In 2022, Transport Scotland recommended Clyde Metro as a key addition to the city, and the country as a whole, with a 20-year project has the aim to connect more than 1.5 million passengers to employment, education and health services across Glasgow.
While the plans for a direct rail link to Glasgow Airport were scrapped a couple of years ago, ambitions to reinstate it keep being expressed.
According to Bruce Kiloh, Head of Transport Planning at SPT, airlines are being put off Glasgow Airport for there not being a rail link to the city centre.
Currently, Clyde Metro is set to extend and bring together “a fully integrated mass transit public transport system which could include a variety of modes”. Likely to span decades, the network is set to improve journeys throughout the region.
Working as one network, Clyde Metro will provide easy links to Glasgow’s main hubs, as well as “unserved or underserved areas.”
Bruce Kiloh said: “When we are designing the Clyde Metro… we want public transport to go where the public transport will use it.”
“One thing we heard loud and clear from the airport was that in their experience, when speaking to airlines around the world about coming to Glasgow, the lack of that fixed link was a key factor perhaps in making the decision to go somewhere else.
“That’s completely unacceptable. We can’t have Glasgow, Scotland’s main city region, held back like that, restrained like that from future development.”
When will Clyde Metro be completed?
The huge project is set to take decades, with plans to conclude by 2042. Two essential stages for “case for investment” are set to be completed by early 2027, while other phases will follow accordingly, such as detailed appraisal, engineering design, making the financial case for funding and ultimately the delivery of future lines or routes.
In short, we still have a long way to go, folks!
