Cancellation
Following the Scottish Parliament election, 2007, the newly-elected SNP minority government announced their intention to cancel the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link project in September 2007 amid concerns over the need for public spending cuts.
Following a vote in the Scottish Parliament on 27 June 2007, the Scottish Government agreed to retain the Edinburgh Trams project which would construct a light rail line between the airport and Edinburgh city centre (see the map of the proposed airport tram route). John Swinney MSP, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance in the Scottish Government, warned that the full underground EARL project would probably be scrapped in favour of the electrification of the Glasgow-Edinburgh Main Line. The Edinburgh Trams service is expected to launch around 2012.
To address the loss of direct mainline rail links from around Scotland to Edinburgh Airport, the Scottish Government instead proposed a cheaper alternative in the form of a new interchange station at Gogar offering interchange between the Fife Circle Line and the Edinburgh to Aberdeen Line and Edinburgh Trams.
Transport commentators criticised the cancellation of the project, claiming that approximately £30 million had been spent on the scheme.
Read more about this topic: Edinburgh Airport Rail Link