28-535: The Inverclyde Line is a railway line running from Glasgow Central station through Paisley (Gilmour Street) and a series of stations to the south of the River Clyde and the Firth of Clyde , terminating at Gourock and Wemyss Bay , where it connects to Caledonian MacBrayne ferry services. The line has been in operation since the 1840s between Glasgow and Greenock and was the first passenger service to follow
56-603: A "No" vote in the Scottish Independence referendum. A resurrected GARL would be included as one of the projects which could possibly be funded by the fund. In October 2016, plans were resurrected to build a railway link to Glasgow Airport as part of the Glasgow City Deal . A journey time of 16.5 minutes was also proposed. The outline proposals included two options: It was claimed that either scheme could be opened by 2025. Council leads approved
84-539: A bid to tender for a new build of railway carriages for the SPT network of 120 vehicles. Subsequently, on 11 July 2008, Transport Scotland announced that 38 Class 380 trains have been ordered for use on Ayrshire and Inverclyde services and also the Glasgow Airport Rail Link. With the latter project cancelled, the additional units will be put to use on other services in the future. On 17 September 2009,
112-526: A new purpose-built 1.2-mile (1.9 km) line which would have taken it over the M8 motorway into the airport station, situated close to the main terminal building at Glasgow Airport. A video and extra information regarding the project can be found on the linked here. The Scottish Parliament on 29 November 2006 passed the GARL bill by 118 votes to 8, thus allowing the construction of the route to begin. Construction
140-580: A one-piece bridge design, GARL was to cross the M8 motorway and into the airport. The scheme was also criticised for the absence of direct connections to the rest of the Scottish railway network which would bypass Glasgow Central - historically the two options for doing this have been Cross rail Glasgow and the electrification of the Shotts Line to Edinburgh . In May 2008, First ScotRail announced that
168-459: Is a proposed link between Glasgow City Centre and Glasgow Airport. The original plans for an airport rail link were proposed during the 2000s to directly link Glasgow Central station with Glasgow Airport in Scotland. The link was intended for completion by 2013 and would have had a service of four trains per hour via Paisley Gilmour Street railway station . On 17 September 2009 the rail link
196-543: The River Clyde to the coast. The line was electrified in 1967. The line was opened by the Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway on 31 March 1841, and initially ran from Bridge Street railway station in Glasgow to a terminus at Cathcart Street, Greenock (later renamed Greenock Central railway station), with the section between Glasgow, and Paisley Gilmour Street being run by the Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway . For
224-551: The Scottish Government cancelled the airport branch component of the GARL project amid concerns over the need for public spending cuts. However, elements of the GARL plans that upgraded the Glasgow–Paisley lines (including replacement of life-expired signalling, provision of two additional platform at Glasgow Central, and installation of the additional tracks between Shields and Wallneuk Junction) were excluded from
252-546: The Ayrshire and Inverclyde lines split before entering the station. The most controversial proposal in the scheme was the building of the line on a viaduct over playing fields in the Paisley St. James area and into Glasgow Airport. After much discussion, SPT assured local residents that the playing fields would be returned to original use, with even better facilities such as under-soil drainage and new changing rooms. Using
280-908: The Inverclyde Line near Paisley St. James station . In December 2006, the Scottish Executive gave the final go-ahead for the new link to be constructed; however, the project was subsequently cancelled in September 2009. Glasgow Central station Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.133 via cp1102 cp1102, Varnish XID 569497159 Upstream caches: cp1102 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:04:30 GMT Glasgow Airport Rail Link The Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL)
308-542: The Shotts Line had been route cleared for Class 158 and Class 170 DMU trains to operate on the line and that an increase in services was likely in the near future. In 2008, control of the GARL project passed from SPT to Transport Scotland who would have overseen the building of the route. Overhead catenary work and a re-modelling of Shields Junction over the past year have already taken place in connection with GARL. In December 2008, Transport Scotland announced that
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#1732781070693336-763: The Treasury Danny Alexander - said: "Glasgow plans to create a £1.1 billion infrastructure fund that will support projects such as the city centre-airport rail link, major improvements to the region's roads and bus network, and the development of new employment sites." The proposals would entail a 50/50 investment with £500m each coming from the UK central government in Westminster and the Scottish Government in Holyrood, but being dependent on
364-411: The airport, the GARL plans included the installation of a bi-directional third track in the center of the existing two between Shields Junction at the Glasgow end and Arkleston Junction, approximately one mile (1.6 km) east of Paisley Gilmour Street, and the installation of an additional two tracks between Arkleston Junction and a re-configured Wallneuk Junction immediately east of Gilmour Street where
392-490: The cancellation decision and instead taken forward as the separate Paisley Corridor Improvements project, which was completed in 2012. As part of the driver training programme for the route and new rolling stock, design and media company Totalize Media were hired to create a simulation of the infrastructure. This simulation was built using a professional derivative of the railway simulator Train Simulator / RailWorks . With
420-615: The cancellation of the project, Totalize Media redirected the development into a home simulation title. After the project was cancelled, a tram-train line has been proposed to connect Glasgow Airport with the City Centre using a one-mile tram line to the Airport from the Inverclyde Line . On 3 July 2014, an article in Glasgow's Evening Times newspaper - jointly written by Prime Minister David Cameron and Chief Secretary to
448-639: The downgraded option to use the people mover system to the airport, instead of light rail that would be integrated with the main Paisley Gilmour Street railway station and the wider city region rail network. In 2019 as part of a wider £10 billion plan for a 'Glasgow Metro' network, the Glasgow Connectivity Commission endorsed light rail instead of the PRT option and proposed linking Glasgow airport to Braehead and
476-426: The first time a railway took passengers right down the River Clyde , taking about one hour whereas Clyde steamers took around twice as long. The terminus was a short walk from Custom House Quay, Greenock, and the railway was very popular with passengers who boarded steamers there to visit holiday resorts down the Firth of Clyde or to commute in summer to their villas around the shores of the firth . On 9 July 1847
504-542: The light rail option between Glasgow Airport and Glasgow Central, with construction proposed to begin in 2022 and be completed by 2025. In 2019, the initial plans to create a direct light rail link were once again shelved. One of the reasons stated was concerns of overcrowding at Glasgow Central. A new proposal was then suggested to adopt the cheaper Personal Rapid Transit system instead between Glasgow Airport and Paisley Gilmour Street. Glasgow MP Paul Sweeney criticised Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken for supporting
532-517: The line became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). The line was electrified in 1967, seven years after the North Clyde Line . The electric Class 311 trains were specially built for the line in 1967, although Class 303 trains were also used. As of 2019, the line is mainly operated by Class 318s , Class 320s , Class 380s and Class 385s . The Inverclyde line uses
560-599: The other two running to Wemyss Bay. The Gourock trains are express services stopping only at Paisley Gilmour Street and Bishopton between Glasgow and Port Glasgow, while the Wemyss Bay trains stop at all stations. This changes after 7 pm and on Sunday: the Wemyss Bay line is reduced to one train an hour, which runs express between Glasgow and Port Glasgow, and the Gourock trains stop all stations. The Glasgow Airport Rail Link to Glasgow Airport would have branched off from
588-457: The project as part of a wider Clyde Metro network, using a new light rail line via Govan . GARL would have run from a reconstructed Platform 11A at Glasgow Central on the former Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway , Ayrshire Coast Line and Inverclyde Line ; via Cardonald , Hillington East and Hillington West, to Paisley Gilmour Street station. It would then have run along the Inverclyde Line branching-off just before Paisley St James , onto
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#1732781070693616-623: The railway merged with the Caledonian Railway and became their main outlet to the coast. The Greenock and Wemyss Bay Railway opened its branch line on 13 May 1865 with its trains being operated by the Caledonian Railway, but its steamer operations were slow to live up to their promise and when in 1869 the Glasgow and South Western Railway opened its station at Princes Pier, Greenock, the Cathcart Street station
644-493: The same Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway tracks as the Ayrshire Coast Line until Paisley Gilmour Street; although the two lines occupy different sets of platforms at Paisley Gilmour Street. From Paisley, the line heads to Port Glasgow station, after which it branches. The main route heads through Greenock to Gourock , where it connects with ferry services to Dunoon and Kilcreggan . The branch heads through
672-448: The southern suburbs of Greenock to Wemyss Bay , where it connects with ferry services to Rothesay on the island of Bute (From 1 October 2015, for a period of 24 weeks, the ferry to Rothesay left from Gourock. This was due to essential improvement work being carried out at Wemyss Bay linkspan) As of June 2024, for most of the day four trains an hour operate each way on the Glasgow to Port Glasgow stretch, two of which run to Gourock and
700-675: The tender competition will begin in spring 2009, meaning GARL would have been operational in early 2013. In the proposals drawn up by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, Class 334 units are shown to work the route. However, speculation surrounds actual rolling stock plans for GARL with the likelihood of First ScotRail using 4-car EMUs rather than a traditional 3-car unit. First ScotRail formerly used 4-car British Rail Class 322 units on its Glasgow Central/ Edinburgh Waverley to North Berwick service - themselves ex-airport rail link trains, having been originally built to serve Stansted Airport near London . In April 2008, First ScotRail placed
728-468: Was cancelled as part of public spending cuts. In 2014, proposals were in place to resurrect the project dependent on the outcome of the Scottish independence referendum . In October 2016, plans were resurrected to build a railway link to Glasgow Airport. The journey time of 16.5 minutes has also been proposed. Under current plans the line would be opened in 2025. In 2019, it was proposed to deliver
756-522: Was effectively bypassed and the Caley lost trade. They had been trying for some time to organise an extension to Gourock, and having gained Parliamentary approval in 1884 they spent three years in construction which involved extensive tunnelling, and opened Gourock railway station on 1 June 1889. In August 1893 the Greenock and Wemyss Bay Railway amalgamated with the Caledonian Railway. In the 1923 grouping,
784-405: Was to be in phases with the re-location of football pitches in the route's path at Paisley St James scheduled for 2007, before route clearing and track work in 2007 and 2008. The cost of the route was estimated at £170m, with inflation increasing the cost to a potential £210m. The Ayrshire and Inverclyde lines are very busy with passenger and freight traffic. To provide capacity for trains serving
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