Born in 1946 and brought up in Cupar, Fife, I was educated at the local school - Glasgow Crossrail Project
7. Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress was made in respect of the Glasgow crossrail project at the meeting on 7 January 2009 between Scottish Government officials and the Strathclyde partnership for transport. (S3O-5680)
The Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change (Stewart Stevenson):
Following the meeting on 7 January 2009, it was agreed that a workshop will be held in February, which will be attended by Transport Scotland, Strathclyde partnership for transport, Network Rail and Glasgow City Council, at which the development of the west of Scotland rail enhancement proposal will be discussed.
Bill Butler: I thank the minister for his mature response.
I welcome the minister's agreement to the meeting with SPT and to the workshop in February. He knows that the project has passed the Government's Scottish transport appraisal guidance system. Does he agree, particularly given these challenging economic times, that SPT's proposed Glasgow crossrail scheme provides value for money, would greatly enhance the connectivity of Scotland's rail network and would go a long way towards resolving capacity restraints at Glasgow stations? If so, will the Government work constructively with SPT to ensure that Glasgow crossrail—or, as the minister put it in the transport priorities debate this morning, crossrail plus—sees the light of day?
Stewart Stevenson: Of course, the oldest minister in Government will always provide a mature response, if only by virtue of his age.
The question is a serious one, which the member treats in an appropriate way. The issue of capacity is central to determining the nature of the intervention that we should make in Glasgow, to allow connections from one end of Scotland to the other via Glasgow and to support the expansion of the rail network into and from Glasgow. We have commissioned an extra piece of work from the Jacobs Consultancy, which will be a large feature on the table in the discussion that we will have in February with the range of bodies that I mentioned.
A longer-term issue is the genuine difficulty with capacity at the two existing major stations in Glasgow, Glasgow Central and Glasgow Queen Street. It is imperative that we take account of the long-term needs of railway expansion when coming to a decision. However, I am entirely happy to accept that we need to move as speedily as possible in these difficult times. I look forward to Mr Butler supporting the budget as it moves through Parliament in the next couple of weeks.
