What is the future of the Glasgow Airport rail link ahead of the 2026 Scottish Parliament election?
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A rail link to Glasgow Airport was first announced in 2006 but two decades later it has failed to materialise, what is next?
The plans to operate a rail link between Glasgow city centre and Glasgow Airport were first announced in 2006, but were scrapped in 2009. Then finance secretary John Swinney called the plans ‘desirable rather than essential’. It would not be the end of calls for the rail link.
In 2014, the rail link was part of the £1.13bn Glasgow City Region deal agreed that year, and was intended to be operational by 2025. In 2019, it was once again scrapped - with Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken calling the project ‘a massive risk’. The cancellation was called a ‘betrayal of the city’.
The airport link has now become wrapped up in the Glasgow and Clyde Valley City Deal. A tram-train connection is being explored as part of the £1.1 billion package. There are those who wish the proposals to go further.
There is also the issue of the Clyde Metro project.
Published as a key recommendation from Transport Scotland’s national Strategic Transport Projects Review 2 in December 2022, the proposals would transform transport in Glasgow and the wider area. The fully integrated mass transit system would span decades and cost billions.
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport said the project would tackle social exclusion, support people living in low car ownership areas and ‘high quality public transport links to key hubs and unserved or underserved areas’.
There is a general consensus between all the major parties that work must begin on the Clyde Metro project. There is also an agreement between many of the parties that there should be a rail link between the city and the airport.
In a speech given in Glasgow earlier this month, first minister John Swinney said an SNP government would support the next stages of the feasibility work on the Clyde Metro proposal.
Labour leader Anas Sarwar said his government would prioritise development of a rail link between Glasgow Airport and the city centre.
Mr Sarwar said: “Most modern cities across Europe have a rail link to their main airports, and it is bizarre that Glasgow should still not have one in 2026, despite plans having been discussed nearly 20 years ago.
“A Scottish Labour government under my leadership would back the development of a rail link once and for all, ending the delay and wasteful spending of the SNP.”
Amongst a number of proposals for Scotland’s public transport network, the Scottish Greens manifesto said they will ‘begin the process to deliver the Clyde Metro scheme in full’.
In his comments, Scottish Greens candidate for Glasgow, Patrick Harvie also drew comparisons between Glasgow’s infrastructure and that of other major European cities. However, he added: "This would have happened far earlier if most political parties hadn't been obsessed with roadbuilding.
"Clyde Metro would be far better value for money than the continued multi-billion pound roadbuilding programme which the SNP and other parties know will make congestion and pollution even worse.
"There is now consensus on taking forward the Clyde Metro project, and our manifesto commits to doing that. The project would link the airport to the rail network, but without being financially dependent on continued unsustainable aviation growth."
The Scottish Conservatives did not mention the Clyde Metro or Glasgow Airport in their 2026 election manifesto, but said the Scottish Government had ‘allowed Glasgow’s transport system to fall into disrepair’.
Scottish Conservative candidate for Rutherglen Annie Wells added: “It shouldn’t be the case that in 2026, Scotland’s biggest city still doesn’t have the basic infrastructure like a Glasgow Airport rail link.”
The Scottish Liberal Democrats said that while they will explore connecting more communities to the rail network, opening new lines and stations there is nothing specific planned on the airport link or the Clyde Metro.
In their manifesto, Reform Scotland said they will ‘support the Clyde Metro and Glasgow Airport link’ but did not respond to a request for further details.