News

MSPs have approved a bill which provides for construction of a rail link to
Glasgow airport from Glasgow Central Station.

The route will cost £160 million to construct or, by some estimates, as much as £210 million.

Margaret Jamieson, who piloted the legislation through parliament, stressed that the code of construction practice has been drawn up so as to ensure that anxieties about funding, noise and vibration levels will be dealt with.

The code provides for community and business liaison groups to meet in forums where concerns can be heard.

Strathclyde Partnership for Transport chairman Alistair Watson said he wanted the first trains running on the route by 2010.

'This is a historic day for Scotland and the culmination of two and a half years' planning and hard work,' he said.

The link would plug a gap in Scotland's transport infrastructure, he said.

But Green MSP Patrick Harvie gave the scheme what he called a 'cool, cautious, distinctly unenthusiastic' welcome, saying the boost to air traffic was hypocrisy from a government which claims to promote climate change.

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