Rolling stock › In serviceData updated
Glasgow Subway Stadler trains
Stadler's four-car trains for the Glasgow Subway, built to the same length and size as the three-car trains they replaced, to fit its 11 ft tunnels and 4 ft gauge. They are open from end to end, with six doorways a side, and are equipped to run without a driver once the new signalling and platform screen doors are complete.
Scale
130 ft (39.51 m) over couplers
Glasgow Subway Stadler trains · schematic drawing GB Trains · gbtrains.uk/stock/glasgow-stadler/ · CC BY 4.0
You’re welcome to use this drawing
Free to use, change and share, in print or online, under CC BY 4.0. Please credit it:
Drawing: GB Trains, gbtrains.uk, CC BY 4.0Online, link the words to this page. The downloaded file already carries the credit; please leave it on. What the licence covers
- Type
- Electric multiple unit (automatic metro, driven for now)
- Builder
- Stadler (Stadler Bussnang AG), in a consortium with Ansaldo STS for the signalling
- In service
- since 2023
- Lines
- Glasgow Subway
- Formation
- 4 cars, walk-through, 130 ft (39.51 m) over couplers: two half-trains, each a motor car on two bogies and a shorter trailer car carried at its outer end by the motor car (Bo'Bo'+2'+2'+Bo'Bo')
- Trains in fleet
- 17
- Top speed
- 36 mph (58 km/h)
- Power
- 600 V DC third rail; 520 kW continuous and 820 kW maximum at the wheel (Stadler) · how it works
- Bogies
- Stadler's motor bogies for the Glasgow Subway; Stadler's trailer bogies for the Glasgow Subway
- Train length
- 130 ft (39.51 m)
- Car height
- 8 ft 8 in (2.642 m)
- Car width
- 7 ft 7 in (2.309 m)
- Profile
- tube
- Walk-through
- Yes
- Seats per train
- 104
- Total capacity
- 104 seats and 6 tip-up seats, with 200 standing at 6 people per m² (Stadler); two wheelchair spaces a train (SPT)
- Status
- In service: 17 trains. The first two carried passengers on 11 December 2023 (Railvolution), and since 28 June 2024, the old trains' last day, they have run the whole service (SPT). Sixteen of the 17 are needed at the peak (Stadler). Each still has a driver, in a temporary cab at the front; unattended running is to follow: SPT planned it for 2027 (STV, June 2026), after Sunday closures for testing in summer 2026.
unverified Some of these figures haven’t yet been checked against an official source or a published history. What’s in doubt ↓
Car types
| Code | Car | Length | Doors per side |
|---|---|---|---|
| M | Driving motor car | 39 ft 9 in12.126 m | 2 double |
| T | Trailer car | 25 ft 0 in7.629 m | 1 double |
| M2 | Driving motor car (other end) | 39 ft 9 in12.126 m | 2 double |
Sources
How we source figures → · Spotted a mistake? Tell us → (opens in a new tab)
Show the 17 sources from Wikimedia Commons, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, Wikimedia Commons, from Geograph Britain and Ireland and 3 more
- METRO Glasgow EMU, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), UK (data sheet MSPT0522e) Stadler, 202217 trains; formation and axle arrangement; 130 ft × 7 ft 7 in × 8 ft 8 in (39,510 x 2,309 x 2,642 mm); floor 2 ft 3 in (695 mm); six 3 ft 11 in (1,200 mm) doorways a side; 104 + 6 seats, 200 standing; 600 V DC; 58 km/h (36 mph); output; 16 of the 17 in use at the peak (p. 2; status)
- Subway Modernisation Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, accessed 10 October 2026four cars; first in service December 2023; all service from the end of June 2024; two wheelchair spaces; platform screen doors; unattended operation to follow
- Glasgow new subway trains entered passenger service Railvolution, 8 January 2024the first two trains carried passengers on 11 December 2023 (status)
- Legacy trains leave Subway service Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, 28 June 2024the old trains' last day in service, 28 June 2024 (status)
- Subway to shut for four Sundays over summer for driverless train trials STV News, 24 June 2026SPT's plan for unattended running in 2027; Sunday closures for testing in summer 2026 (status)
- New Subway trains unveiled Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, 4 March 2016 (the page's byline says 9 March 2016)contract to Stadler and Ansaldo STS, March 2016; same size as the old trains; open gangways
- 125 years of the Subway (timeline) Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, 2021; accessed 10 October 202617 trains; tested in 2022
- 'J33 708 Triebdrehgestell auf Transportrollbock.jpg' (photograph: a Glasgow Subway motor bogie side-on, InnoTrans 2018; CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (Falk2), 18 September 2018the motor bogie, side-on: layout and colours
- 'J33 707 U-Bahn-Triebzug fuer Glasgow, Schalenmuffenkupplung.jpg' (photograph: the joint between two cars from below, InnoTrans 2018; CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (Falk2), 18 September 2018the coupling between cars, from below
- 'J33 701 U-Bahn-Triebzug fuer Glasgow, Wagenuebergang.jpg' (photograph: the open gangway between cars, InnoTrans 2018; CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (Falk2), 18 September 2018the gangway bellows
- '2024 Glasgow Subway 921.jpg' (photograph: a Stadler train at a platform, side view along the train; CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (Gillfoto), 17 May 2024service livery: body, doors, surrounds, boxes
- '2024 Glasgow Subway 919.jpg' (photograph: the cab end of unit 307 at a platform, door open; CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (Gillfoto), 17 May 2024the cab end and cab side window in service
- '2024 Glasgow Subway 801.jpg' (photograph: unit 310 at St Enoch from across the tracks; CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (Gillfoto), 17 May 2024the lower bodyside in service
- '2024 Glasgow Subway 921.jpg' (photograph: a Stadler train at a platform, side view along the train; CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (Gillfoto), 17 May 2024the door leaves: black above the waist across the leaf, the glass's width (61-69% of the leaf) and top, read on both leaves of the nearest doorway (set T12, 28 October 2026)
- 'Subway train, Hillhead - geograph.org.uk - 8291890.jpg' (photograph: a Stadler train at Hillhead, along the platform; CC BY-SA 2.0) Wikimedia Commons, from Geograph Britain and Ireland, 7 April 2026the door leaves in service: black upper halves with wide glass in a thin black rim, on two doorways (layout only; set T12, 28 October 2026)
- '2024 Glasgow Subway 921.jpg' (photograph: a Stadler train at a platform, side view along the train; CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (Gillfoto), 17 May 2024the door leaves' orange margin round the black, about 50 mm along the outer edge (44-56 mm read at three heights on the nearest doorway's leaf; set T12F, Kyle, 29 October 2026, question 9)
- 'Subway train, Hillhead - geograph.org.uk - 8291890.jpg' (photograph: a Stadler train at Hillhead, along the platform; CC BY-SA 2.0) Wikimedia Commons, from Geograph Britain and Ireland, 7 April 2026the door leaves' orange margin round the black, about 58 mm on the near leaf (against the black rim round the glass; set T12F, Kyle, 29 October 2026, question 9)
unverified
- Unit numbers 301-317: Wikipedia; the photographs show 307 and 310 on the cab sides
- Built at Stadler's Altenrhein works: Wikipedia, citing Global Rail News (2018); Stadler's sheet names Stadler Bussnang AG
- When unattended operation starts: SPT's own pages give no date; STV (June 2026) reports SPT's plan for 2027
- Train length: Stadler's 130 ft (39,510 mm) is over the coupler faces (the sheet's rail line runs between them), 126 ft (38.54 m) over the noses as measured off the sheet; Railway Gazette's InnoTrans report (2018) gives 129 ft (39.2 m; with 7 ft 8 in × 8 ft 8 in (2,340 x 2,650 mm)) and railway-technology 129 ft (39.25 m), neither matching either measure, so the drawing follows Stadler's 2022 sheet
- Car lengths: measured off Stadler's vector side view (true to its printed length, height and wheelbase within 0.3%); Stadler prints no car lengths
- Car names: neither Stadler nor SPT names the cars; motor and trailer follow Stadler's axle arrangement (Bo'Bo'+2'+2'+Bo'Bo': each end car on two motor bogies, each middle car on one trailer bogie), and that each trailer's bogie is at its inner end, its outer end resting on the motor car, is read off the sheet's side view, not stated in words
Know a source for one of these? Send it to us → (opens in a new tab)