[3] It is the northern terminus of the West Coast Main Line (397 miles or 639 kilometres north of London Euston).

[13] Central Station has a spacious concourse containing shops, catering outlets, ticket offices and a travel centre.

It is fronted by the Central Hotel on Gordon Street, designed by Robert Rowand Anderson.

The station building also houses a long line of shops and bars down the Union Street side.

The station's famous architectural features are the large glass-walled bridge that takes the station building over Argyle Street, nicknamed the 'Hielanman's Umbrella' (Highlandman's Umbrella)[4] because it was used as a meeting place for highlanders living in the city;[15] and the former ticket office and information building.

It was originally designed by Robert Rowand Anderson, in 'Queen Anne style'; he also furnished the public rooms.

[16] The world's first long-distance television pictures were transmitted to the Central Hotel in the station, on 24 May 1927 by John Logie Baird.

[13][21] Glasgow Central Signalling Centre, located in the "vee" of Bridge Street Junction, opened on 2 January 1961.

[21] This was followed by the 25 kV AC overhead-power-lines electrification of the Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway and the Inverclyde Line to Gourock and Wemyss Bay, completed in 1967.

[23] Plans to electrify other routes, such as the Whifflet Line, as part of a scheme to improve rail services in Scotland, were completed in November 2014.

Services through the Low-Level station, initially generous, had been greatly reduced due to competition with the extensive and efficient Glasgow Corporation tram system well before the withdrawal of service at the Low-Level station on 3 October 1964[11] under the "Beeching Axe".

Class 320 units were intended to be used on the route, but due to the position of the original driver's monitors for checking doors, this proved impossible.

The class 320 and 318 units between them now provide the majority of Argyle Line services, with most 334s having moved to operate the Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link.

Over the Christmas festive period of 1994, on 11 December, torrential rain caused the River Kelvin to burst its banks at the closed Kelvinbridge station, with the water making its way through the disused tunnels to Exhibition Centre and the Low-Level station,[24] which was completely submerged by the resultant flash flood.

In August 2002, torrential rain flooded out the low-level stations from Dalmarnock through to Exhibition Centre for a number of weeks.

The old ticket office / train information building was replaced in 1985 by an all-new Travel Centre adjacent to the Gordon Street entrance.

The old booking office / train information building was retained and redeveloped into shops, eateries and an upstairs bar/restaurant, and the station was re-floored in marble.

In 1998, a five-year renovation programme was initiated by Railtrack, which saw the trainshed completely re-roofed and internally refurbished by Bovis Lend Lease[25] – which also included the restoration of Hielanman's Umbrella.

Platforms 1 and 2 are usually used by longer distance cross-border services operated by Avanti West Coast, TransPennine Express, LNER and CrossCountry while platforms 3 to 6 are used mainly by services to Lanark, Edinburgh, East Kilbride, Barrhead, Kilmarnock, Carlisle, Girvan, and Stranraer.

In September 2009 the former platform-level car park and passenger drop-off area was taken out of use and the platform over the Clyde (recently renumbered 12) was removed.

This follows barriers being erected at Queen Street Station in 2004, ending ScotRail's "open stations" policy under which staffed and previous yellow ticket automatic barriers had been scrapped during the 1980s to encourage more passengers; tickets were checked on trains instead.

[31] Platforms 1 and 2 were left without barriers, as they are mostly used by long-distance express services with a high proportion of passengers carrying heavy luggage.

[citation needed] Following the success of the Doors Open day event in summer 2013, tours of the station several times each week began in November 2014.

In November 2023, Network Rail renewed the concourse departure screens, replacing the 2005 style boards.

This work will create better retail space, a new multi faith room and a relocated station reception.

Two are operated by ScotRail (main concourse and Argyle Street entrance) and the third is a travel centre run by Avanti West Coast adjacent to Platform 1 and 2.