Scottish Association Public Transport (SAPT) published a report suggesting that electrification of the Shotts Line would open up the Glasgow suburban electric network to Edinburgh and beyond, principally linking the capital to the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (now cancelled). This has been proposed as an alternative to the Crossrail Glasgow scheme, since it would not depend on the heavily used North Clyde Line, and would also provide a more direct electric link between Edinburgh and Glasgow without using the longer route via the WCML through Carstairs Junction.

The Shotts line serves the following stations:

Breich railway station.

• Glasgow Central
  • connections for south-west Scotland, including Ayr, Greenock and Dumfries as well as West Coast Main Line services
• Cambuslang
  • only at peak times
• Uddingston
• Bellshill
  • connections to Motherwell and Lanark.
• Holytown
• Carfin
• Cleland
• Hartwood
• Shotts
• Fauldhouse
• Breich
• Addiewell
• West Calder
• Livingston South
• Kirknewton
  • limited connections to Carstairs
• Curriehill
• Wester Hailes
• Kingsknowe
• Slateford
• Haymarket
• Edinburgh Waverley
  • connections to north-eastern and central Scotland, including Dundee, Stirling and Inverness as well as East Coast Main Line services

Network Rail completed an electrification project to electrify the entire line.[2] Prior to the completion of the electrification project, parts of the route were already electrified using the 25 kV overhead system. These were:-

• Glasgow Central to Holytown
• Kirknewton to Edinburgh Waverley

The line follows the British Rail electrified West Coast Main Line as far as Uddingston Junction where it branches off to the east. Until Holytown Junction the line used by Argyle Line services. From Holytown the line continues through open countryside past Shotts and joins the Edinburgh Branch of the Caledonian Railway (part of the WCML) at Kirknewton. The central section between Holytown and Midcalder Junction was electrified by April 2019.[3][4][2]

Some services operated by CrossCountry travel over the Shotts Line. Mostly these are empty coaching stock moves to/from Glasgow for driver route retention or passenger services diverted from their usual route via Carstairs due to engineering works or service disruption, but there is currently one service per week which is booked to travel over the line on Saturdays only (2105 Glasgow Central - Edinburgh). This service runs non-stop from Glasgow Central to Haymarket and does not serve any station on the Shotts Line.

From 23 April 2019, ScotRail began operating a limited number of new electric Class 385 trains on the line.[6] Class 156 and Class 158 used to operate on the line before electrification.

Freight services along the line are generally hauled using Class 66 traction, though on occasion other types may be used.

Bellside Bridge is situated between Cleland and Hartwood and crosses the A73. It is the most-struck bridge in the country, according to Network Rail in Scotland, being struck 56 times between 2011 and 2021. In August 2021, it was announced that its deck would be replaced with a slimmer version to increase clearance between the road and the bridge. The increased height of the bridge will also allow a signed diversion through Cleland village to be removed.[7][8]