r/Glasgow Tools

There's a lot of impatience and even disbelief expressed at the Clyde Metro plans, but we need to be realistic about timescales, because it is a massive undertaking when you really think through what's involved.

It typically takes a couple of years to develop plans for a single highly-urban tram route or rail alignment. Then you have tendering and figuring out the kinks at detailed design stage before proceeding to construction. All in it's reasonable to assume we're looking at end of decade for the first Metro branded vehicles to get rolling in Glasgow, at the earliest. That doesn't mean it's not worth doing, nor that the steps leading up to it aren't important.

Something also overlooked in all this is that, perversely, Glasgow's abundance of existing rail infrastructure (and the degree to which it's actively in use) makes it a real headache to decide where to prioritise development of new lines. In many ways it would be easier if you were starting from scratch in a city with either zero rail alignments to begin with.

The problem we have here is that nearly every touted Clyde Metro related project will impact existing services in one way or another, such is their level of interaction with the existing suburban and regional rail network. All elements of the Clyde Metro plan may all end up being constructed in the end, after several decades. But along the way you cause significant disruption, and so the sequencing is very important to get right from the beginning. This takes time to deliberate and decide upon.

For example, one of the major plans is conversion of the Cathcart Circle lines to tram trains, which may run on street through the city centre or even (somehow) connect to the Argyle Line tunnel that runs via Central Lower Level. The goal being to ease capacity at Central Station for more long distance services. This would have knock on impacts for regional services running on the Glasgow South Western Line. Not to mention while this work is underway, the Cathcart lines (among the very busiest services in Scotland) would be out of commission for several years.

There are other ideas which involve overlap or interaction with existing regional lines too: a Hyndland - Botanic Gardens - Kelvingrove Park tram-train tunnel connector, which would likely impact any services going via Hyndland for a while.

The airport line also appears to have two options being considered, according to the recent concept maps. One would be a tram, as suggested by the Connectivity Commission. Although it seems a heavy rail extension of Paisley Canal wrapping around Paisley, past the airport and on to Renfrew and the QEUH is being considered, involving potentially a new crossing of the Clyde. Each of these are radically different propositions, with different benefits and widly different costs. Both might happen in the end, but which comes first is the key question to be decided.

https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/media/image/g/m/Clyde-Metro_map-v3_1_(002).jpg