Fire at Glasgow Central (08/03/26)

[teaspoon]

It seems that there's a large fire on the Union Street side of Central Station - from the photo I've seen, one of the buildings backing on to platform 1.

All lines currently closed and nothing coming in or out, but services are still running through the low level platforms.

Huge fire at Glasgow Central Station prompts evacuations as building collapses

The fire is understood to have started in a vape shop on Union Street on Sunday afternoon, with the building collapsing several hours later.

www.bbc.co.uk

Train passengers are facing major disruption after a fire broke out at a vape shop near Glasgow Central railway station.

Dozens of services have since been cancelled and National Rail said the station - which is Scotland's busiest - will be closed until further notice...

...A Network Rail spokesperson said the station will not reopen on Monday morning "following a fire at a vape shop on Union Street this afternoon".

 

[realemil]

The fire is taking place from one of the shops to the left of when you leave the station using the Union Street exit. Photo attached below.

Photo shows Union Street in Glasgow with black smoke coming out of a shop.

Edit, original post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/s/cKWV9nW6j1

 

[hexagon789]

The fire is taking place from one of the shops to the left of when you leave the station using the Union Street exit. Photo attached below.

Photo shows Union Street in Glasgow with black smoke coming out of a shop.

Edit, original post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/s/cKWV9nW6j1

It's the Vape Shop next to Subway I'm led to understand.

 

[62484GlenLyon]

BBC Scotland report of this fire - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8l2wx0027o

The fire brigade were in attendance about 15.45.

 

[fgwrich]

It's the Vape Shop next to Subway I'm led to understand.

Edited - the empty shop further down.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

All lines currently closed and nothing coming in or out, but services are still running through the low level platforms.

Looks like the last train to get away before service suspension / station closure was the 1723 ScotRail service to Neilston off platform 7. Trains using the low level platforms seem to still be running but are currently non-stopping through Glasgow Central.

 

[teaspoon]

The sleeper is currently expected to run this evening:

Travel Updates

Travel Updates | Caledonian Sleeper. View the latest travel updates, service alterations and planned engineering works for Caledonian Sleeper services.

www.sleeper.scot

We are aware of an ongoing incident in Glasgow Central. This should be resolved by the time we are due to leave.

 

[Russel]

It's the Vape Shop next to Subway I'm led to understand.

Looking at the thick, black smoke, what else were they selling?

 

[saismee]

Looking at the thick, black smoke, what else were they selling?

Lithium batteries?

 

[amahy]

The fire was still blazing when I was walking towards Glasgow Queen Street station about 20 minutes ago. Does anyone know when it will be extinguished?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

The sleeper is currently expected to run this evening

The fire was still blazing when I was walking towards Glasgow Queen Street station about 20 minutes ago. Does anyone know when it will be extinguished?

Probably too soon to say! The Sleeper departure(s) isn't/aren't until after 11 p.m.

 

[Russel]

Are the shops on Union Street property of Network Rail, given they are physically connected to Central Station?

 

[ld0595]

The fire was still blazing when I was walking towards Glasgow Queen Street station about 20 minutes ago. Does anyone know when it will be extinguished?

From the photos and videos I've seen, it looks like the fire service are working to prevent it spreading to adjacent buildings and just letting it burn out. The whole building is now on fire.

 

[Nevasleep]

Looks bad on a live stream, all floors including the roof I think.

 

[Strathclyder]

Came back from Paisley Gilmour St at about half 4 four this afternoon to find the Union St staircase cordened off, initially a whiff of smoke the closer to Gordon St I got, then walking out to see the street itself smothered in acrid smoke. Honestly thought it was the Egyptian Halls that had gone up at first before I turned the corner. Was hardly surprised when I noticed it was a vape shop. Glasgow living up to the 'Tinderbox City' nickname once again.

Central was evacuated at about 20 past 5 as per posts above, as I could hear the fire alarm and see the masses of people pouring out onto Hope St, to say nothing of all the emergency vehicles and personnel present. Snapped a few pics as I walked to find a alternative bus stop; attached is a pic of the fire at about 5:50 this evening.

 

[68000]

Pretty bad, how can it spread so much given the Fire Service were there quite quickly

 

[JModulo]

The above building which was on fire has now collapsed.

 

[380101]

All services now suspended tomorrow morning.

 

[Strathclyder]

The above building which was on fire has now collapsed.

Looking like a repeat of the Sauchiehall St fire from 2018 (iirc; was the one adjoining the Pavilion Theatre) that led to the buildings affected getting demolished, but on one of the city center's busiest streets and directly adjecent to it's busiest station. Though I don't think the building outright collapsed in that case.

As if Union St wasn't enough of a dive already, this happens...

 

[westralian]

Flames have spread in the building to now be visible in the windows facing Gordon Street (directly above Blue Lagoon).

 

[Strathclyder]

All services now suspended tomorrow morning.

This timeframe seems somewhat optimistic and will doubtlessly be extended, given how close the fire is and now that a collapse has occurred (and is still spreading to adjoining buildings). Just hope it doesn't spread to the Station Hotel.

 

[miami]

On a train upto Glasgow, running late. OK, Motherwell will do as there's the Glasgow suburban service from there, and Motherwell was already planned as a stop.

So instead they've decided to divert the train to Edinburgh and are telling us to get a train from there, which I reckon will be the the 2230, getting into Queen Street for 2318.

I guess running to Motherwell, where the train is supposed to drop passengers off, is too inconvenient for the railway

Irony is I'm only in Glasgow to meet with people from London, Newcastle, and three people from Glasgow, two of whom commute into Glasgow Central.

 

[realemil]

Pretty bad, how can it spread so much given the Fire Service were there quite quickly

Unsure how true this is, but apparently it was put out before the fire started again.

I’ve also attached a video of the building partly collapsing. Not mine otherwise I’d have a better quality version

 

[james73]

Horrendous viewing.

 

[teaspoon]

This timeframe seems somewhat optimistic and will doubtlessly be extended, given how close the fire is and now that a collapse has occurred (and is still spreading to adjoining buildings). Just hope it doesn't spread to the Station Hotel.

It appears to have spread away from the platforms, but I think the affected part contains the station control rooms (ie above WH Smith) so potentially could have a significant effect on operations.

This video on TikTok shows the start of the fire:

https://www.tiktok.com/video/7614928969435041046

 

[Buzby]

Are the shops on Union Street property of Network Rail, given they are physically connected to Central Station?

No. It’s just a frontage that backs on to the east side of the station. Only the Gordon Street side was to be Caledonian Railway offices before being remodelled as a hotel, Caledonian relocated the offices to Central Chambers (across Hope Street).

The shop on fire was originally a Wimpy that had been seeking a tenant for years!

 

[SC318250]

Central hotel also evacuated

 

[marks87]

Central hotel also evacuated

There’s photos on social media of the fire spreading round the corner into Gordon Street (above the Blue Lagoon), so that’s no surprise.

I wonder if they’ll start dousing the hotel and other parts of the station?

 

[teaspoon]

It looks like 390129 is on platform 1 and 390123 on platform 2. I wonder if there's any plans to rescue them?

 

[amahy]

Scotrail have updated their travel updates, to say the following about Glasgow Central: “Train services running to and from this station will be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until the end of today (09 March).”