Increase in rail travel

Passenger figures

Monklands’ railway stations saw usage rise by nearly six per cent during 2016-2017 – with Airdrie being the area’s busiest station, recording nearly 1.1 million passenger movements.

Whifflet saw the biggest percentage change, with nearly 25 per cent greater usage of the station than in the previous year; Bargeddie registered a 17 per cent rise.

The figures, contained in a Strathclyde Partnership for Transport report (SPT), were compiled by the Office of Road and Rail based on “entries and exits” derived from ticket sales, recording numbers travelling from or to each station.

Airdrie’s total of 1,086,244 entries and exits put it top of the 11 stations in Monklands, ahead of Coatbridge Sunnyside on 714,436 and Blairhill on 482,954.

Coatbridge Central had the smallest total of 64,178, with Caldercruix registering 88,688 entries and exits. The latter saw a fall in numbers of nearly 26 per cent, while there was a 17 per cent decline at Gartcosh.

The report noted various railway line works in the past year, including the five- month closure of Queen Street high level “and associated diversions and cancellations of services”, plus evening closures on the Edinburgh to Glasgow route.

Airdrie was the thirdbusiest station in North Lana rk s h i re, behind Motherwell and Croy; and was ranked 16th in Strathclyde overall.

The region’s busiest station was Glasgow Central with 32m passenger movements, while the SPT area saw an overall increase of 1.29 per cent in usage.