New Rail Station at Barrhead South

[numtot12345]

As a regular user of the line the timetable reset was done a couple of years ago. Currently the northbound trains arrive early at Patterton every time as the Balgray stop doesn’t happen.

Interesting - thanks for sharing

 

[sannox]

I see there are a couple of 318 special trains calling overnight for 20 mins at Balgray. I've just heard them accelerating hard from Cathcart! Presume this is checking various platform compliance?

 

[03_179]

Afternoon,

What is the distance (in miles and chains) from Neilston to Balgray, please?

Thanks in advance.

 

[och aye]

The station is to open on Sunday 27 September, according to Network Rail.

One month to go until Balgray station welcomes first passengers

There's just one month to go until the new Balgray station opens in Barrhead, welcoming its first passengers on Sunday 27 September.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

One month to go until Balgray station welcomes first passengers​

There's just one month to go until the new Balgray station opens in Barrhead, welcoming its first passengers on Sunday 27 September.

Built to improve rail connections to and from Glasgow, the station will help people travel for work, education and leisure while providing easier access to destinations including Dams to Darnley Country Park.

It’s part of the Glasgow City Region City Deal, funded by the UK and Scottish Governments and East Renfrewshire Council. The new station’s being delivered by Network Rail in partnership with East Renfrewshire Council, Transport Scotland, ScotRail and Story Contracting.

 

[nlogax]

I'll stroll up for the opening on the Sunday morning. Anyone else?

 

[318266]

I imagine that I'll be there given that I have nothing in the books for that Sunday...

Afternoon,

What is the distance (in miles and chains) from Neilston to Balgray, please?

Thanks in advance.

I don't think an official figure is public yet, but via OpenStreetMap I've estimated it to be 1mi 75ch.

 

[03_179]

Thanks

 

[Falcon1200]

The station seems to have been built considerably faster than the foot and cycle path along the Dams Road, which last time I looked was still not open. The railway can still do it!

 

[zwk500]

I imagine that I'll be there given that I have nothing in the books for that Sunday...

I don't think an official figure is public yet, but via OpenStreetMap I've estimated it to be 1mi 75ch.

ORR letter has now been published: https://www.orr.gov.uk/sites/defaul...-balgray-station-orr-authorisation-letter.pdf

Which gives figures of

The limits of authorisation are defined as following:

Location	ELR	Track ID	From	To
Balgray Station Platform 2 (Up Neilston)	NNH	1100	106m 1063yds	106m 1200yds
Balgray Station Platform 1 (Down Neilston)	NNH	2100	106m 1063yds	106m 1200yds.

Which puts the midpoint at 106m 1132yds, or 106m 51.45 chains (Railwaycodes gives Balrgay at 106m 54ch as well),

Neilston at 108m 45ch, so 1m 71ch away. Very good estimating!

 

[nlogax]

A preview of Balgray station courtesy of Network Rail

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Sep 2026 ==

For those of you planning to head down to Balgray this coming Sunday it looks like the first trains in both directions are scheduled to depart at 08:50.

 

[och aye]

Opening ceremony of the station with local residents, politicians etc.

 

[nlogax]

A few shots including the first arrivals at 08:50

 

[H&I]

I was on the first train! I could not apply a railcard to any tickets when buying from the ticket machine. They also could not be applied to promise to pay. When I entered Okehampton into the machine, it refused to sell such a ticket, probably because the machine does not have CCST. It prints out digital tickets on receipt paper.

Also, the ticket examiner could not sell me a Balgray to Roundabout ticket as it was not in the system yet.

 

[kkong]

I was on the first train! I could not apply a railcard to any tickets when buying from the ticket machine. They also could not be applied to promise to pay. When I entered Okehampton into the machine, it refused to sell such a ticket, probably because the machine does not have CCST. It prints out digital tickets on receipt paper.

Also, the ticket examiner could not sell me a Balgray to Roundabout ticket as it was not in the system yet.

Ah, are these some more of the enhancements offered by the new ScotRail retail systems contract?

 

[Scotrail344Lad]

Good to hear that it is now open

 

[318266]

I was on the first train! I could not apply a railcard to any tickets when buying from the ticket machine. They also could not be applied to promise to pay. When I entered Okehampton into the machine, it refused to sell such a ticket, probably because the machine does not have CCST. It prints out digital tickets on receipt paper.

Also, the ticket examiner could not sell me a Balgray to Roundabout ticket as it was not in the system yet.

Okehampton, nay, but it will happily issue a Promise to Pay to such elustrious destinations as Hoek van Holland or GWR Test Destination...

 

[och aye]

The spirit of Lyoncross railway station opens

 

[ScotTrains]

I travelled to the new station yesterday evening on the first day of opening. About a dozen people also got off so I suspect this station could become quite well used.

I must say I was quite disappointed by the appearance and facilities of the new station. It really does look quite horrible with all bare metal fencing and structures, the complete opposite of many of the other pleasant stations on the southern leg of the line. Feels like a high security prison. Even sitting in the shelter looking out towards the country park you have to look through big bare metal harsh fencing. Many other new stations have managed to incorporate brick and wood into the design and at least painted the metalwork!

The bridge is also very high sided and very concealed and poorly lit; surely they could have used glass panels. These new estates always have loads of young children who often love waving at the trains from bridges.

The ticket machine is useless too, as it can't print standard train tickets. Anyone wanting a standard ticket or travelling onwards with another operator will probably be better going to Barrhead station to collect their tickets in advance.

I had a standard credit card style ticket to get to Balgray but it didn't work at the barriers at Queen Street, or Central. Hopefully this is something that'll get fixed soon.

Overall, it's nice to see a new station open and I'm sure it'll be popular. I just wish they had made it more aesthetically pleasing to the surrounding landscape and country park, and provided a normal ticket machine capable of printing standard credit card style tickets!

 

[Falcon1200]

The bridge is also very high sided and very concealed and poorly lit; surely they could have used glass panels.

IIRC one of the delays in building the station (and which must have increased its cost) was the debate over whether a footbridge, with lifts of course, was needed at all, which I still question given that there is a road underbridge immediately next to the station. Personally the station looks OK to me, and of course it has had to be built to modern standards; A Whitecraigs style station would have been lovely but probably not a realistic option!

 

[777142]

Overall, it's nice to see a new station open and I'm sure it'll be popular. I just wish they had made it more aesthetically pleasing to the surrounding landscape and country park, and provided a normal ticket machine capable of printing standard credit card style tickets!

I'm under the impression that ScotRail want to move completely to paper tickets. Some stations near to me have new systems in the ticket offices which allow them to choose receipt-style or credit-card style, but paper seems to be the default and I have to specify if I want a proper ticket.
I got a credit card-sized roundabout ticket at Glasgow Central on Sunday and weirdly it had a QR code crammed onto it. It didn't seem to scan easily at the ticket barriers like other QR tickets but supposedly it's there so it can be scanned by ticket inspectors. Although I don't think it was scanned once all day, despite about a dozen ticket checks.

 

[sannox]

I travelled to the new station yesterday evening on the first day of opening. About a dozen people also got off so I suspect this station could become quite well used.

I must say I was quite disappointed by the appearance and facilities of the new station. It really does look quite horrible with all bare metal fencing and structures, the complete opposite of many of the other pleasant stations on the southern leg of the line. Feels like a high security prison. Even sitting in the shelter looking out towards the country park you have to look through big bare metal harsh fencing. Many other new stations have managed to incorporate brick and wood into the design and at least painted the metalwork!

The bridge is also very high sided and very concealed and poorly lit; surely they could have used glass panels. These new estates always have loads of young children who often love waving at the trains from bridges.

The ticket machine is useless too, as it can't print standard train tickets. Anyone wanting a standard ticket or travelling onwards with another operator will probably be better going to Barrhead station to collect their tickets in advance.

I had a standard credit card style ticket to get to Balgray but it didn't work at the barriers at Queen Street, or Central. Hopefully this is something that'll get fixed soon.

Overall, it's nice to see a new station open and I'm sure it'll be popular. I just wish they had made it more aesthetically pleasing to the surrounding landscape and country park, and provided a normal ticket machine capable of printing standard credit card style tickets!

Just standard cut and paste station. I agree it looks horrendous and very stark - same as Hairmyres - even older 1990s stations on the SPT network were more sympathetic with the architecture!