crusty_bint wrote:Explain away Scotia
I'd be delighted
The section of line the Botanic Garden station served ran along a tunnel under the city that emerged at Finnieston, near the site of the SECC station. The long-abandoned tunnel still exists, it's mentioned on this site that it was responsible for the flooding of Glasgow Central Low Level in the early 90's (talk about the past coming back to bite you in the...).
I was having a look through SPT's page describing the reopening of the Larkhall line (
http://www.spt.co.uk/microsites/larkhall) when I noticed this line:
"The first stage of the new service will be operational from December 2004 with the Hamilton to Anderston services increased from half hourly to quarter hourly, making sure that the benefits to the local community are felt as soon as possible."
Presumably, the idea is that sevices terminating at Anderston will continue to the SECC station and use the turnback siding there. This got me thinking. Why not run a few trains past there, up the Gibson Street tunnel and stop at Botanic Gardens? And, assuming it's still physically possible, run further north to terminate at Maryhill shopping centre, where space has been left underneath it to squeeze in a station.
As I see it, this could have the following advantages:
1. It would make it easier for people living in the area surrounding MSC to get into the town. Assuming they can be tempted away from the numerous bus services.
2. If people going to the Gardens or to Glasgow Uni travelled via Glasgow Central, this would create a more convenient way to reach those places instead of having to make the hike over to St. Enoch Subway station and travel that way. This would also take some of the pressure off the Subway system, which has sometimes suffered from overcrowding over the past few years.
The way I see it, it would work as a single line branch from Finnieston, similar to the North Berwick line if you've ever been there. I'm thinking stops at Botanic Gardens and (possibly) Maryhill. There might be demand for stops elsewhere, I'm not sure of the exact route the tunnel takes between BG and Finnieston. Trains (electric ones, obviously) would run at least every half hour, assuming the timetable can be adjusted to fit them in alongside both existing and proposed services.
Plus, I would have the BG station done up in 30's style similar to rosco's renderings. Nice and retro.
Like I said, a pipe dream...