St Enoch subway station

St Enoch
Location	St. Enoch Square, Glasgow Scotland
Coordinates	55°51′25″N 4°15′21″W / 55.85694°N 4.25583°WCoordinates: 55°51′25″N 4°15′21″W / 55.85694°N 4.25583°W
Operated by	SPT
Platforms	2
Connections	Glasgow Central Argyle Street
Construction
Structure type	underground
Other information
Fare zone	G
Traffic
Passengers	1.796 [1] million annually enter/exit

St Enoch subway station is the first station on the north of the River Clyde on the Glasgow Subway. It is located in Glasgow city centre, Scotland. Although it does not have direct interchange with the main line railway, it is located approximately halfway between Glasgow Central station and Argyle Street railway station, within a few minutes' walk to both.

Usage of the entire subway in 2007/08 was 14.45 million passengers, increased from 13.14 million in 2005/06.^[2]

The original building

Old-style (pre-2010s) St Enoch station entrance

Above ground, the original station building housed both a booking office and the headquarters of the original Glasgow District Subway Railway Company. This was (and is) the Subway's most distinctive building - an ornate, Jacobean, late Victorian red sandstone structure; designed by James Miller in 1896. It still stands - it was carefully preserved during the modernisation of the Subway in 1977, even being jacked up in the air for a while, during reconstruction of the subsurface platforms.

The building was no longer used as a ticket office following the 1977-1980 modernisation; it became a travel information centre by SPT. The building became disused with the Travel Centre facilities being moved to the underground ticket hall in 2008. In December 2009, a Caffè Nero coffee shop was established in the building. It is now protected as a category A listed building.^[3]

The new building

The former Subway station (now converted into a café) on the right, with the St Enoch Centre in the background.

The station is now entered through a pair of canopies, one on each side, and other than Buchanan Street, is the only station to feature a subterranean ticket hall. The station originally featured a single island platform, though this was replaced by a dual side platform layout during the modernisation programme.

The adjacent former St Enoch railway station remained open until 1966, until it was closed during the Beeching Axe. Thereafter it was used as a car park until it was demolished and replaced by the St Enoch Centre in the late 1980s.

Refurbishment (2010s)

The new glass canopy entrance at the north side of St Enoch Square

As part of the wider refurbishment of the City's subway, St Enoch station received new glass canopies for each entrance, and an overhaul of the ticket hall.

References

1. "SPT Annual Report 2010/11" (PDF). Retrieved 19 April 2011.
2. "SPT Annual Report 2007/08" (PDF). Retrieved 7 November 2010.
3. "St Enoch Square Travel Centre: Listed Building Report". Historic Scotland. Retrieved 25 November 2011.