15.04.14
Glasgow Airport Rail Link could be delivered under budget
New private sector led proposals for a Glasgow Airport Rail Link (garl) could mean the project, scrapped in 2009, could be delivered by 2018 and under budget, says rail lobby group RailQWest.
Under the proposals, NEWgarl would be a 1.8km twin-tracked elevated spur off the Glasgow – Inverclyde line, which includes a replacement station for Paisley St James and a new station at the airport immediately to the south of the multi-storey car park.
Additionally, the final connection to the airport terminal would be made through the car park and via the existing bridge connections. The RailQWest commissioned report has also revealed that the NEWgarl plan would cost £137.5m – financed from the private sector – rather than the originally proposed £170m.
The initial NEWgarl service plan would also provide the airport with two express trains and two stopping trains each hour to Glasgow and two full service trains to Edinburgh via North and South Lanarkshire. The plan would see the new trains running by 2018 and it is hoped that at least one of the Edinburgh trains will be able to go on to Newcastle whilst the existing Glasgow to Manchester Airport service could be routed through Glasgow Airport as a first stop.
The latest business case is an updated version of the previous garl to Glasgow Airport, which was cancelled by the Scottish government in 2009. Since then attempts have been made to address the long-recognised problem of improving access to the airport with, most recently, a two-year study, sponsored by the Scottish government, failing to produce any firm recommendation.
That document, the Glasgow Airport Strategic Transport Network Study, conducted by engineering experts AECOM, resulted in Scottish transport minister Keith Brown MSP informing Parliament that yet a further study would be conducted by Transport Scotland into a possible ‘tram-train’ option, which would see trams running on the railway between the Airport and Glasgow city centre.
NEWgarl report author William Forbes, a retired chartered surveyor and one of the founder members of RailQwest, said: “The AECOM Report was disappointing in failing to move the question of improved ground access to Glasgow Airport forward.
“However it did prove that, five years on from the cancellation of garl, the Scottish Government is unable to come up with any realistic solution to this problem which has been hindering the Airport’s development for some 25 years now. The ‘train-tram’ is a waste of time and public money at this stage. The Scottish government should move aside and let the private sector proceed with the best solution for the Airport and for the West of Scotland.”
He added that NEWgarl is designed to ensure that the local communities hosting the new investment are left with a real tangible legacy, no more so than North Paisley and Ferguslie in particular. The new development seeks to use the redundant Ferguslie railway embankment as the material for building the airport connection and in doing so will open up the area to new development and investment opportunities.
The NEWgarl plan is currently before the airport, and the local authorities concerned, awaiting their confirmation that it presents the best solution not only for the airport but also for upgrading the network and providing cross country services.
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