16/12/2008The Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson is to review the decision in the Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR) to ditch SPT's Crossrail project in favour of a multi-billion pound alternative which includes a new station in the centre of Glasgow and a Metro-style rapid transit system.
Early in January, SPT's Chair, Councillor Alistair Watson (pictured), will lead an SPT delegation to meet the minister and transport officials. The delegation plans to make the case for a reconsideration of the SPT Crossrail scheme.
Alistair Watson told SPT Express: "Crossrail has been through more hoops than a circus acrobat. It has been approved by the government's own appraisal system – STAG 1 and STAG 2 – but is now apparently being rejected in favour of proposals which haven't even had a business case established."
The alternatives to Crossrail in the STPR include a proposal to replace high level Glasgow Central and Queen Street with a new mega station somewhere in the centre of town and a rapid transit light rail system for better connectivity across the city.
This is costed in the review at something between £1.5bn and £3bn - potentially more than the Forth crossing.
Councillor Watson said: "We want to ask if this project could ever be delivered at this cost or is this an attempt to make a big promise but in reality kick the Crossrail proposal into the long grass?"
SPT hopes to persuade the minister that the £170m-£240m Crossrail scheme can deliver for the city and country at a much lesser cost than the new proposals.
Some officials at Transport Scotland have claimed that Crossrail can't deliver on increasing rail capacity at Queen's Street and Central however "that's not what the figures in our official documents show", says Councillor Watson.
Disappointment in the Crossrail decision aside, SPT has welcomed much of what the Minister proposed in his speech to the Scottish Parliament on 10th December.
The biggest headline figure from the review is the cost of the Forth crossing which has been reduced from a £3.2bn- £4.3bn estimate to £1.7bn to £2.3bn. That is a saving of £1.7bn to £2bn.
SPT thought there was only going to be one big present under the Christmas tree but the savings on the Forth crossing mean there are significant parcels under the tree for public transport.
These include:
- Extension of the electrification of the rail network beyond Glasgow to Edinburgh
- Integrated Ticketing for Public Transport
- Significant development for roads in the west of Scotland including big investments in the M74 M77 and M80 and significant proposals for the A77 around Ayr, the A737 at Dalry and the A82
The big hits for the SPT area include:
- A massive development of Park and Ride projects in the West of Scotland to ease the commute into central Glasgow which - with the rest of Scotland - could see a spend of £100m
SPT has blazed a trail for Park and Ride solutions to congestion, including our state of the art Park and Ride at Shields Road. These interventions are clearly good for business as well as reducing carbon emissions.
The six projects proposed for Bargeddie, St James, Glasgow Southern Orbital, Fullarton, Robroyston and Ayr (M77) are a massive shift in this direction which will make a significant change in the pattern of the commute into Glasgow and should mean much less car and much more bus and rail.
- The promise to develop major projects for hard should running on the M77 M74 and M8.
SPT is working on a possible pilot project for the M77 for hard shoulder running and we look forward to delivering that with our partners and the support of the government now promised.
However we want to make it clear that our proposals are for using the hard shoulder for buses linked to developed park and ride sites.
Alistair Watson told SPT Express: "While we still want to see these announcements in more detail, there is much here which promotes and develops public transport. We pledge to work with the government to deliver on these promises. Scotland cannot expect anything less".
