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Fire at Glasgow Central (08/03/26)

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deerokus

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The ScotRail app seems to have the temporary timetable active.

Passed the site and had a look from a bus this morning, hard to see what's happening but they seem to me to be starting to clear the rubble on the ground. That will take a while.
 
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yorkie

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Some related threads can be found at the links below...

Temporary timetable discussion:

Recovery of stranded trains:

How could the effects be mitigated (inc. alternative timetable proposals etc):

Travel advice:

Discussion on whether the building next to the station should be rebuilt:

Discussion about vape shops:
 

cf111

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Good to hear that the west side of the station is re-opening. Pragmatism and safety should go hand in hand and I'm sure they have here.
 

Southsider

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A Class 380 has just done a trip to East Kilbride and back. Don’t know where it originated from.
 

nlogax

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Update from NR Scotland.


Summary: station will be partially reopening from Wednesday March 17th, confirming entrances will be via the Low Level stairways on Argyle St, plus the Hope St carriage driveway. Caledonian Sleeper, some Avanti and some Scotrail services will be returning.
 
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edwin_m

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Demolition workers are using hand tools to dismantle the remaining facade of a historic Glasgow building wrecked by a fire.
The photo on this story shows what I expected they would do - there are a couple of people on an elevated platform, presumably removing each stone in turn from the top of the facade wall. That way they should be reasonably unscathed if anything collapses during the work.

I guess it's possible this might leave something that can be re-assembled later. But it may take a while to reduce it enough to allow the station entrances below it to re-open.
 

Southsider

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The photo on this story shows what I expected they would do - there are a couple of people on an elevated platform, presumably removing each stone in turn from the top of the facade wall. That way they should be reasonably unscathed if anything collapses during the work.

I guess it's possible this might leave something that can be re-assembled later. But it may take a while to reduce it enough to allow the station entrances below it to re-open.
They are breaking up the sandstone blocks with a kango hammer so limited scope for reuse.
 

QueensCurve

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Looking at the City Council Update from 18 March, there are some interesting pictures. Do these show damage to the station itself?

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swt_passenger

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I‘m sure I saw an overhead view that was showing a void between the back of the fallen building, and the side of the station. There was something like a fire escape in the void, maybe the rusty looking steps in the first photo. If they’ve been taken from a distance the walls may look closer together than they are. But presumably the nearer wall is still a potential failure, hence that part of the station remaining closed?
 

Acathater

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I‘m sure I saw an overhead view that was showing a void between the back of the fallen building, and the side of the station. There was something like a fire escape in the void, maybe the rusty looking steps in the first photo. If they’ve been taken from a distance the walls may look closer together than they are. But presumably the nearer wall is still a potential failure, hence that part of the station remaining closed?
It's the stonework behind the fire escape I'd be worried about, that's clearly an exterior wall and it has been heated enough to discolour the stone and burn off the historic smoke pollution. Stone could be weakened and mortar could be shot. Presumably that's what the roof is cantilevered off. Need to remove the debris & rubble to get a closer look
 

Mugby

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I‘m sure I saw an overhead view that was showing a void between the back of the fallen building, and the side of the station. There was something like a fire escape in the void, maybe the rusty looking steps in the first photo. If they’ve been taken from a distance the walls may look closer together than they are. But presumably the nearer wall is still a potential failure, hence that part of the station remaining closed?
I'm sure you're right. Many years ago I stayed in the hotel to the left of the Union Street entrance (used to be called Duncan's Hotel) From the bathroom you could see out of the window that there certainly was a gap of about six feet between the back of the hotel and the side wall of the station.
 

swt_passenger

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I'm sure you're right. Many years ago I stayed in the hotel to the left of the Union Street entrance (used to be called Duncan's Hotel) From the bathroom you could see out of the window that there certainly was a gap of about six feet between the back of the hotel and the side wall of the station.
From the city council website, as the earlier two photos, this gives a reasonable view of the space between the buildings. I’ll add a link below for anyone wanting to see the whole set:
IMG_1801.jpeg
 

deerokus

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It's the roof access (possibly a fire escape?) that seems to be badly damaged and melted. I can imagine that being an issue for a while.
 

Russel

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It's the roof access (possibly a fire escape?) that seems to be badly damaged and melted. I can imagine that being an issue for a while.

Should be straightforward to replace once everything else is cleared up.
 

edwin_m

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In the meantime they should be able to access the roof using a Mobile Elevated Work Platform like the demolition workers are using.
 

The exile

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It's the stonework behind the fire escape I'd be worried about, that's clearly an exterior wall and it has been heated enough to discolour the stone and burn off the historic smoke pollution. Stone could be weakened and mortar could be shot. Presumably that's what the roof is cantilevered off. Need to remove the debris & rubble to get a closer look
If there were any danger of structural failure of a wall of the station, particularly one supporting any of the roof, I doubt they’d have opened any of the High Level at all.
 

thenorthern

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I noticed for the West Coast Main Line services, they have done it in order of priority. The most important one is always going to be the London Euston services via the Trent Valley, hence why they are running from Glasgow Central. Next most important is going to be the ones to Birmingham hence why they are starting at Motherwell. The least important is always going to be the Manchester trains as they are the shortest, hence why they are starting at Carlisle.
 

QueensCurve

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If there were any danger of structural failure of a wall of the station, particularly one supporting any of the roof, I doubt they’d have opened any of the High Level at all.

Am I correct in believing that the west side of the roof is structurally indepandant of the east side?

1774023837901.png
 

Russel

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BBC News - Glasgow Central exit to reopen as demolition work nears end

Hope Street exit is going to be opened

Am I reading this right, the remaining part of the building will demolished by Friday, today presumably?

Seems very quick considering it is being done by hand...
 

ScottDarg

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Am I reading this right, the remaining part of the building will demolished by Friday, today presumably?

Seems very quick considering it is being done by hand...
I walked passed around midday today and most of the top and 2nd floor facade was gone (the only remaining section was the one that faces West towards Hope St above Blue Lagoon).

With that in mind I can't really see how the remainder could be fully demolished today if they're continuing with the hand tool only approach but certainly moving much faster than I anticipated.

EDIT: Glasgow City Council update does indeed say today. Update linked here with images showing what was remaining when I passed earlier: https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/UnionStreetIncident
Remainder of the façade should be complete by end of today. There will be no reduction of the cordon at this time, as the next phase will be removal of the rubble on site and large vehicles will still be in the area, therefore the safety cordon will remain in place for public safety and access....
 
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swt_passenger

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I walked passed around midday today and most of the top and 2nd floor facade was gone (the only remaining section was the one that faces West towards Hope St above Blue Lagoon).

With that in mind I can't really see how the remainder could be fully demolished today if they're continuing with the hand tool only approach but certainly moving much faster than I anticipated.

EDIT: Glasgow City Council update does indeed say today. Update linked here with images showing what was remaining when I passed earlier: https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/UnionStreetIncident
I saw that too, but surely that’s only referring to the outward facing facade? There must still be that back wall to come down, although I suppose that’s not likely to fall across the street. But then there’s also the hidden gable end adjoining the station hotel - behind the bit you mentioned above the Blue Lagoon - will that potentially have the same issues with the chimney stack as the southern boundary?

Makes you realise the first major thing they’ll have to do is to waterproof the ends of the neighbour’s buildings?

It’s also stated on the council page that they've now ended 24 hr working:
Now that the dangerous building structures' demolition is near completion, work on site will now be carried out from tomorrow onwards 7am - 7pm daily until the site is cleared.

The 24hr working was in place to carry out the demolition as safely and quickly as possible.
 
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ld0595

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I grabbed a couple of photos during my lunch break today. As another poster said, it's just the Blue Lagoon level to go. Hopefully this means it won't be long until the remainder of the station can open.
 

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