Glasgow Airport rail link ‘could be scrapped’
22.07.09
Fears have been raised that the Glasgow Airport Rail Link project could be scrapped, the Evening News reports. Ministers are reported to be in talks with engineering experts and airport bosses to work out if the £400million project is still deliverable after complicated engineering work forced transport bosses to delay choosing a contractor. Neither the Scottish Government nor Transport Scotland were able to give the newspaper firm assurances that the link would be completed.
Work to carry the new train line across the M8 and into the airport will not take place until bosses are certain that infrastructure at the airport can be moved out of the way. It is still hoped the link will be completed by 2014 in time for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. However, tendering for the new tracks and bridges has been postponed until work, which is thought to involve moving fuel tanks at the airport, has been deemed possible and cost-effective.
A Scottish Government spokesman told the Evening News: ‘We are having discussions to see if we can go ahead with the project as planned.’ A Transport Scotland spokesman said: ‘The tender for the branch line construction for the Glasgow Airport Rail Link has not yet been launched, pending the resolution of outstanding issues on the works within the airport.'
Stewart Stevenson, Transport Minister, was more hopeful. He told the newspaper: ‘Ministers are committed to the delivery of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link, and any reports to the contrary are inaccurate. The tender for the Branch Line construction for the Glasgow Airport Rail Link has not yet been launched, pending the resolution of outstanding issues on the reprovision works within the airport. Transport Scotland is in discussion with BAA to ensure that complicated work in the airport area is fully defined to allow delivery of the branch line for the Commonwealth Games in 2014.’
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