30 November 2007
£1.3m contract awarded as preparations continue for Glasgow Airport Rail Link
A £1.3M ground investigations contract has been awarded by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) to the UK's leading ground investigation contractor Soil Mechanics.
The contract, put out to tender in September, will see the West Lothian-headquartered firm carry out detailed investigations of ground conditions along the line of route of the planned two-kilometre stretch of new track which will run from near Paisley St James station to Glasgow Airport, the so-called St James Spur.
Work starts this week and will last throughout winter.
Yesterday, SPT chair Alistair Watson said: "I'm delighted that we are a step closer in building this crucial link between Glasgow city centre and its airport. The award of this contract and the work Soil Mechanics is undertaking are crucial to the process. From now on, there will be a considerable increase in activity around the St James Playing Fields area in particular. But as we have said in the past, we will keep disruption to a minimum."
Soil Mechanics is the largest ground investigation contractor in the UK and Ireland providing drilling, sampling, testing and advice for geotechnical, groundwater, geological, environmental, contaminated land and marine survey purposes.
In Scotland, Soil Mechanics is headquartered in Armadale, West Lothian. Associate director Julian Lovell said: "We are delighted to win this contract at what is a crucial stage in the preparations to build the Glasgow Airport Rail Link. Over the next few months we will be investigating the ground conditions under which the St James Spur will be built."
According to SPT, the purpose of Soil Mechanics' "geotechnical investigations" will be to provide detailed information of the ground conditions which will be used for the final design.
The three main sites of work will be – within the Murray Street business park, the St James Playing Fields and the line of route leading to Glasgow Airport. In each of these three sites, rotary drilling techniques will be employed so that holes can be bored deep into soil and rock.
The news comes as preparations to build the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL) gather pace.
Preparatory work on a key section of the GARL route started on 1 July. Network Rail installed portal frames for the overhead line electrification along a stretch of track between Shields Junction (near Kinning Park in Glasgow) and Arkleston Junction (near Hillington Industrial Estate on the outskirts of Paisley).
Similarly, work continues on the 11 temporary football pitches and changing facilities being provided at seven locations across Renfrewshire during construction of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link. The pitches and new changing facilities are being provided to give local footballers alternative places to play football when work starts on the planned viaduct which will bisect St James playing fields in Paisley, a crucial part of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link project.
Glasgow Airport Rail Link is funded by Transport Scotland with financial support also from SPT, BAA and the European Union, through the Trans-European Transport Network budget.
The Glasgow Airport Rail Link Bill was granted Royal Assent by the Queen in January 2007. The link will upgrade 9km (5.4 miles) of existing track between Shields Junction and Paisley Gilmour Street station and lay 1.9km (1.2miles) of new track between Paisley St James station and Glasgow Airport.
The new track will cross St James Park via a new viaduct, and the M8. A new platform will also be built in Central Station and new track laid at the Elderslie sidings.
The new rail link will provide a dedicated train service every 15 minutes between Glasgow Central Station and a new station at Glasgow Airport. Trains will stop once at Paisley Gilmour Street and the journey time will be 16 minutes.
After the St James viaduct is completed 20 pitches will be available at St James Playing Fields. Two further pitches will be provided at Ferguslie Park.
The Department for Transport estimates that passenger numbers at Glasgow Airport are predicted to almost double, from 8.2 million a year in 2003, to over 15 million passengers a year in 2030. Airport owner BAA Scotland's latest forecasts are even higher and indicate that passenger numbers could rise as high as 24 million by 2030. At present, 95% of these passengers travelling to Glasgow Airport do so by road.
The rail link will provide more travel choice for airport users and establish a sustainable transport link to Glasgow Airport, which is a major employer and one of the biggest wealth generators in the region. It will increase the rail opportunities for travellers using Paisley Gilmour Street station.
The link will also benefit the tourist industry. According to Roger Tym & Partners, Glasgow Airport Rail Link could help bring 52,500 additional UK and overseas visitors and contribute towards £10m in additional visitor expenditure every year to Glasgow, Renfrewshire and Inverclyde. The link would also support the Glasgow City region's conference sector business, worth an estimated £115m annually. In addition, the link will help support 1300 jobs across Glasgow and Renfrewshire including 650-700 gross new jobs in Paisley town centre.
ends