Plans to create a multi-billion pound metro system in Glasgow have taken a 'major step forward'.
The Clyde Metro, which will connect outlying and poorly serviced communities, has been listed as one of the main investment priorities for the Scottish Government in the Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2)
An estimated 1.5 million will be better connected to employment, education, and health services in and around the Glasgow city region through the development.
It will also play a key role in helping to make the country fairer and greener - by tackling tackle climate change, reducing inequalities, and improving health and wellbeing.
Cllr Susan Aitken, Chair of the Glasgow City Region City Deal Cabinet, described the announcement as a 'major step forward' in the creation of the Clyde Metro.
She said: "Clyde Metro’s inclusion in the STPR2 report is a huge vote of confidence in the work done to date by Transport Scotland and the City Council in advancing the concept and the compelling case for it.
“The Clyde Metro will be transformational - reducing social and economic inequalities, delivering on economic growth, better connecting outlying and poorly served communities and incentivising large-scale modal shift from private car to public transport.
“Over the past several decades, modern rapid transit systems like Metro are what Glasgow’s comparator cities across the globe have been busy constructing. We cannot continue to be left behind. More than arguably any other single intervention, Clyde Metro can help deliver a vibrant, prosperous, inclusive and sustainable city region, a transport system fit for our international standing and ambitions.”
Cllr Aitken also shared a map of the metro which will be a combination of light rail metro, existing heavy rail converted to metro, and existing heavy rail, all connected.
She added that it will have a 'bigger footprint even than Manchester’s Metrolink' and will be 'the closest UK equivalent'.
Other recommendations include the decarbonisation of public transport, improving active transport infrastructure and transforming freight with a view to helping reduce overall demand for private vehicles.
The proposals will now undergo a 12-week statutory consultation period. Once all consultation feedback is considered, final reports will be published.
