Archive for Our Scotland - www.our-scotland.org Scottish Politics Discussion Forum / Messageboard - Dedicated to online discussion about Scottish Politics and an Independent Scotland, as well as Scottish Society today. We also have a section dedicated to Banter, Sport and Recommended Sites.
 



       Our Scotland - www.our-scotland.org Forum Index -> Scottish Politics and Independence
Reluctant Hero

Glasgow Airport Rail Link Scrapped

The biggest casualty of the Budget for 2010/11 has been the Glasgow Airport Rail Link.

How can this get scrapped yet the Edinburgh Trams go ahead?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8256474.stm
Holebender

Perhaps the Unionist parties can get together and force the rail link through a vote in Holyrood, just like the trams.
landg

thing is, the rail link is about 1/3 done already.
rethink the forth crossing and free up some cash for this much needed project.
Holebender

Needed by whom? I live in the North East of Scotland so this aching need for a rail link to Glasgow Airport isn't so obvious to me.
Rinty

It was a s***e idea anyway, didnt justify the costs given that the airport is a short bus run from Paisley and the rail link involved changing trains at paisley anyway.
Alasdair

Rinty wrote:
It was a s***e idea anyway, didnt justify the costs given that the airport is a short bus run from Paisley and the rail link involved changing trains at paisley anyway.


Let's face it if it wasn't for the motorway you could practically walk it ... depending how fit you are.

And as HB said, it doesn't really help the other parts of the country outside of the central belt.  In the North-East yes, but also in the southern rural areas so often forgotten in these sorts of discussions.
George

Anti-Glasgow, Anti-SNP and Aunty Beeb

Click Here
Reluctant Hero

Here is what the BBC are crediting Steven Purcell, Glasgow City Council leader, with:

Quote:
He said ministers spent billions in the east and north east while "giving Glasgow the crumbs off the table".


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/8262521.stm

If Glasgow get the crumbs, then I hate to think what the Highlands get.
landg

all over the world major airports have or are building fast links with major cities, oh no, not us, i mean it's a s***e (wordlwide) idea and you could practically walk it.

dear god almighty.

as for the north east, i'll take the holebender view, not in my backyard? don't give a fook.
Rinty

the last time I looked Glasgow Airport was bursting so people dont seem to have a problem getting there.  To be honest I've never heard anyone moan about the links to the city from the airport.  It depends where you are going in the city.  The links from the fast airport train to the next stop might make it no different then just getting a taxi from the airport.  To the few people who go by a 'time is money' routine, changing at central or changing at paisley might be a hassle anyway.

A far better investment would be a cross city rail link, linking the east and west railway systems, instead of getting off at central and then having to go to Queen St.

Most major cities have underground links from station to station and that is more of a hassle than getting to the airport and for more people too.
magister ludi

What's this thing about trains?
A wee boat down the Cart Water and up the Clyde would be fine......albeit less awe inspiring that the long lonely walk through the Clyde tunnel after the trek to Govan.
landg

Rinty wrote:
the last time I looked Glasgow Airport was bursting so people dont seem to have a problem getting there.  To be honest I've never heard anyone moan about the links to the city from the airport.  It depends where you are going in the city.  The links from the fast airport train to the next stop might make it no different then just getting a taxi from the airport.  To the few people who go by a 'time is money' routine, changing at central or changing at paisley might be a hassle anyway.

A far better investment would be a cross city rail link, linking the east and west railway systems, instead of getting off at central and then having to go to Queen St.

Most major cities have underground links from station to station and that is more of a hassle than getting to the airport and for more people too.


aye, the M74 was bumping today also, lets scrap the half built extension as well.
Aventinian

Let me put it this way: it is just as easy (and, I believe, cheaper) to get from Glasgow Airport to Glasgow Central Station than it is to get from, say, Gatwick into London. But with only one will you get the cheery patter of a Glasgow taxi-driver.

As Rinty points out, Crossrail is a rather more obvious future project which would benefit Glasgow. The route between CS and QS isn't even well signposted for walkers. Unless you knew the city, you'd barely realise QS effectively opens out onto Buchanan Street.

Alasdair wrote:
Let's face it if it wasn't for the motorway you could practically walk it ... depending how fit you are.


I suspect you can walk under the motorway, and having once walked from Greenock to Glasgow city centre along the cycle path I'm certainly no stranger to the distances, but people aren't exactly in the mood for a stroll when they've just disembarked from a flight.
Alasdair

Aventinian wrote:
... but people aren't exactly in the mood for a stroll when they've just disembarked from a flight.


would help with DVT though ...
Holebender

Luggage can be a bit of a problem though.
mairead

Most folks nowadays either drive to the airport themselves or get friends/ family to give them a lift there anyway. I don't think it's such a big deal and though Glasgow is my favourite city, I dont believe the SNP are being discriminating.
landg

mairead wrote:
Most folks nowadays either drive to the airport themselves or get friends/ family to give them a lift there anyway. I don't think it's such a big deal and though Glasgow is my favourite city, I dont believe the SNP are being discriminating.


yeh, all those tourists getting a run from their scottish relatives.

your missing the point, it's not about us (here in glasgow and the surrounds i know whee to park, the best routes and how much a taxi would cost) it's about the tourists and businees folks coming in.

one of the first things i check out when travelling is what are the transport links to/from the airport. direct train links into city centres are a massive and imporatnt plus.thats from personal expirience.

am iright in thinking that the new trams are running to embra airport? if so scrap that as well?
Rinty

I do not have any experience of business travellers or tourists having a problem travelling to Glasgow City Centre from the airport.  having worked most of my life in industries wher people having coming in and out of that airport I cant remember it coming up?

Not all tourists are going into the city centre anyway.  If they were using trains rather than hiring a car then they would have to change at central if goin north or east and get a taxi to Queen st, thats why the cross-rail link is more important.

If a visitor could get a train from Paisley to Edinburgh or to Motherwell over a cross rail then the airport staion  (Gilmour st) would be much the same distance as the railway station at many major airports, a short shuttle bus away.
landg

Rinty wrote:
I do not have any experience of business travellers or tourists having a problem travelling to Glasgow City Centre from the airport.  having worked most of my life in industries wher people having coming in and out of that airport I cant remember it coming up?

Not all tourists are going into the city centre anyway.  If they were using trains rather than hiring a car then they would have to change at central if goin north or east and get a taxi to Queen st, thats why the cross-rail link is more important.

If a visitor could get a train from Paisley to Edinburgh or to Motherwell over a cross rail then the airport staion  (Gilmour st) would be much the same distance as the railway station at many major airports, a short shuttle bus away.


i'm not saying it's difficult to get to the airport but it could be made easier and cheaper and more convenient for tourists and business people flying in. but the snp have broken their promise and the dream has died.

does anyone know anthing about trams going to embra airport?
Rinty

It might have made it slightly easier but I dont see that as a "dream" it would be "easier" for me of there was an underground station going from my flat to Glasgow Central, buit there isnt.

The cost of the GARL, in my opinion, was never justified compared to the gain and, in times of recession, is a luxury that cant and shouldnt be afforded.

I think that the edinburgh rail link was dropped but the trams will run at as far as the airport.
landg

surely the tram line to edinburgh airport will be scrapped as well?
Dave Coull

landg wrote:
am iright in thinking that the new trams are running to embra airport? if so scrap that as well?
The decision on the new tram system for Edinburgh was taken by Jack McConnell and his colleagues in the LibDem/Labour executive before the 2007 election. Alex Salmond and co tried to scrap it as being far too expensive and disruptive, but the combined votes of Labour, LibDem, and Tory MSPs forced them to go ahead with the plan. So if you think it should be scrapped, you know who to blame.
azzuri

Dave Coull wrote:
landg wrote:
am iright in thinking that the new trams are running to embra airport? if so scrap that as well?
The decision on the new tram system for Edinburgh was taken by Jack McConnell and his colleagues in the LibDem/Labour executive before the 2007 election. Alex Salmond and co tried to scrap it as being far too expensive and disruptive, but the combined votes of Labour, LibDem, and Tory MSPs forced them to go ahead with the plan. So if you think it should be scrapped, you know who to blame.


Plus, given the project is halfway completed, what exactly would be the point? It'd be just as expensive now to scrap it as it would be to finish it, I'd imagine...
landg

post awaiting approval.


i'm delighted that the tram system waas given the go-ahead.
strange how work has started on both links but only 1 goes.....
Dave Coull

landg wrote:
strange how work has started on both links but only 1 goes.....
Nothing strange about it. Because the Edinburgh tram project was started by Jack McConnell's Labour/LibDem executive more than two years ago, it is much further ahead than the GARL. Are you saying that, in embarking on that Edinburgh project earlier, the Labour/LibDem alliance was  prejudiced against Glasgow? Are you saying that the SNP was prejudiced against Edinburgh in trying to cancel that project? Because the Edinburgh project is much further ahead, it would probably cost more to cancel it now than to complete it. Because the Glasgow airport rail link is not so far advanced, it is cheaper to cancel it than go ahead.
Holebender wrote:
Perhaps the Unionist parties can get together and force the rail link through a vote in Holyrood, just like the trams.
I suppose the Labour Party, the Lib Dems, and the Tories could do that, just like they did with the trams. But I don't think they will. I think a lot of them recognise this cancellation makes sense. Some of them may huff and puff but, in the end, I think they will do nothing.
Rinty wrote:
The cost of the GARL, in my opinion, was never justified compared to the gain and, in times of recession, is a luxury that cant and shouldnt be afforded.
Aventinian wrote:
As Rinty points out, Crossrail is a rather more obvious future project which would benefit Glasgow.
Aventinian, a member of the Tory Party, agrees with Rinty, a prominent member of Solidarity, "Scotland's Socialist Party". The fact is, there is recognition across the political spectrum that GARL would be a very expensive waste of resources.
Ultra

Now BAA are talking about shutting down terminal 2 and cutting jobs.

Scotland needs decent transport links whether it be GARL or some other alternative no matter who has suggested it.
William_Cleland

GARL was envisaged prior to the credit crunch and oil prices peaking at close to $150 a barrel when budget air travel appeared to have a limitless horizon for future growth. Now the focus is shifting to high speed rail:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/8222413.stm
Ultra

William_Cleland wrote:
GARL was envisaged prior to the credit crunch and oil prices peaking at close to $150 a barrel when budget air travel appeared to have a limitless horizon for future growth. Now the focus is shifting to high speed rail:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/8222413.stm


Yes, I saw this a while back. This would be my preference.

We should be trying to put in as many decent transport links as we can.

       Our Scotland - www.our-scotland.org Forum Index -> Scottish Politics and Independence
Page 1 of 1
Create your own free forum | Buy a domain to use with your forum
Our Scotland Hit Counter Scottish Top Site - Topsites Our Scotland Forums Critical Acclaim ~ Politically Progressive Top Sites View Site Stats Scottish Politics