Mount Florida railway station

Mount Florida railway station is a staffed island platform station on the Cathcart Circle. It serves the Mount Florida and Battlefield areas of Glasgow, Scotland and can get busy on event days at Hampden Park as it is the closest station to the stadium. Services are provided by ScotRail on behalf of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport.

Mount Florida Scottish Gaelic: Cnoc Florida[1]
The station seen in 2015
General information
Location	Mount Florida, Glasgow Scotland
Coordinates	55.8268°N 4.2611°W / 55.8268; -4.2611
Grid reference	NS584615
Managed by	ScotRail
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	MFL
History
Original company	Cathcart District Railway
Pre-grouping	Caledonian Railway
Post-grouping	LMS
Key dates
1 March 1886	Opened[2][3]
Passengers
2018/19	1.331 million
Interchange	5,432
2019/20	1.303 million
Interchange	5,722
2020/21	0.196 million
Interchange	542
2021/22	0.622 million
Interchange	3,107
2022/23	0.939 million
Interchange	3,781
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

Cathcart Circle Lines route map

Mount Florida station in 2008

The station opened on 1 March 1886, on the Cathcart District Railway route from Glasgow to Cathcart. The station initially served as a temporary terminal for the route, as the section through to the terminus at Cathcart wasn't completed for a further two months. The western side of the Cathcart Circle Line was completed in April 1894, whilst the link to the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway's extension from Neilston to Newton was added in 1904. This allowed through running from the eastern side of the Circle towards Kirkhill and thus to the Caledonian Railway main line to Motherwell at Newton. Another spur at Cathcart laid concurrently also permitted through trains from here towards Neilston and the L&AR terminus at Ardrossan (though only local trains using this route actually stopped here). Regular through trains beyond Uplawmoor on this line ended in July 1932.

Train services were electrified in May 1962, using overhead lines carrying 25 kV AC south of there and 6.25 kV to the north (due to clearance issues - the system was upgraded to 25 kV throughout in 1973). During the upgrade work, a grade separated junction was installed south of here to reduce conflicting moves between Circle line trains towards Cathcart and those heading for Kirkhill. The island platform layout here allows easy and convenient cross-platform interchange between the two branches to Neilston and Newton and Circle line trains.

Due to its proximity to Hampden Park, the station can be very busy on days where there is a football match or any other event taking place at Hampden. A third platform had been provided on the Inner Circle to the south of the main station opposite the site of the extinct goods yard. This platform was only brought into use during major events and on Wednesdays.

In January 2008, the northern exit from the station was closed whilst disabled access, including a lift, was provided. The stairs reopened in September 2008.

The station has entrances from Battlefield Road, Prospecthill Road, Bolton Drive, McLennan Street and the campus of Jon Vincent Theatre College, Glasgow.

Services

2016

A typical weekday and Saturday service is five trains per hour to Glasgow Central (one train per hour in each direction on the Cathcart Circle, two from Neilston and one from Newton via Kirkhill), two trains per hour to Neilston and one train per hour to Newton (the one other hourly train to/from Newton runs via Langside). A Sunday service is almost the same except the Cathcart Circle trains do not operate. As a result, only three trains per hour operate to Glasgow Central.^[4]

During any major event at Hampden Park, Scotrail operate a number of additional services to Mount Florida, running non-stop from Glasgow Central.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Cathcart		ScotRail Cathcart Circle		Crosshill
King's Park		ScotRail Glasgow-Newton
	Historical railways
Cathcart		Caledonian Railway Cathcart District Railway		Crosshill
Kirkhill		Caledonian Railway Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway

References

Notes

1. Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
2. Butt (1995), p. 56
3. Kernahan (1980)
4. Table 223 National Rail timetable, May 2016

Sources

• Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. ISBN 978-0-9549866-9-8.
• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
• Kernahan, Jack (1980). The Cathcart Circle. Falkirk, Stirlingshire: Scottish Railway Preservation Society. ISBN 0-9043-9601-0. OCLC 85045869.
• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.