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SCOTTISH STRATEGIC RAIL STUDY
6. WESTERN CENTRAL BELT - THE SPT AREA
SWOT Analysis
6.1 The rail network in the SPT area is the largest outside of London and carries nearly two thirds of all rail journeys in Scotland. It serves the west central Scotland conurbation commuter region and extends more than 70 kilometres outside of central Glasgow. It plays a crucial economic and social role within the SPT area and is characterised by a high mode share and a significant proportion of purely urban/local movements. Over the years the network has benefited from being within a PTE area and has had higher levels of investment than non-PTE areas. Facilities at stations are generally provided to a higher standard than many places elsewhere in the network and the station CCTV system is regarded as a UK benchmark. Market research by SPT indicates that the system is generally fairly well regarded by rail users. However, despite the levels of satisfaction experienced by users there is a poorer perception of rail amongst non-users; accessibility to the rail network and personal safety and reliability are issues for these non-users.
6.2 Demand for rail travel in the SPT area continued to grow during the 1990's despite significant structural changes in the economy. The rail network performs a key re-generation and social inclusion function. However, a weakness in the ability of the railway to perform this role is that some of the key development areas (Pacific Quay, Clyde Corridor, Braehead and the airport) are not well served by rail. Additionally, there is a lack of connectivity between the north and the south parts of the network, due to the fact that there are two terminating stations in Glasgow, Queen Street to the north of the city centre and Central to the south.
6.3 Key rail network capacity pinch points occur within the system, particularly in the city centre area and at the peripheries of the network where single track sections of track exist. Such capacity pinch points lead to reliability problems (e.g. delays and train cancellations). The principal infrastructure constraints are:
- Glasgow Central Station;
- Glasgow Central to Paisley;
- Glasgow Queen Street to Cowlairs and Greenhill;
- Hyndland to Partick;
- Balloch Branch;
- Milngavie Branch;
- Barrhead to Kilmarnock line;
- East Kilbride line.
6.4 The rail system is subject to peak hour overcrowding into and out of Glasgow lowering the quality of the journey experience for the rail user.
6.5 A SWOT analysis for the SPT area is contained in WP3 Appendix A.
Planning Objective Aspirational Targets
6.6 The planning objectives and targets considered for the SPT area are shown in Table 6.1. Key planning objectives in relation to the existing market include the need to improve reliability, to increase service frequencies, develop regular (clock face) timetables, improve personal safety and security and reduce overcrowding (by measures such as train lengthening)
6.7 In terms of developing new rail markets, one of the priorities is to provide for new movements not served by rail, (notably cross city centre links, the Glasgow Airport rail link and the Larkhall and Maryhill routes) and to serve new developments especially in high car use areas. These planning objectives should be the focus of the rail strategy for the area.
Table 6.1 SPT stag Planning Objectives & asPiRational Targets
Projects Considered
6.8 Table 6.2 lists the various schemes that have been considered to address these objectives and also shows under which scenario they have been tested.
Table 6.2: SPT Container Projects for the HRS, MRS, LRS
6.9 The degree of project interaction varies with the complexity of the rail network, thus there is a very high degree of interaction in the SPT area ( WP6 Figure 2.1 illustrates this).
6.10 By way of example, to increase train frequencies on the south side of Glasgow terminating at Glasgow Central it is necessary to re-route existing trains from Glasgow Central, as the approaches to Glasgow Central are operating at capacity, as well as provide more local targeted capacity enhancements. Thus, increasing train frequencies to Ayrshire requires upgrades to the track in the Ayrshire area plus the construction of other capacity facilitating projects such as the Glasgow Cross City tunnel, the St John's Link, the Strathbungo link and a capacity upgrade between Paisley Gilmour Street and Glasgow Central.
High Resource Scenario
6.11 The underlying theme to the high resource scenario (WP6) for SPT is a metro style urban/suburban train service centred on Glasgow that is frequent and reliable and has sufficient capacity to meet demand. The network would maintain its important role with respect to social inclusion and would increase its market penetration with links to the airport and improved connectivity between the north and the south parts of Glasgow. The standards defined in Table 6.1 should be capable of being met. Rail would continue to form one component of an integrated multi-modal system. The stations would act as well facilitated interchange points and ease of transfer between modes would be aided by good information, customer service and the existing integrated ticketing system.
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