The Glasgow Airport Rail Link Bill - which received the green light from MSPs on 29 November 2006 - has been granted Royal Assent by the Queen.
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport - the Promoter of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL) Private Bill - has now started the design and procurement phase. It is expected that the first trains will be running by end 2010.
The scheme - a fast, direct rail link between Glasgow city centre and Glasgow Airport - will cost between £170 and £210 million and is being supported by Transport Scotland.
Later this week SPT will tender for a contract to create 11 temporary football pitches at seven different locations in the Renfrewshire area. Work on this contract - which would include the provision of parking, temporary changing facilities, drainage, goals and fencing - would begin in summer 2007 and last until 2008. The temporary pitches are key to allowing construction of the viaduct across St James playing fields in Paisley to commence in 2008.
SPT chair Alistair Watson said: "We are very pleased as this is a seal of approval for the one of the biggest transport projects in the west of Scotland. Now the real work begins. Every major international city has an airport rail link and we believe that Glasgow should be no different.
"SPT is now entering the design and procurement stage where the design of the link is finalised and we decide who to appoint to build the link.
"We are looking forward to working with our partners in the transport sector in Scotland to put our plans for a fast, direct rail link between Glasgow city centre and the airport into practice."
Transport Scotland project manager, John Gordon said: "This project will bring real benefits to the people and businesses of west and central Scotland. We acknowledge the hard work put in by SPT in promoting the necessary Private Bill through the Scottish Parliament and welcome the assistance from the other key stakeholders. We look forward to this continued spirit of partnership as we move towards the challenge of delivering GARL and meeting the aspirations of the travelling public and rail industry, whilst ensuring that we stay within the agreed cost and schedule."
The Glasgow Airport Rail Link proposal is to upgrade 9km (5.4 miles) of existing track between Shields Junction and Paisley Gilmour Street station and to 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 a new track laid at the Elderslie sidings.
The new rail link would 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.
The Department for Transport estimates that passenger numbers at Glasgow Airport are predicted to almost double, from 8.2million 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.
Since 2004 SPT has consulted widely on its Glasgow Airport Rail Link proposals. SPT's formal public consultation into the Glasgow Airport Rail Link ran from 1 November 2004 to 28 February 2005 - there were a total of 1638 formal responses. In addition, 284 people attended public meetings and focus groups and 917 people visited the exhibition stands at various locations in Glasgow and Renfrewshire. The formal consultation saw more than 20,000 information leaflets distributed to homes and businesses along the route of the proposed link. A further 15,000 leaflets were distributed on local train services. A series of public exhibitions and meetings have been held and a website has also been created. In late January 2006, SPT sent out more than 12,000 leaflets to people living along the line of the proposed route. The consultation continues.
