Arkleston Junction
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Arkleston Junction is a railway junction east of the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. The junction is one mile from Paisley Gilmour Street railway station and is heavily used by both Passenger and Freight traffic.
Situated on both the Ayrshire & Inverclyde lines, previously - since the electricifation of the Gourock line in 1967, and the removal of the centre (fast lines) from Shields Junction - Arkleston junction merged the four passenger tracks (Up & Down Fast; and Up & Down Slow) and the Up and Down Goods Loops running out of Paisley into the two tracks running on the former Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway line into Glasgow Central station. There was also a locomotive siding at the junction. The Paisley and Renfrew Railway line to Renfrew which has been long closed to passengers, but was retained to serve the former Babcock and Wilcox plant (now Mitsui Babcock) was connected to the Up Goods Loop. The locomotive siding was used by electric locomotives waiting to take over car trains from Elderslie having been hauled by diesel locomotives for the first short section of their journey.
As part of the Ayrline Electrification in the early 1980s, the connection to the line to Renfrew was removed (the line have previously become derelict and mostly removed), the locomotive siding and the Slow lines were taken out of use between Wallneuk Junction and Arkleston Junction. The practical application of this was the former Up Goods Loop and Up Slow line were removed and the Down Slow Line became the Up Goods Loop.
Off peak, seven passenger trains run over the junction in each direction per hour with up to six freight workings using the junction. Arkleston junction will under plans for the Glasgow Airport Rail Link become the western end for the proposed three track running between the Junction and its Glasgow equivalent, Shields Junction, to accommodate the new Airport services as well as increased passenger traffic to Ayr and Gourock.
