Glasgow Airport Rail Link
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This article or section contains information about a planned or expected public transportation infrastructure. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the infrastructure approaches, and more information becomes available. |
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The Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL) is a proposed rail link which will link Glasgow Central station to Glasgow International Airport. The link is due for completion in late 2009, with trains running on the route by Summer 2010 and will see 4 trains an hour operate between the two stations via Paisley Gilmour Street railway station.
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[edit] Route
GARL will run from a reconstructed Platform 11a at Glasgow Central on the former Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway, Ayrshire Coast Line and Inverclyde Line; via Cardonald, Hillington East and Hillington West, to Paisley Gilmour Street railway station. There, the line will run along the Inverclyde Line, past Paisley St James railway station, before branching-off onto a new purpose-built 1.2m route which will see the line pass over the M8 motorway into the airport station, which will be situated close to the Main Terminal Building at Glasgow International Airport.
[edit] Construction of the link
The Scottish Parliament on Nov 29, 2006 passed the GARL bill by 118 votes to 8, thus allowing the Construction of the route to begin. Construction will be in phases with the re-location of football pitches in the route's path at Paisley St James scheduled for 2007 before route clearing and track work begins later next year and into 2008. The Cost of the route is progged at £170m with inflation adding the cost to a potential £210m. For the link to thrive, a partial reconstruction of Glasgow Central needs to take place. This will see the existing Platform 11a, which is currently only occupied at peak-times, be lengthened into the main train-shed at Central. The new Platform 11a will run parallel to where Platform 11 is today meaning that the current in-station parking facilities will have to be moved (these are the current plans for Glasgow Central as stated in the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) document presented to the Scottish Parliament).
The Ayrshire and Inverclyde lines are very busy with Passenger and freight traffic. GARL would only add to this congestion, but to alleviate any problems a third track will be installed between Shields Junction (the main depot for trains running on the SPT network) and Arkleston Junction, east of Paisley. A re-alignment of the track layout at Paisley Gilmour Street will also be required.
The most controversial proposal in the scheme is to build the line through playing fields in the Paisley St. James area and into Glasgow International Airport. After much discussion, SPT have assured local residents that once the line is built, the playing fields will be returned to original use, with even better facilities such as under-soil drainage and new changing rooms. Using a one-piece bridge design, GARL will cross the M8 and into the Airport. This type of bridge is being used to cause minimal disruption to traffic during the construction process.
The scheme has also been criticised for the absence of direct connections to the rest of the Scottish railway network which would bypass Glasgow Central - historically the two options for doing this have been Glasgow Crossrail and the electrification of the Shotts Line to Edinburgh.
[edit] Rolling Stock
First ScotRail currently uses British Rail Class 334 and British Rail Class 318 EMU trains on the Ayrshire Coast Line and the odd British Rail Class 314 on the Inverclyde Line. In the proposals drawn up by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, British Rail Class 334 units are shown to work the route. However, speculation surrounds actual rolling stock plans for GARL with the likelihood of First ScotRail using 4-car EMUs rather than the traditional 3-car of the 318 or 334 units. First ScotRail currently uses 4-car Class 322 units on its Glasgow Central/Edinburgh Waverley to North Berwick service - themselves ex-airport rail link trains, having been originally built to serve Stansted Airport near London.
[edit] Timetable
There is no information right now on the planned timetable for GARL services in and out of Glasgow Central. Currently, Ayrshire services run on the 'clockface' timetable, i.e. 00, 15, 30, 45 mins past the hour. A major timetable restructuring of all Ayr, Largs, Gourock and Wemyss Bay services is likely from the start of the Summer 2009 timetable, scheduled for release in May 2009.
