04 METROSUPPLEMENT Stephanie Todd


Communications Officer, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT)


Investing in a new era


It may now be 115 years since the Glasgow Subway first shoogled and rattled under the city’s streets, but it still carries millions of passengers every year using the same tunnels the Victorians had the foresight to dig. Originally built for the Glasgow District Subway Company, it was opened in December 1986 some years behind London (1863) and just months after Budapest (May, 1896). It was unique however as it was the only one to be hauled by a giant cable.


The Subway was a warm, clean and quiet way to travel for Glaswegians who’d gotten used to the draughty horse drawn trams of the time. It had a low-key opening on its first day – a wintry Monday morning – but as word spread thousands queued outside stations to


Eurotransport Volume 10, Issue 1, 2012


experience travel by a non-steam train for the first time. During the first four hours, 1,400 people had


experienced a new and novel way to travel. John Messner, Curator of Transport and Technology at Glasgow’s new Riverside Museum, explained:


“It was definitely a form of transport that most Scots hadn’t been on unless they had been to London. The first day was incredibly popular. There were large queues at St. Enoch and they had trouble with the crowds. You could get on for one penny and then stay on all day if you wanted, just like today.” Built to transport workers to the bustling


shipyards of Govan and Partick and to provide a fast and convenient link between the plush west end and the city centre, the Subway went on to attract more than 9.6 million passengers in its first year.


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