29 June 2007
SPT backs Maglev feasibility study
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport has confirmed its support for a major study into fast transport links between Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Today (Friday 29 June), SPT members agreed unanimously to part-fund a collaborative study which will look in greater detail at high-speed ground transport between the two cities, including a possible Maglev rail link.
The study is expected to be complete by Spring 2008 and will cost around £250,000. A second stage study may cost an additional £750,000. SPT is now seeking to establish which partnership agencies are willing to help fund the initial analysis.
The makers of the Maglev system claim the technology could create a 15-minute journey between Edinburgh and Glasgow on trains that travel at up to 300mph. Maglev trains have been in use in China since 2004 and there are current proposals for their introduction in Germany, on several major city routes in the USA and connecting the Indian city of Mumbai to others in its region.
Addressing SPT members, Chief Executive Ron Culley said the feasibility study would investigate all the possibilities for fast links and measure the cost effectiveness and viability of each system, including Maglev.The SPT Chairman Councillor Alistair Watson added "Maglev is transformational technology - if the claims made of it are true, it has the potential to reposition the economic geography of Scotland. We want to raise the bar in terms of transport provision and what we have done today is get the ball rolling.
"We are committed to putting a feasibility package together and are now seeking to work in collaboration with the partnership agencies which have expressed an interest in examining the most effective way of growing the economies of Glasgow and Edinburgh by transforming their transport links."
There have already been a number of media reports suggesting the Maglev system is worthy of investigation but also others declaring that the system is ruled out because it would be to expensive. Councillor Watson disputed the claims of the critics.
He said "One of the first train lines built in Britain from Darlington to Stockport was criticised by those who opposed it as too expensive and impractical. Critics can pre-judge if they like without as much as a single independent fact being established by a feasibility study. Some say it's ruled out we can't afford Maglev what I am saying is can we afford to say we can't afford it without a proper investigation".
The SPT chairman is writing to a number if interested parties today to invite them to join with SPT to put together a funding package for an initial stage feasibility study.
ends
Notes to editors
- Currently, the fastest journey between Glasgow and Edinburgh takes around 50 minutes.
- Maglev trains operate through 'magnetic levitation' and can reach speeds of up to 311mph. That would potentially deliver a journey time from Glasgow to Haymarket of 15 minutes, according to Ultraspeed, the company which promotes Maglev in the UK.
- The trains work by levitating before departure so that they float 1cm above the railway on an electro-magnetic cushion. A rolling wave of electricity then propels the Maglev to 125mph just one minute after departure.