Glasgow tube network set for a £1bn upgrade

Civils contractors set to benefit over 10 years from city’s first expansion of underground stations and tunnels.

A mega underground expansion of Glasgow’s subway, which could be worth up to £1bn, is on the cards for civils contractors.

The project, which is being co-ordinated by subway operator Strathclyde Passenger Transport (SPT), will involve the const-
ruction of new underground stations  in the city’s west end, east end, south side and at Glasgow Harbour.

Underground tunnels will be constructed under the city’s roads, with work on 8km of existing disused tunnels of the underground system also expected to be included in the contract.

SPT will now commission a £40,000 survey into the project, which is expected to examine a number of options.

Results from the survey are expected back within 12 months and will be followed by the drawing up of detailed designs and the roll out contracts. The current value of the total works is set at around £800m.

However, this figure could easily rise to the billion pound mark when the full study has
been completed.

It remains unclear whether the contract, which is likely to be in a PPP format, will be split into several smaller contracts or let as one big scheme.

No funding has yet been determined by the Scottish Executive, although the upgrade works are expected to last for up to 10 years.

In the interim, around £50m is to be invested on replacing the subway’s fleet of trains.

An SPT spokesman confirmed  that a study was about to be launched into the project, but that no further details on what the full works will include, or the type of contract to be awarded, could be released as it was still “early days”.

Glasgow’s underground is the third oldest metro system in the world, but has never been extended. It still operates to the original train stations, which were established in 1896.

Douglas Ferguson, SPT’s operations manager, said: “The study will identify exactly where the expansion will take place, but the one obvious area is the riverside, which is undergoing a lot of development, but does not have good public transport.”