Glasgow Airport Rail Link

The Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL) is a proposed link between Glasgow City Centre and Glasgow Airport. The original plans for an airport rail link were proposed during the 2000s to directly link Glasgow Central station with Glasgow Airport in Scotland. The link was intended for completion by 2013 and would have had a service of four trains per hour via Paisley Gilmour Street railway station.[1]

Proposed map
Glasgow Airport Rail Link
 Glasgow Central
(Glasgow Subway St Enoch)
 Cardonald
 Hillington East
 Hillington West
Paisley Gilmour Street
Ayrshire Coast Line
 Paisley St James
(Inverclyde Line)
 Glasgow Airport

On 17 September 2009 the rail link was cancelled as part of public spending cuts.[2]

In 2014, proposals were in place to resurrect the project dependent on the outcome of the Scottish independence referendum.[3]

In October 2016, plans were resurrected to build a railway link to Glasgow Airport. The journey time of 16.5 minutes has also been proposed.[4] Under current plans the line would be opened in 2025.[5]

In 2019, it was proposed to deliver the project as part of a wider Glasgow Metro network, using a new light rail line via Govan.[6]

Route

GARL would have run from a reconstructed Platform 12 at Glasgow Central on the former Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway, Ayrshire Coast Line and Inverclyde Line; via Cardonald, Hillington East and Hillington West, to Paisley Gilmour Street station. It would then have run along the Inverclyde Line branching-off just before Paisley St James, onto a new purpose-built 1.2 mile (1.9 km) line which would have taken it over the M8 motorway into the airport station, situated close to the main terminal building at Glasgow Airport.

The Scottish Parliament on 29 November 2006 passed the GARL bill by 118 votes to 8, thus allowing the construction of the route to begin. Construction was to be in phases with the re-location of football pitches in the route's path at Paisley St James scheduled for 2007, before route clearing and track work in 2007 and 2008. The cost of the route was estimated at £170m, with inflation increasing the cost to a potential £210m.

The Ayrshire and Inverclyde lines are very busy with passenger and freight traffic. To provide capacity for trains serving the airport, the GARL plans included the installation of a bi-directional third track in the centre of the existing two between Shields Junction at the Glasgow end and Arkleston Junction, approximately one mile (1.6 km) east of Paisley Gilmour Street, and the installation of an additional two tracks between Arkleston Junction and a re-configured Wallneuk Junction immediately east of Gilmour Street where the Ayrshire and Inverclyde lines split before entering the station.

The most controversial proposal in the scheme was the building of the line on a viaduct over playing fields in the Paisley St. James area and into Glasgow Airport.[7] After much discussion, SPT assured local residents that the playing fields would be returned to original use, with even better facilities such as under-soil drainage and new changing rooms. Using a one-piece bridge design, GARL was to cross the M8 motorway and into the airport.

The scheme was also criticised for the absence of direct connections to the rest of the Scottish railway network which would bypass Glasgow Central - historically the two options for doing this have been Glasgow Crossrail and the electrification of the Shotts Line to Edinburgh. In May 2008, First ScotRail announced that the Shotts Line had been route cleared for Class 158 and Class 170 DMU trains to operate on the line and that an increase in services was likely in the near future.

In 2008, control of the GARL project passed from SPT to Transport Scotland who would have overseen the building of the route. Overhead catenary work and a re-modelling of Shields Junction over the past year have already taken place in connection with GARL. In December 2008, Transport Scotland announced that the tender competition will begin in spring 2009, meaning GARL would have been operational in early 2013.[8]

Rolling stock

In the proposals drawn up by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, Class 334 units are shown to work the route. However, speculation surrounds actual rolling stock plans for GARL with the likelihood of First ScotRail using 4-car EMUs rather than a traditional 3-car unit. First ScotRail formerly used 4-car British Rail Class 322 units on its Glasgow Central/Edinburgh Waverley to North Berwick service - themselves ex-airport rail link trains, having been originally built to serve Stansted Airport near London.

In April 2008, First ScotRail placed a bid to tender for a new build of railway carriages for the SPT network of 120 vehicles. Subsequently, on 11 July 2008, Transport Scotland announced that 38 Class 380 trains have been ordered for use on Ayrshire and Inverclyde services and also the Glasgow Airport Rail Link. With the latter project cancelled, the additional units will be put to use on other services in the future.[9]

Cancellation

On 17 September 2009, the Scottish Government cancelled the airport branch component of the GARL project amid concerns over the need for public spending cuts.[10] However, elements of the GARL plans that upgraded the Glasgow–Paisley lines (including replacement of life-expired signalling, provision of two additional platform at Glasgow Central, and installation of the additional tracks between Shields and Wallneuk Junction) were excluded from the cancellation decision and instead taken forward as the separate Paisley Corridor Improvements project, which was completed in 2012.[11][12]

As part of the driver training programme for the route and new rolling stock, design and media company TotalizeMedia were hired to create a simulation of the infrastructure. This simulation was built using a professional derivative of the railway simulator Train Simulator / RailWorks. With the cancellation of the project, TotalizeMedia redirected the development into a home simulation title.[13]

After the project was cancelled, a tram-train line has been proposed to connect Glasgow Airport with the City Centre using a one-mile tram line to the Airport from the Inverclyde Line.[14]

On 3 July 2014, an article in Glasgow's Evening Times newspaper - jointly written by Prime Minister David Cameron and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander - said: "Glasgow plans to create a £1.1 billion infrastructure fund that will support projects such as the city centre-airport rail link, major improvements to the region's roads and bus network, and the development of new employment sites."[15] The proposals would entail a 50/50 investment with £500m each coming from the UK central government in Westminster and the Scottish Government in Holyrood, but being dependent on a "No" vote in the Scottish Independence referendum. A resurrected GARL would be included as one of the projects which could possibly be funded by the fund.

2016 Proposals

In October 2016, plans were resurrected to build a railway link to Glasgow Airport as part of the Glasgow City Deal. A journey time of 16.5 minutes was also proposed. The outline proposals included two options:[4]

It was claimed that either scheme could be opened by 2025.[16][5]

Council leads approved the light rail option between Glasgow Airport and Glasgow Central, with construction proposed to begin in 2022 and be completed by 2025.[5]

In 2019, the initial plans to create a direct light rail link were once again shelved. One of the reasons stated was concerns of overcrowding at Glasgow Central. A new proposal was then suggested to adopt the cheaper Personal Rapid Transit system instead between Glasgow Airport and Paisley Gilmour Street.[6] Glasgow MP Paul Sweeney criticised Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken for supporting the downgraded option to use the people mover system to the airport, instead of light rail that would be integrated with the main Paisley Gilmour Street railway station and the wider city region rail network.[17]

2019 Proposal

In 2019 as part of a wider £10 billion plan for a 'Glasgow Metro' network, the Glasgow Connectivity Commission endorsed light rail instead of the PRT option and proposed linking Glasgow airport to Braehead and the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital with a segregated light rail line to Glasgow Central via Govan, instead of using tram-trains. The first phase was approved by Glasgow and Renfrewshire council leaders in early 2020. The initial project would link Glasgow airport to Paisley Gilmour Street train station. Construction will not begin until full approval from both councils is given. [18] [19]

See also

References
  1. "Glasgow Airport Rail Link". Transport Scotland. Archived from the original on 11 June 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
  2. "Ministers scrap airport rail plan". BBC News Online. 17 September 2009. Retrieved 17 September 2009. Scottish Government has scrapped the £120m Glasgow Airport Rail Link amid public spending cut concerns.
  3. Hetherington, Peter (22 July 2014). "Glasgow puts 'city deal' before Scottish independence". The Guardian Online. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  4. "£80million rail link could take travellers from new station to Glasgow Airport". Evening Times. 13 October 2016.
  5. "Work will begin on trams to Glasgow Airport in 2022 as council leaders approve £144m rail link plan". Glasgow Live. 12 December 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  6. "Glasgow Airport link with Paisley Gilmour Street to be explored". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  7. "All - Projects - Transport Scotland". Archived from the original on 3 April 2009.
  8. "Construction Industry lines up for Glasgow Airport Rail Link". Transport Scotland. 18 December 2008. Archived from the original on 25 January 2009. Retrieved 25 January 2009.
  9. "What next for class 320s? - RailUK Forums". Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  10. "Ministers Scrap Airport Rail Plan". BBC News Scotland. 17 September 2009. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
  11. "Paisley Corridor Improvement Project". Railway Technology. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  12. Network Rail (29 March 2011). "Paisley Corridor Improvements: Network Rail invites Gallowhill to drop-in". Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  13. "GARL Simulation". RailSimulator.com. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
  14. "Trams considered for Glasgow airport rail link". scotsman.com. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  15. "Scottish independence: Governments to invest £1bn in Glasgow". BBC News. 3 July 2014.
  16. "Personal Rapid Transit Option Revealed for Glasgow Airport Rail Link - Building Design & Construction Magazine". 17 October 2016. Archived from the original on 28 October 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  17. "Glasgow rail link row rumbles on as Gatwick intervenes". Red Robin. 12 February 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  18. "Glasgow Airport Metro system gets council leader approval". bbc.co.uk/news. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  19. "Radical blueprint calls for Glasgow metro". BBC News. 29 April 2019.
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