No more rail link for Glasgow Airport

Friday, 18 Sep 2009 04:46
It was announced on Thursday when Scottish Government presented its draft budget for 2010-2011.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth John Swinney stressed that the Government's approach has been to protect programmes that matter most to the people of Scotland.

Sadly, GARL didn’t make to that list.		 GARL
“We have reluctantly decided to cancel the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL) project – a project that lasts for some years. We will however support financially other measures to improve public transport in Glasgow to address connections to the Southern General Hospital and the Commonwealth Games,” states the document.

A rail link connecting the airport and city centre was one of the arguments deployed by ministers in their successful pitch to attract the 2014 Commonwealth games to Glasgow.

"We have explained to the Commonwealth Games Federation why in the current public expenditure circumstances we have got to take some tough decisions," Swinney said to BBC.

GARL tweeting trends

The news were not welcomed by the Glasgow citizens, the Glasgow City Council has even accused the Scottish government of a “clear anti-Glasgow agenda”.

twitter users are also sharing their disappointment about the news:

“Shocked that the Glasgow Airport Rail link has been axed. Not exactly going to help the economy in the Renfrewshire area now.”

“Can't believe Glasgow Airport rail link scrapped....it had been planned since before I was born! Will it happen in my lifetime?”

“How can the SNP be accused of being ‘anti-Glasgow’? They axed the Edinburgh airport rail link too, and tried to axe the Edinburgh trams.”

Some GARL supporters even created a group on facebook.

“I'm usually supportive of the SNP but in this case they have it very wrong. They risk losing a lot of votes if they don’t correct this and ensure future growth in the west coast of Scotland, not just the east,” says one fan of the ‘Glasgow Airport Rail Link’ group on facebook.

The Glasgow Airport Rail link involved plans to upgrade five-and-a-half miles of track and lay one mile of track between Paisley St James Station and Glasgow Airport.
A spur would then have been built from Paisley to Glasgow Airport.

The planned rail link would have seen four trains run between Glasgow and the airport every hour, with a stop in Paisley.

The project was due to be completed in two stages in time for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

GARL Map

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