21 February 2005

One week to go in rail link consultation

The formal consultation into the planned Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL) will end on Monday 28 February.

A final Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL) public meeting will be held today (Monday 21 February) at Paisley Town Hall between 7pm and 9pm. Evening Times political editor Brian Currie will chair the meeting.

The meeting will give SPT, the body behind the proposed new rail line between Glasgow Central and Glasgow Airport, the opportunity to give a progress report on the project. The public will then have one week until the end of the formal consultation in which to respond to the new information.

Councillor Alistair Watson, chair of SPT, said, "Today marks one week to go until the end of the consultation and we are pleased with the level of response to the consultation.

"I would urge all those who haven't yet responded to the consultation that it's not too late to have their say. Just call freephone 0800 085 2109, log on to www.spt.co.uk/garl or come along to Paisley Town Hall tonight for the final public meeting."

The public consultation began on 1 November. Scottish Executive guidelines say organisations putting private transport bills to the Scottish Parliament should hold a 12-week consultation process. SPT's original three-month consultation period was set to take into account the Christmas period and was scheduled to finish on 11 February. It was extended by two weeks to take account of the level of public interest in the project.

The consultation has seen more than 20,000 information leaflets distributed to homes and businesses along the route of the proposed link. A seat drop has also been done on local train services. A series of public exhibitions and meetings have been held and a website has also been set up.

Passenger numbers at Glasgow Airport are predicted to virtually double, from 8.2 million passengers a year in 2003, to over 15 million passengers a year in 2030. At the moment, 95% of these passengers travel to the airport by road. The M8 is currently at capacity and cannot cope with the predicted growth.

The rail link is vital to alleviate congestion on the M8 and will help to contribute to the continued growth of Glasgow Airport, which employs 15,000 people and is one of the biggest wealth generators in the west of Scotland.

Consultants have been investigating the feasibility of building a direct rail link to Glasgow Airport for some 15 years and a preferred route has been identified, which mainly follows existing rail lines.

The proposal is to upgrade 9 km (5.4 miles) of existing track between Shields Junction and Paisley Gilmour Street Station and to lay 2 km (1.2 miles) of new track between Paisley St James Station and Glasgow Airport. The new track will cross St James Park and the M8.

The link is expected to generate a range of economic benefits for Glasgow, for the Paisley area and for the west of Scotland as a whole:

• Large scale infrastructure investments are seen as a vote of confidence in an area and can generate private investment.
• Businesses benefit from reduced congestion.
• Improved transport links open up new job markets.
• A fast, reliable, rail link to the airport makes Glasgow a more attractive tourist destination.

ends