Transport in Glasgow - Trams

Trams

Glasgow had for many years an extensive system of trams that ran on the city's streets alongside other traffic. However, by the 1950s much of the vehicle stock was over 30 years old and in need of replacement. The trams were becoming less used as car use increased and gradually the tram network was phased out across the city, including many routes that were still fairly well used and reckoned to be economically viable. The last tram in the city ran on September 4, 1962 with as many as 250,000 people reckoned to have lined the streets to watch this spectacle.

In the mid 1990s there emerged a plan to create a Strathclyde Tram Project, which would have seen the reintroduction of trams to Glasgow. Strathclyde Passenger Transport published a set of plans for this system, going so far as to distribute pamphlets across the city outlining these plans and the proposed routes they were suggesting. The initial line proposed was a 20-kilometre route that would run from Maryhill in the Northwest of the city to Easterhouse on Glasgow's Eastern fringe. It was envisaged that the line would utilise disused railway lines and tunnels as well as running in part on some roads in the city alongside other traffic. The plan then outlined future expansion of the tram network so that it might one day stretch across the Greater Glasgow area.

However, there were a number of objections to these proposals, contentiously amongst them was an objection from Strathclyde Bus Holdings, who it could be argued did so out of fear of their profit margins being affected by such an initiative. This necessitated a public inquiry which lasted around 10 weeks. The Parliamentary Commissioners appointed to deliberate on the matter met and discussed the conclusions of this inquiry in a matter of hours before finding in favour of the objections raised thus killing off the Strathclyde Tram Project. The reasoning of the Commissioners is unknown as there existed no obligation from them to reveal it.

There currently exists a proposal to reintroduce trams (again, as in 1996, this would actually be a light rail system) to Glasgow. This comes in light of similar proposals, which are much further advanced, to reintroduce trams to Edinburgh. The City of Glasgow Council and SPT have commissioned a £500,000 study to see the viability of such a system which it is reckoned would initially operate from the city centre out to the new Glasgow Harbour site then across the River Clyde to the Southern General Hospital and through Govan and along the south bank of the Clyde before crossing the river again back into the city centre. There are proposals to run trams further than this route out to the Braehead shopping centre and possibly Glasgow Airport; to Clydebank; and across the rest of the city.

Presently SPT has decided that this route will not see trams running along it, but rather an "ultra-modern" bus service termed "Clyde Fastlink" will operate part of the route, running from the city centre to the Glasgow Harbour area. SPT have stated however that they are leaving open the option of laying tram lines on this route and replacing the buses with a light rail system.