Glasgow | Public Transport | News & Developments

[get13]

Original Source from the spt website

Subway extension study given funding.

SPT has employed consultants to carry out a new study to look into the possibilities of extending Glasgow's Subway network. Authority members agreed to proceed with the £40,000 study on Friday 3 June. The study will look at all possible options for new tracks and stations and will then draw up preferred schemes. Possible improvements include extending the system to the east end and south side of Glasgow, and the Clyde Waterfront and Glasgow Harbour developments have also been suggested.

Director of Operations Douglas Ferguson said: "The study will identify exactly where the expansion will take place, but one of the obvious areas is the riverside which is undergoing a lot of development but does not have good public transport. The other prime scheme would be to extend the network out into the west end of the city."

New routes could operate in a network of unused tunnels which run under the city or be created by digging tunnels under city roads which would then be re-instated once work is complete. However, before any extension plans get underway, SPT hopes to replace the current rolling stock on the Subway.

Chair Alistair Watson said he expected the extension to cost in the region of £800million, and the replacement of rolling stock to cost around £50million.

Green light for Partick station.

The multi-million pound project to rebuild Partick station has now received the green light after months of negotiations. The £9.7million project involves a complete overhaul of the facilities at the bus, rail and Subway interchange in Glasgow's west end. The station is Scotland's fifth busiest, and looks set to become busier still with the Clyde Waterfront Regeneration now underway.

The project, first proposed in 1996, has been held up by a series of land, legal, technical and financial issues. These include a decision about who would provide insurance cover for incidents such as construction accidents, which could close the rail network and incur performance penalty payments.

A deal resolving the outstanding issues was formally approved on 20 May 2005 following several weeks of intense top level negotiations between SPT, the Scottish Executive and Network Rail to get the project back on track.

The existing station will now be demolished and rebuilt, providing improved access to the platform and bus stances and state-of-the-art passenger information systems. Passengers will also see improved comfort and safety, and greatly improved access for travellers with mobility problems.

[Vladimir V L]

Im told Corby is worse! My mum lived there and shes been to Cumbernauld...

[woodhousen]

hmmmmmmmm, i wouldnt hold your breathe unfort guys

although the one good thing going to glasogw is that it has all the facilities needed already in place for a underground network......

however, when birmingham comissioned a report to see how much it would cost for a underground the report came out at over £2,000,000,000. and that was for a single tunnel 3 miles long with 2 stations.

i wish glasgow the best though!

[gleegie]

SPT are notorious for "ahem" blue sky thinking. It isn't their money they're spending after all.

There's a lot going on for the immediate now that doesn't require Nostradamus to discuss,

M74
Crossrail
Airport link
Northern Suburban line
Partick/Govan/Clydebank Interchanges
East End Dual carriageway
Finnieston bridge

Once that lot's built and paid for the investment budget will have to go somewhere.

[Vladimir V L]

Inner ring road...

[The Boy David]

Well I shall break this nay-saying trend and say good on them for starting the feasibility study.

Glasgow is sitting on a gold mine of pre-built tunnels that are just crying out to be used. The quicker the feasiblity study is finished the better IMO.

This will happen. I know it.

[Vladimir V L]

It maybe all depends on population statistics, west central Scotland often has this kind of apocalyptic population decline predicted, the Evening Times claims otherwise though... If the population remains stable or even rises then more transport would be worthwhile, Id love to see more rail links replacing reliance on cars, if it falls then we are in trouble.

Talking of Cumbernauld, what makes it (in my opinion) crap is that the railway station is on the outskirts. If the road passing under the centre was to be converted into a railway, the place would look awesome and the shopping centre could double as a train station. This could raise its popularity. I also wondered why schools and hospitals were never built right beside rail lines, and served with their own stations, imagine how efficiant it would be...

[maccoinnich]

Originally Posted by woodhousen

hmmmmmmmm, i wouldnt hold your breathe unfort guys

although the one good thing going to glasogw is that it has all the facilities needed already in place for a underground network......

however, when birmingham comissioned a report to see how much it would cost for a underground the report came out at over £2,000,000,000. and that was for a single tunnel 3 miles long with 2 stations.

i wish glasgow the best though!

That's £660million a mile. How is that possible? Even the Jubilee line extension, cost £3.5 billion, or £350million a mile, and it has every mod-con you could ask for, and many cost overruns.

At a more down to earth cost, the Madrid Metro Sur extensions, at 24 miles long, cost €1.6 billion (just over £1 billion). That's £40 million a mile.

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Is the Anniesland to Maryhill line open now then?

[The Boy David]

Hazza!! Another West End train station opens - the 2nd largest heavy rail network in the UK just got one station bigger

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5043799.html#

[M_Riaz]

Posible extension routes to the underground in red.

[Pgcc]

Originally Posted by M_Riaz

Posible extension routes to the underground in red.

Sadly I don't think any of them ever were realistically feasible for one reason or another eg: the new flats constructed blocking the tunnel at Thornwood/ Partick

That's that plan fucked then!

BTW: How recent is that proposal or is it an archive from the early 1990's?

Back to the drawing board guy's

[Accura4Matalan]

A few weeks ago on the world forums, somebody said that the Glasgow subway is the most pointless subway in the world because its only 10km long. As a fan of the SPT Subway... I defended it to the death.
But, truthfully, I dont know about the subway very much. Is it really pointless?
I'd like to think it isnt, because its an asset that not many UK cities can boast.

[Vladimir V L]

It very often takes people where they want to go, so it has a point. Just because it is small doesnt mean its pointless. I know a lot of small people, none of them are pointless.
Youre right, only Glasgow and London have a 'proper' one anyway, and the fact that Glasgow has the worlds 3rd oldest one points at its history of industrial prowess

[The Boy David]

The Glasgow Subway is like a huge big tub of Ronseal......

[gleegie]

Well Annual patronage has shrunk from 14.29 million in the year 1995/96 to 13.36 million in 2002/03

Also the section from Govan through Hillhead to St Enoch is the only really used section, mostly because the rest of the line no longer has a city above it.


The Underground brought in £10 million pounds of revenue in 1999/2000, £1.7 million less than the cost of running it. Although that deficit was an improvement on the £3.2 million loss of 1996/97.


Most public transport is subsidised though and the subway could actually turn a profit with a bit of attention. It really isn't a pleasant place to be at the moment, the trains are minging and bits and pieces are falling off the stations. The only real way to boost public transport is to boost urban density, redeveloping each station with a skyscraper would be a start.

[Vladimir V L]

redeveloping each station with a skyscraper would be a start.

This is what I have always thought. When high-rise estates were being built in the 60's they seem to have put most of them as far away from proper public transport links as possible, they should have made them above underground stations and around railway stations. They did not and that is one of the reasons for why many of these estates are failing!

[resistme]

Originally Posted by Vladimir V L

This is what I have always thought. When high-rise estates were being built in the 60's they seem to have put most of them as far away from proper public transport links as possible, they should have made them above underground stations and around railway stations. They did not and that is one of the reasons for why many of these estates are failing!

Yeah, the southern stations don't have much patronage - Bridge St has nothing there except a car park and a walk to the Citizens which would be better served by a Gorbals station on the cross-rail plan (however would the Tradeston plans not increase usage?) . However, when I was in Glasgow Uni, my mum used to drop me off at Shield's Road to get to Hillhead (and as it's a park and ride it's easier to park).

The potential link of the underground at West Street to the overground network would also increase usage; also couldn't better use of Cesnock with a travelator link to Pacific Quay the the BBC/STV studios help increase traffic.

[The Boy David]

Thats not a bad idea resistme, but they would have to refurbish the whole system before anyone visting the TV studios would even dream of using it.

Curious to see Hillhead's figures dropping - if anything I would have thought the station was getting busier.

But you guys are right - building a scraper, or just a high density residential complex near the stations would definately be a start. Thats why it would be madness to ignore Glasgow Harbour. That area is crying out for a subway/rail link of some sort...

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Bridge street is only good for going to the Carling Academy. Nowt else. Which is terrible, considering just how close it is to the city centre

[maccoinnich]

Sad to see falling patronage, especially when it's against rising passenger figures on overground rail across Scotland and the UK.

[Boards]

Does anyone know how passengers the subway carried at its busiest ever year and when that was? That huge wasteland between Pollokshaws and the City Centre is really needing something done to it - its manky! I would have thought any vacant areas of land next to a subway station would have been a developers dream given the proximity to the city centre.