Paisley Gilmour Street railway station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paisley Gilmour Street
Location
Place	Paisley
Local authority	Renfrewshire
Operations
Station code	PYG
Managed by	First ScotRail
Platforms in use	4
Live departures and station information from National Rail
Annual Passenger Usage
2002/03 *	2.560 million
2004/05 **	2.832 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	SPT
History
14 July 1840	Opened: 2 platforms and 2 lines
1880<?>	expanded to 4 lines and 4 platforms
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Paisley Gilmour Street.   * 2002/03 Disclaimer  ** 2004/05 Disclaimer
UK Rail Portal

Paisley Gilmour Street railway station is one of four stations serving the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland (Gilmour Street, St. James, Paisley Canal and Hawkhead). The station is managed by First ScotRail and is on the Ayrshire Coast Line.

Contents 1 History 2 Current operations 3 References 4 External links

[edit] History

The station was opened on 14 July 1840 on the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway (GPK&AR)^[1]. The station was used jointly by the GPK&AR and the Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway (GP&GR). However, the GP&GR did not run services until March 1841 due to construction difficulties at Bishopton.^[2]

It was originally built with only two platforms, with the GPK&R and the GP&GR lines separating to the west of the station. The station was later expanded to four platforms, two for the GPK&R and two for the GP&GR, with the lines separating to the east of the station.^[3]

The section between Glasgow Bridge Street railway station and Paisley Gilmour Street station was a joint line: the Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway.

[edit] Current operations

Paisley Gilmour Street is the busiest of the four Paisley stations. It has four platforms, with trains running on the Inverclyde and Ayrshire Coast lines. It is the fourth busiest railway station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central, Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh Waverley^[4].

Following extensive works, Paisley Gilmour Street now has step-free access to all platforms, and the main access onto County Square, has been joined by a re-opened back access onto Back Sneddon Street. The access was originally built along with the station, but had closed and had been converted into a model shop for a number of years. Despite this conversion the shop retained the steps up to stations lower concourse, however it has been bricked up to prevent access. When the shop owner retired, it was decided to purchase the unit and convert it back as part of the step free access works for disabled people, as it would increase space within the station, and the works were fairly simple since the original stairs were retained. After re-opening it was signed as a dedicated exit to the station for those wishing to use the bus link to the airport, as the buses stop directly outside the door and the airport cycle route which passes outside.

Connecting buses from this station also serve nearby Glasgow Airport (GLA) which is approxiately 2km away. It is possible to buy a railway ticket to and from the airport, which includes not only the train journey but also the journey on Arriva Scotland West 60 and 300 buses which depart from stops outside the Railways station. The current airport bus link will be replaced in 2009 by the direct Glasgow Airport Rail Link. It is also possible to cycle from the station to the Airport using the Airport Cycle Route.

It is an important interchange, not only for the airport bus link, but also for many local buses which depart from the area surronding the town centre running to destinations throughout the town of Paisley, Renfrew and to the out of town shopping centre, Braehead. It is also the closest station to St Mirren Football Club, who play in the Scottish Premier League. It is expected that Braehead will get a dedicated bus link in the future, possibly utilising Hillington East.

All services on both of these lines call here heading to or from Glasgow; ^[5].

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Train times and station information for Paisley Gilmour Street railway station from National Rail
• Street map and aerial photo of Paisley Gilmour Street railway station from Multimap.com

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Johnstone		First ScotRail Ayrshire Coast Line		Glasgow Central
Paisley St James		First ScotRail  Inverclyde Line		Hillington West
Historical Railways
Paisley St James		Caledonian Railway  Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway		Connection with G&PJR
Elderslie Line open; station closed		Glasgow and South Western Railway  Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway		Connection with G&PJR
Connections with GP&GR and GPK&AR		Caledonian and Glasgow & South Western Railways  Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway		Cardonald

Stations serving UK airports Railway stations: Dyce (for Aberdeen Airport) | Birmingham International | Durham Tees Valley Airport | Gatwick Airport | Paisley Gilmour Street (for Glasgow International) | Heathrow Airport: Terminals 1,2,3 - Terminal 4 - Terminal 5 | Liverpool South Parkway | Luton Airport Parkway | Manchester Airport | Prestwick Airport | Southampton Airport (Parkway) | Rochford (for Southend Airport) | Stansted Airport London Underground, DLR and Tyne and Wear Metro stations: Heathrow Airport: Terminals 1,2,3 - Terminal 4 - Terminal 5 | London City Airport | Newcastle Airport