r/Glasgow Tools

Title
Author	eenbiertje
Comment	When you look into it the truth is that a single train station serving the airport never really worked as an idea. It sounds great but brings a lot of headaches for the wider rail network, as well as being hugely inefficient in terms of cost and service potential. The idea that most people think of is a single spur line from the main Paisley line, either at Paisley Gilmour Street or Paisley St James, which then heads off to a new station at the Airport. The main problem with this is that heavy rail (standard trains) is very very expensive to run per km. It only starts to make sense when it serves long distance routes, and usually many stops along that route. An added problem with heavy rail is the low acceleration profile (because the trains are so heavy). Heavy = can carry more passengers than trams or buses, but it also means it takes a lot of energy and time to build up speed after leaving a station. For this reason, it's never very efficient to build a spur line serving a single stop. This low acceleration profile limits the numbers of trains per hour that you can run on a single spur line... especially when that spur line then comes into contact with other services at Paisley. Airport-City trains would use the same railway line as other services going through Paisley. You'd probably need to trade off some Inverclyde services to squeeze in the airport trains. Once you factor all this in, you end up with a service which impacts the rest of the network, and is by itself not all that great. In the end, it looks like we may end up with a tram link as part of the Clyde Metro plan. Or, potentially, a rail loop that leaves Paisley Gilmour Street, runs north past the airport, and swings back across the Clyde to Glasgow city centre via Renfrew, Yoker, Partick, Anderston, etc. If you build a spur that serves many other stops, or better yet loops back to Glasgow via the north side of the Clyde, then the calculus quickly changes, and it could actually work out to be quite cost effective, and a good service in terms of trains-per-hour.
Reddit Link	https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/comments/u483q2/glasgow_airport_branded_embarrassment_over_lack/i4umk6t/
Created	Fri 15th Apr 2022 5:41pm
Status	normal ()

When you look into it the truth is that a single train station serving the airport never really worked as an idea. It sounds great but brings a lot of headaches for the wider rail network, as well as being hugely inefficient in terms of cost and service potential.

The idea that most people think of is a single spur line from the main Paisley line, either at Paisley Gilmour Street or Paisley St James, which then heads off to a new station at the Airport.

The main problem with this is that heavy rail (standard trains) is very very expensive to run per km. It only starts to make sense when it serves long distance routes, and usually many stops along that route. An added problem with heavy rail is the low acceleration profile (because the trains are so heavy). Heavy = can carry more passengers than trams or buses, but it also means it takes a lot of energy and time to build up speed after leaving a station. For this reason, it's never very efficient to build a spur line serving a single stop.

This low acceleration profile limits the numbers of trains per hour that you can run on a single spur line... especially when that spur line then comes into contact with other services at Paisley.

Airport-City trains would use the same railway line as other services going through Paisley. You'd probably need to trade off some Inverclyde services to squeeze in the airport trains.

Once you factor all this in, you end up with a service which impacts the rest of the network, and is by itself not all that great.

In the end, it looks like we may end up with a tram link as part of the Clyde Metro plan. Or, potentially, a rail loop that leaves Paisley Gilmour Street, runs north past the airport, and swings back across the Clyde to Glasgow city centre via Renfrew, Yoker, Partick, Anderston, etc. If you build a spur that serves many other stops, or better yet loops back to Glasgow via the north side of the Clyde, then the calculus quickly changes, and it could actually work out to be quite cost effective, and a good service in terms of trains-per-hour.