Airport News
New allegations made in Glasgow Airport rail link row
Fri, 09 Oct, 2009
The row over Glasgow Airport's planned rail link (GARL), which was cancelled last month, has restarted after its managing director questioned the basis on which the scheme was scrapped.
Glasgow Airport's Amanda McMillan said that the £70 million additional expenditure figure used by the SNP as justification for scrapping the project was not one recognised as accurate by the airport.
Similar claims had already been made by Glasgow City Council leader Steven Purcell.
But Scottish transport minister Stewart Stevenson defended the figure in a statement reported by the Herald.
"The cost of the works and compensation necessary in the airport campus to permit the construction of GARL had risen from £8m at the time of the bill to £70m at the current time," he said.
Rail union RMT has called on the Scottish government to reinstate the scheme, and said the building of the Glasgow Airport link could provide around 1,300 jobs for the area.