The station was built by the
Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway; it opened on 21 February 1842 as
Dundas Street, before being renamed as
Queen Street, Carswell introduced electric lighting at the station: one of the earliest uses of electricity in Glasgow. The North British became part of the
London and North Eastern Railway group in 1923. The climb through the tunnel to
Cowlairs is at 1 in 42 and trains were hauled by a rope operated by a
stationary engine until 1909, although experiments were carried out using banking engines in 1844–48. Modern diesel and electric trains have no difficulty with the climb. In the 1980s,
High Speed Trains were used on Cross Country and East Coast services run by
InterCity. These used platform 7, with the end of the train being close to the tunnel mouth. Minor refurbishment, including internal repainting and new flooring, took place throughout the 2000s. In 2008, the
CRT information screens were replaced by
LED information boards similar to, but smaller than, those used at Glasgow Central. Eco LED screens, supplied by Infotec Displays, were installed in 2020. In 2009, the
Scottish Government announced that the
Glasgow to Edinburgh via Falkirk Line would be electrified by 2017.
Overhead line electrification lines have been installed on the high level platforms of Queen Street, with
electric multiple units operating from the station from December 2017 and s as of autumn 2018. As part of this work, the High Level station was closed for 20 weeks (from 20 March to 8 August 2016) to allow of track in Queen Street Tunnel (and all of the tracks and platforms in the station itself) to be replaced. Services were diverted over various routes during this period, with some trains running to/from the Low Level station and others to/from Glasgow Central station (via Cumbernauld, Coatbridge and Carmyle).
Expansion In August 2006, Network Rail revealed that it intended to redevelop Queen Street substantially, making use of the Hanover Street car park area to provide more retail space, and to upgrade the station's entrances and to provide
escalators down to the lower-level platforms. More plans were unveiled in September 2011 by Network Rail, along with an announcement that the owner of the Buchanan Galleries shopping mall,
Land Securities, had been chosen as development partner for the station alongside
Henderson Group. This saw the 1970s hotel extension (which, until recently, fronted the George Square entrance of the station) demolished and replaced by a glass atrium. The previous plans of developing the airspace rights above the North Hanover Street car park into an expanded retail and restaurant area will be carried forward; it will form part of the proposed extension to the Buchanan Galleries, which will gain direct access to the station concourse. In August 2017, work began on the £120 million redevelopment of the station which, at the time, was expected to be completed by December 2019, but was pushed back until 2020 due to delays in receiving approval. Platforms 2 through 5 were subsequently extended in 2019, to accommodate longer trains introduced as part of the
Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP). Demolition of surrounding buildings was completed in October 2018 to accommodate the lengthened platforms and an expanded concourse. Following demolition of the surrounding Consort House buildings, the frontage of the original
Victorian era train shed was uncovered after more than 40 years. The shed is a
Category A Listed Structure and work on the station was undertaken subsequently with care to integrate the historic structure into its new surroundings. The work was officially completed on 4 October 2021, which also marked the end of EGIP. In September 2024, the expansion project won an industry award, with judges praising the "station's striking design and the recent integration of the high and low-level stations." In May 2021, a planning proposal was submitted to add a new plaza and mezzanine on the North Hanover Street side of the station. The application was granted in December 2024. In August 2025, Network Rail unveiled their development plan with public consultations to start in autumn 2025. In July 2025, the
Office of Rail and Road (ORR) approved plans for
Lumo, an
open-access operator, to extend its existing East Coast service, from Edinburgh Waverley to Queen Street, via Falkirk High. A daily service on the route started in December with two trains northbound and one train southbound.
Accidents and incidents • On 24 January 1912, at 14:15, shunter W Wylie was crushed between a train and the platform. He succumbed to his injuries two days later. • On 29 April 1914, at 11.45, porter John Burke was killed whilst he and a colleague were filling lavatory water tanks on passenger coaches. He was crushed between the buffers of two coaches on the adjacent line. • On 12 October 1928, an Edinburgh–Glasgow express
rolled down through the tunnel on greasy rails and collided with an empty train being shunted from a siding. Three people were killed, with a further 52 suffering injuries and shock. ==Layout==