Holyrood support for Clyde Metro

The Clyde Metro project will be backed with public funding from the Scottish government, Scotland’s Transport Minister Fiona Hyslop has confirmed.

Pressed on the matter at a Railway Industry Association Scotland fringe meeting at the SNP conference, Hyslop said the programme to build a new, integrated transport network in the Greater Glasgow area was a “priority”.

Clyde Metro was a key recommendation in Transport Scotland’s Strategic Transport Projects Review 2 (STPR2), published in December 2022. Shortly after, it was included in the Scottish government’s statutory National Planning Framework 4.

STPR2 included a map proposing the conversion of several existing suburban lines to heavy metro. It also suggested new light metro links to Kirkintilloch, Glasgow Airport, Newton Mearns, and an East Kilbride loop.

There could also be lines to Barrhead and a new interchange at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Govan.

Hyslop said: “It was quite clear that Clyde Metro was the standout - the flagship in terms of what the major long-term planning is. It’s part of our plans, it’s part of our priority.

“So, the answer is yes, we’re going to support funding for Glasgow Metro [sic] once all the plans come forward. With this case, I can’t say how much and the timeframe.

“We’ve got to think big. And that’s why, as an independent country, things such as the Glasgow Metro would be much easier if we had the fiscal measures that any normal state has.”

The project is being led by the SPT, in collaboration with Glasgow City Council and Transport Scotland.

SPT said the project “offers potential for a step-change in transforming the life chances of communities stymied by the inequality challenges caused by unaffordable, unreliable and poorly connected local public transport”.

Earlier this year, councillors committed £12 million of City Deal funding to developing a business case for Clyde Metro.