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Description

This is the junction between the line west to Glasgow via Stepps and east to Cumbernauld (to the north east) and Coatbridge Central (to the south east). The Cumbernauld route is double track, Coatbridge Central route single track.

The junction was former between the Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway of 1831 and Hayhill Branch (Caledonian Railway) of 1866. The latter was built to allow trains from Glasgow Buchanan Street to run directly to Stirling and beyond without needing to reverse at Gartsherrie South Junction.

The Gartcosh Steelworks opened just to the north of the junction in 1865, reached by a reversing spur from the junction (see entry).

Gartcosh station was to the west of the junction.

The signal box was located alongside the Coatbridge curve in the 'V' of the junction. The box had been replaced in 1899, the original being on the north side of the line just west of the junction.

Gartcosh station closed in 1962.

Both lines were double track. The junction was turned into a single lead junction (the Cumbernauld route remaining double track and the Coatbridge Central line coming off after a crossover, initially single track then doubling.

Gartcosh Steelworks closed in 1986 and the track lifted around 1989.

The box closed in 1999. The westbound line from Gartsherrie South Junction was converted into a headshunt for the Coatbridge Freightliner Terminal and Gartsherrie South Junction to Gartcosh Junction line singled, the former eastbound line.

A new Gartcosh station opened in 2005. The lines are now electrified.

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