The Glasgow City and District Railway was a sub-surface railway line in Glasgow, Scotland, built to connect suburban routes east and west of the city, and to relieve congestion at the Queen Street terminus. Construction of the cut-and-cover route, only the fourth such in Great Britain, was formidably complex, but the line opened in 1886. It was steam operated, leading to complaints about smoky conditions. It had a four-platform low level station at Queen Street, and was heavily used. The line was electrified in 1960 and today forms the central part of the North Clyde electric railway network. History Earlier railways The first railways in the west of Scotland were the coal railways, intended primarily to bring coal to the city for consumption, and to canals and ports for onward water-borne transport. The Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway opened in 1831 and had a terminus at Townhead, on the north-eastern margin of the city. In 1840 more general-purpose railways were seen: the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway opened in 1840, followed by the Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway in 1841, and the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, providing an intercity service, in 1842. It had a passenger and goods station at Queen Street in Glasgow. It was not until 1848 that the first long-distance line reached the city: the Caledonian Railway opened to Glasgow. There were now four passenger terminals in Glasgow, at Bridge Street, at South Side, at Buchanan Street and at Queen Street. Some short lines to small towns with an industrial base were opened, and these encouraged residential development: the beginning of daily travel to work by train; but there was no suburban network. West and east of Glasgow For many years passenger and goods trade between Glasgow and communities and industries west of Glasgow was carried on by boat. The north bank of the Clyde was relatively unpopulated as far as Bowling, where the basin of the Forth and Clyde Canal entered the river; beyond that Dumbarton was a centre of industry; and beyond Dumbarton lay the towns of the Firth of Clyde. In 1858 the Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway (GD&HR) was opened, connecting the city to a purely local railway that connected Bowling and Balloch, on Loch Lomond. Now at last the north bank of the Clyde had a through railway connection. However the built-up area of Glasgow prevented the GD&HR from building directly west