Renfrewshire Council Leader Mark Macmillan, who holds the enterprise portfolio in the Glasgow City Region Cabinet, and Glasgow City Council Leader Frank McAveety, the chair of the Cabinet, officially unveiled the plan for a direct rail link between Glasgow Airport, Paisley and the city centre.
As part of Glasgow City Region’s long-term economic plan, a direct rail link between Glasgow Airport, Paisley and the city centre has been announced. The airport injects around £170 million (€200m) into the Glasgow City Region economy every year and businesses have backed the project as essential to ensuring continued competitiveness.
The £144 million (€170m) Glasgow Airport Access Project, which is the flagship project for the £1.13 billion (€1.33bn) Glasgow City Region City deal, will strengthen the region’s links to the world and help create jobs in the area. A state-of-the-art system will carry passengers on specially-designed tram-trains, using both the existing railway network and on-street tracks.
“We welcome the identification of tram-train as the preferred option,” says Ross Nimmo, Head of Planning and Development, Glasgow Airport. “Not only is it a significant milestone in the Glasgow Airport Access Project, it is the culmination of rigorous planning over several years. It has a very strong business case, with conservative estimates suggesting the airport is set to become one of the busiest train stations in Scotland. This is great news for travellers, and whether they choose the train, the bus or the car, Glasgow Airport will be easier to get to than ever before.”
Journeys across the length of the route will take 16.5 minutes – a major improvement for those travelling to the airport using public transport. Currently, over 80% of passengers and staff travel to and from the airport by road. The new tram-trains will be a reliable and convenient alternative, which it is said will help prevent motorway gridlock.
The Glasgow Airport Access Project will see journeys to and from the airport transformed into a state-of-the-art system to carry passengers on specially-designed tram-trains using both the existing railway network and on-street tracks.
“We’ve long argued that a new rail link between the airport and city centre is essential for the thousands of tourists and business travellers who fly into and out of Glasgow every day,” comments Councillor Frank McAveety, Leader of Glasgow City Council and Chair of the Glasgow City Region Cabinet. “The airport already supports thousands of jobs but this new rail link, which is the single biggest element of our City Deal, will be the catalyst that takes us to a new level, vastly improving the customer experience and generating even more jobs and inward investment. This announcement represents a significant milestone in the journey we’ve been on for many years. We are committed to delivering this tram-train link and, best of all, the money to pay for it is already in the bank.”
