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Glasgow Airport Rail Link Scrapped


Budmiester

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The extra platform at Glasgow Central will still go ahead as will the 3rd track between Glasgow and Paisley. All funded by Network Rail. Also 40 new trains were ordered by Transport Scotland for the airport, Inverclyde and Ayrshire lines.

Don't know how many trains will be going out of Paisley when this happens? You might get a seat at the rush hour.

Correct, the third line to the arkleston junction is still going ahead and the new trains will be delivered. But, this is still a waste of money as the extra track capacity is no longer required, as there will be no large scale rise in commuters using the corridor.

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Correct, the third line to the arkleston junction is still going ahead and the new trains will be delivered. But, this is still a waste of money as the extra track capacity is no longer required, as there will be no large scale rise in commuters using the corridor.

will any of it means more trains per hour between paisley and glasgow? that'd be the only upside from cancelling the airport link.

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Don't know how many trains will be going out of Paisley when this happens? You might get a seat at the rush hour.

Under the rail link, every single train was due to stop at Gilmour street to accommodate those coming to the airport from the West who would have had to change train. This would have meant 16 trains an hour from Gilmour St to Central and vice versa at peak times (ie a train every 4mins). Now that the rail link is cancelled, there is no way that volume of traffic will pass through Paisley, there certainly isn't enough demand or track capacity beyond Paisley (to the west).

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Going to be an expensive loop if it's not going to be hardly used. Might be used for express services to overtake stoppers at Hillington and Cardonald. Also might be handy in case of breakdowns. Could run the odd shuttle service to Paisley and back during the rush hour to give more seating.

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So you took an article which already misrepresented the situation, added more made up stuff and came up with shite?

Ok so I put a bit of spin on it. Big deal. Still sounds like piss poor planning to me I must say - either someone failed to get the route properly looked at, or they've buggered up on costs again like Holyrood and they're getting out now while they still can rather than pay through the nose for what WAS a flawed project.

Architecture Scotland and Prospect are as accurate as The Sun on most subjects and anyway, what would architects know about a major civil engineering contract apart from the drawing pretty pictures? The scheme was widely know in the industry to be THE BEST and indeed THE ONLY feasible route. Do you not think all other corridors were considered and ruled out for one reason or another?

Possibly so, I just know I read that in July after the fences were down, so as I saw it, it was a matter of time as to the plan being scuppered one way or other. Other routes? Maybe it was the most feasible, still don't think it was a particularly good one and am still glad the project is gubbed in the end up. As I say, would like to think that at a later date a better one can be done.

The blame lies solely in one Corner, the SNP's. Introduce free primary school meals for those who can afford them, freeze council tax for the 3rd year in succession, introduce free university tuition fees for people who can afford them (at some point in the future)......... Great timing as well, with the new depot being constructed at the moment, work at Glasgow central already started for the 2 new platforms, new trains being built just now, to arrive next year, work on hillington bridge underway for 3rd track, work on underground services diversions underway at the airport and new football pitches constructed all over renfrewshire.

If I didn't know better, I'd have sworn you were saying that was a bad thing - are you a Ralstonite? :wink:

We could debate the merits/lack thereof of SNP policies until the cows come home. Personally that doesn't interest me much as the facts of what happened and are happening here. I think there's something rotten deeper here than just at political level. Anyone up for an inquiry to find out?

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Personally that doesn't interest me much as the facts of what happened and are happening here. I think there's something rotten deeper here than just at political level. Anyone up for an inquiry to find out?

http://www.spt.co.uk/news/090917_garl.aspx

thought there's an interesting list of it 'wisnae us' excuses at the bottom of that webpage.

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Ok so I put a bit of spin on it. Big deal. Still sounds like piss poor planning to me I must say - either someone failed to get the route properly looked at, or they've buggered up on costs again like Holyrood and they're getting out now while they still can rather than pay through the nose for what WAS a flawed project.

You obviously have no concept of the work that goes into such projects. If you bothered to read the thousands of pages found here, as compiled by Fauber Mansell, you might start to understand the process which took place. Don't make statements about processes you know jack all about.

The SNP have admitted they scrapped the scheme not because its costs were spilling out of control, but because they need the money to fund other services.

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You obviously have no concept of the work that goes into such projects. If you bothered to read the thousands of pages found here, as compiled by Fauber Mansell, you might start to understand the process which took place. Don't make statements about processes you know jack all about.

The SNP have admitted they scrapped the scheme not because its costs were spilling out of control, but because they need the money to fund other services.

I'll do as I please. :lol:

You have your choice whether to listen, and reply, or not. :P

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Guest TPAFKATS

You obviously have no concept of the work that goes into such projects. If you bothered to read the thousands of pages found here, as compiled by Fauber Mansell, you might start to understand the process which took place. Don't make statements about processes you know jack all about.

The SNP have admitted they scrapped the scheme not because its costs were spilling out of control, but because they need the money to fund other services.

The political and financial worlds has changed rather dramatically in the last year - its hardly surprising that some large scale projects will have to either be cancelled or postponed.

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I'll do as I please. :lol:

You have your choice whether to listen, and reply, or not. :P

I applaud your well thought out response.

The political and financial worlds has changed rather dramatically in the last year - its hardly surprising that some large scale projects will have to either be cancelled or postponed.

My issue isn't that they are cutting services. Its the question do you believe that the services that are being cut (ie the GARL, education and NHS etc) are not as essential as free school meals and no university tuition fees? Or is it a case of they aren't brave enough to admit they made a mistake and they now can't afford what they promised in their manifesto, so instead they will cut any other service they can, just to fund their manifesto pledges, while blaming other people for a lack of cash.

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Guest TPAFKATS

I applaud your well thought out response.

My issue isn't that they are cutting services. Its the question do you believe that the services that are being cut (ie the GARL, education and NHS etc) are not as essential as free school meals and no university tuition fees? Or is it a case of they aren't brave enough to admit they made a mistake and they now can't afford what they promised in their manifesto, so instead they will cut any other service they can, just to fund their manifesto pledges, while blaming other people for a lack of cash.

Not sure who you mean by "they". Do you mean the SNP? They are a minority government, who also rely on the Westminster government for their budget.

Tuition fees is a long running policy in Scotland, do you think that this along with school meals would equate to the cost of GARL?

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Not sure who you mean by "they". Do you mean the SNP? They are a minority government, who also rely on the Westminster government for their budget.

Tuition fees is a long running policy in Scotland, do you think that this along with school meals would equate to the cost of GARL?

They does indeed mean the SNP (and anyone who helps them achieve a majority).

Tuition fees were only abolished approx 18 months ago. i wouldn't call that long standing.

West minister have not cut the Scottish Government budget, although it may go down in real terms, that is the same throughout the UK. If the SNP believe they need more money, they could always raise council tax for those who can afford it.

I didn't suggest that school meals and tuition fees would pay for GARL, but I certainly wouldn't say they are essential, worthwhile ways of spending money. These examples also show the Scottish Government's mentality on how to spend their budget.

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Nonsense is the only word to describe this decision- to cancel it so far in is baffling. It was really at the latter stages so it is a bit bizarre. The airport is very poorly served by transport- few bus services and no rail connection. Providing this link was useful in so far that it allowed a connection into the centre of Glasgow, but also additional capacity in trains between Gilmour Street and Central. Mind you that additional capacity wouldn't be needed if they hadn't closed the connection to the Paisley Canal line- but then extending that is actually on the back burner- wouldn't actually take that much- but the householders around Castle Gait might not agree when it is make way time!

On Glasgow Airport- oh look, we'll scrap the railway line and replace it with a fancy 747 bus that goes through Glasgow Harbour, the SECC and Transport Museum.... Superb because people and buses are already flooding down that road full and the 757 bus that did that was withdrawn.... Piss up in brewery. I wish we were more like France and just built things and worried about it later!

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I think this is fantastic news.

Okay, so it'd have been better if it had never been started in the first place, but the whole idea of a Glasgow Airport rail link is bizarre in the extreme.

We're not talking Heathrow, CDG, etc where the airport is 30-40 miles from the city it serves.

The only reason this could ever have got off the ground was a combination of politicians' egos, and no doubt a few backhanders to certain parties.

It really is an Emperor's new clothes idea.

Spend £340m on a rail link that is totally unnecessary... or spend a tiny fraction of that laying on free buses from the airport to Gilmour Street or Paisley St Mirren stations. Problem sorted.

As I say, I almost want to cry at the amount of money that we've already spent on this, but that sorrow is tempered by the fact the drain caused by the White Elephant Rail Link has stoppped at last.

Best news I've heard all year!

Edited by Bobby_F
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I think this is fantastic news.

Okay, so it'd have been better if it had never been started in the first place, but the whole idea of a Glasgow Airport rail link is bizarre in the extreme.

We're not talking Heathrow, CDG, etc where the airport is 30-40 miles from the city it serves.

The only reason this could ever have got off the ground was a combination of politicians' egos, and no doubt a few backhanders to certain parties.

It really is an Emperor's new clothes idea.

Spend £340m on a rail link that is totally unnecessary... or spend a tiny fraction of that laying on free buses from the airport to Gilmour Street or Paisley St Mirren stations. Problem sorted.

As I say, I almost want to cry at the amount of money that we've already spent on this, but that sorrow is tempered by the fact the drain caused by the White Elephant Rail Link has stoppped at last.

Best news I've heard all year!

Heathrow and Paris CDG are 10 miles from the respective city centres , Glasgow is 8 miles ! The CDG station connects the airport directly with most of France , just like GARL and Crossrail would do for Glasgow Airport which would make the airport far more attractive to airlines. The Scottish Government is too short-sighted and bias in favour of Edinburgh.

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Heathrow and Paris CDG are 10 miles from the respective city centres , Glasgow is 8 miles ! The CDG station connects the airport directly with most of France , just like GARL and Crossrail would do for Glasgow Airport which would make the airport far more attractive to airlines. The Scottish Government is too short-sighted and bias in favour of Edinburgh.

I may have been slightly OTT on the distances for CDG (19miles) and Heathrow (17 miles), but I've flown in and out of those airports on numerous occasions, and have never taken a cab (or even thought about it) if I'm going to the centre of the city. They may only be twice as far from the centre as Glasgow Airport is, but in general the traffic makes even the worst Kingston Bridge tailbacks look like a Sunday afternoon in the 1930s.

It might have been different if this rail link did as at CDG and linked you to the rest of the country. When I went to see Scotland's humiliation against Morocco in Saint Etienne at France 98 I got a TGV directly from CDG - perfect! But that wasn't the plan here - even with Crossrail.

I live in Glasgow and use the airport regularly, but I would never dream of getting a train there, with or without there being a station at the airport. When this was being mooted I discussed it with various friends and colleagues and not one of them thought it was something that they would use.

And as to people coming to Glasgow from abroad, why wait for a train to take you to a train station where you would in most cases need to get then get a taxi to your destination, when you could just get a taxi directly from the airport? It would be faster, a lot less hassle, and unless you were on your own, almost certainly cheaper too.

I've no doubt that a rail extension would have given some benefits, but would it have justified the costs - no chance.

For me, recession or not, binning this completely flawed project has to be good news.

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£200M saved, but £195M spent already with only a new signaling system and some new rolling stock to show for it. Great thinking to scrap a project more than half way through completion. This is the equivalent of letting the Edinburgh tram scheme continue to dig up Princesses St for the next 6 months, then pull the plug on the whole idea. This is a kick in the baws to Renfrewshire, Glasgow and South Lanarkshire councils who are also funding partners and have already invested vast sums of money in the project with no return.

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Ok so I put a bit of spin on it. Big deal. Still sounds like piss poor planning to me I must say - either someone failed to get the route properly looked at, or they've buggered up on costs again like Holyrood and they're getting out now while they still can rather than pay through the nose for what WAS a flawed project.

Interesting that you should mention the Holyrood project. Original cost £40 million, final cost £400 million. Maybe the anti SNP at all costs crew can remind us all what political parties oversaw that project.:rolleyes:

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Interesting that you should mention the Holyrood project. Original cost £40 million, final cost £400 million. Maybe the anti SNP at all costs crew can remind us all what political parties oversaw that project.:rolleyes:

They're all just fannies with different coloured rosettes. The decisions to undertake projects oe kill projects is really down to the clownary of ScotExec. Politicians for the most part do what they are told by the unelected ScotExec dafties, sometimes throwing the odd hissyfit if a department causes them embarrassment in the press.

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£200M saved, but £195M spent already with only a new signaling system and some new rolling stock to show for it. Great thinking to scrap a project more than half way through completion. This is the equivalent of letting the Edinburgh tram scheme continue to dig up Princesses St for the next 6 months, then pull the plug on the whole idea. This is a kick in the baws to Renfrewshire, Glasgow and South Lanarkshire councils who are also funding partners and have already invested vast sums of money in the project with no return.

Serious question... what benefit would Paisley/Renfrewshire get out of this project?

I'm glad it's been canned, but to make it party political the SNP should have cancelled it as soon as they had the chance. Sadly, they didn't. They went along with the previous administration's decision until they needed to make severe cuts (because of a crisis overseen by the national party of said administration).

The fact that £195 MILLION pounds has already been spent shows you just how ludicrous the whole thing has been.

It's an outrageous figure to have been spent before a single cm of track has been laid.

Would you rather have spent another £200m trying to justify a wantonly spent £195m?

If you ever go to Vegas, they'll roll out the red carpet for you.

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Was always going to happen with SNP calling the shots. The new Forth Bridge project got the thumbs up as expected , eastie , funny accented f**ks ! :angry:

Correct. We should allow the current Forth Road Bridge to fall over and kill a few thousand Easties.

Heathrow and Paris CDG are 10 miles from the respective city centres , Glasgow is 8 miles ! The CDG station connects the airport directly with most of France , just like GARL and Crossrail would do for Glasgow Airport which would make the airport far more attractive to airlines. The Scottish Government is too short-sighted and bias in favour of Edinburgh.

Load of Bollocks. The rail link didn't make a lot of sense in the first place, surely it wouldn't cost hundreds of millions of pounds to run a free bus service to the airport as suggested?

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Load of Bollocks. The rail link didn't make a lot of sense in the first place, surely it wouldn't cost hundreds of millions of pounds to run a free bus service to the airport as suggested?

There is no such thing as a free bus service....you have to buy or lease the bus, pay for its maintenance and about £10 per hour for the east european to drive it. Its stoopit c"nts like you that are pishing our taxes away on nonsense.

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