r/Glasgow Tools

Title
Author	Scunnered20
Comment	To try to give you and others a bit of (hopefully) helpful info, rather than just join in the endless moaning on this sub... probably not 10 years, but obviously new tram or heavy rail lines aren't going to appear in Glasgow overnight. The latest is that Glasgow has secured funding for the route optioning analysis through the UK Investment Bank ([announced just a few weeks ago](https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=30124)). This follows from Glasgow and nearby local authorities including Renfrewshire setting aside funding for an initial business case a couple years ago. This business case was an essential step, succeeding in getting the project included in the Scottish Government's once-every-fifteen-years-or-so shortlist of national infrastructure projects. This shortlisting means the project is prioritised for national funding. The reality is that it will all be done slowly, step by step. But the signs are very much there that it will happen. There are umpteen ideas for individual rapid transit routes which were abandoned in Glasgow over the decades, but they're not all necessarily relevant for here and today. Some older route ideas might work as part of the Clyde Metro, but it's likely that brand new route ideas are being designed from scratch which take into account changes to the built environment in recent decades. The next step is a route optioning and early design options for the first few routes, which seems to already be under way. It seems like it might be a year or two before this is published. Once it is, they'll probably press on with putting out various tenders for that first route, meaning to make a reasonable best case guess, you could imagine construction on line one beginning in 4-5 years' time. I wouldn't bet my life on that exact timescale, but I certainly expect works will be under way well within 10 years from now.
Reddit Link	https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/comments/12swg40/twitter_thread_between_paul_sweeney_msp_and_iain/jh507l8/
Created	Fri 21st Apr 2023 1:55pm
Status	normal ()

To try to give you and others a bit of (hopefully) helpful info, rather than just join in the endless moaning on this sub... probably not 10 years, but obviously new tram or heavy rail lines aren't going to appear in Glasgow overnight.

The latest is that Glasgow has secured funding for the route optioning analysis through the UK Investment Bank ([announced just a few weeks ago](https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=30124)).

This follows from Glasgow and nearby local authorities including Renfrewshire setting aside funding for an initial business case a couple years ago. This business case was an essential step, succeeding in getting the project included in the Scottish Government's once-every-fifteen-years-or-so shortlist of national infrastructure projects. This shortlisting means the project is prioritised for national funding.

The reality is that it will all be done slowly, step by step. But the signs are very much there that it will happen. There are umpteen ideas for individual rapid transit routes which were abandoned in Glasgow over the decades, but they're not all necessarily relevant for here and today. Some older route ideas might work as part of the Clyde Metro, but it's likely that brand new route ideas are being designed from scratch which take into account changes to the built environment in recent decades.

The next step is a route optioning and early design options for the first few routes, which seems to already be under way. It seems like it might be a year or two before this is published. Once it is, they'll probably press on with putting out various tenders for that first route, meaning to make a reasonable best case guess, you could imagine construction on line one beginning in 4-5 years' time. I wouldn't bet my life on that exact timescale, but I certainly expect works will be under way well within 10 years from now.