Glasgow Subway: The London Underground style platform doors that will allow trains with no staff on board
Safety screens to be installed on station platforms
A key measure is about to take shape to clear the way for the Glasgow Subway’s new trains to run without any staff on board next year in a UK first.
Safety screens with sliding doors will soon appear on the historic system’s station platforms, which will open simultaneously with train doors like on some London Underground lines such as the Jubilee.
The move will mark one of the final stages of a comprehensive £288 million overhaul of the 130-year-old underground railway, which is the word’s third oldest after London and Budapest.
Platform screen doors will be installed first at Govan within weeks, then Ibrox and Partick and the 12 other stations on the 6.5-mile loop.
Subway operator Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) said the first ones will start operating by March next year once a new signalling and communications system has been completed.
This will enable trains to run without drivers from next July. While the Docklands Light Railway in London is similarly automated, other staff remain in its trains, which will not routinely be the case in Glasgow.
Switching to driverless mode, known as “unattended train operation” (UTO), will also mean passengers having a driver’s eye view along the tunnels for the first time.
An SPT spokesperson said: “We are finalising timescales with contractors to start the work to introduce the first platform screen doors to the system. This is expected to be within the next month or so.
“A lot of work has already been carried out in all stations, including platform strengthening work.
“Once the doors have been installed in the first stations, they initially will remain in an open position so passengers will board the train where the doors will eventually open and close.
“The doors at these stations will become operational - opening and closing simultaneously with the train doors - in the first quarter of 2026 once the new signalling and communications system operated from our new control centre is brought online.
“The doors will not be floor-to-ceiling, but half height. We believe this will be better for our system, so passengers will not need to worry about feeling enclosed on some of our narrower single platforms.
“When all that is complete, we will then have the capability to move to UTO – the first in the UK.”
The spokesperson said despite the removal of drivers, other staff would travel on trains at certain times.
They said: “Once we move to UTO, we will then start to remove the driver’s cabs from each end of all the trains. This will take a bit of time, but once complete it will allow additional passenger seats with a clear view out of the front and rear windows.
“We will always have staff in stations to assist passengers and we will have staff on board when needed – at particularly busy times, during events in the city, later at night or at weekends.”
Glasgow Labour MSP Paul Sweeney said: “The Glasgow Subway modernisation has been one of the longest-running rail infrastructure projects in Scottish history, dating back to 2011, so it is welcome that its completion is finally in sight with the last stages now getting underway.”
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