After a few quiet years, more details are coming out about Clyde Metro and their plans to transform transport around Glasgow. There were a few reports and online events this month and new network options have appeared. There are plenty of lines planned around the west of the city but what about to the east?

The rail network around Glasgow is the largest in the UK outside London. Clyde Metro is the major project looking at adding new links and upgrading the network. It’s led by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) and covers part of the council areas in the Glasgow City Region funding deal (a.k.a. City Deal, who are funding the first stage). 

Clyde Metro held online events in February 2025 with progress reports to update about the project. These included network options with eye-catching routes to the airport, Braehead and Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. We’ve been here before (if you remember GARL). There are no guarantees but Clyde Metro has a broader remit and is included in national policies. 

The event had quite a lot of talk about “ambition” and being “transformational” for the region. Many would say planning any new lines, for the first time in decades, is already ambitious. But the team kept stressing things like “step change” and how the network “shouldn’t be ‘all routes lead to Glasgow’”. That’s good to hear for towns around Strathclyde, most of whom have seen their town centres take an ever steeper nosedive over the last decade. Making it easier to get into Glasgow is useful but could take some spending out of the area. Links between towns keep it in the county.

Renfrewshire and East Ren

Plans showed links between towns in Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire – such as Renfrew to Erskine and Barrhead to Paisley. Renfrew, with a population of just under 25,000, has no train station (same with Kirkintilloch in East Dunbartonshire – also due to get a rail link). Barrhead has just under 20,000 people but could attract some of Paisley’s 75,000 people to a new visitor centre at Dams to Darnley Country Park. It’s good for the region to have connections like these, even if they are a by-product of routes to the airport. 

However, it’s a shame there’s no line to Eaglesham, another town with no train station, to link it to East Kilbride (via new development nearby in Jackton). 

Lanarkshire links (or not?)

Lanarkshire is fortunate to already have many towns on the rail network. New links to a few places are welcome too, like Moodiesburn and Glenboig (which is smaller than Eaglesham). Many people living in Lanarkshire may not feel much impact from the plans if they only use rail occasionally for a day/night out while they mainly drive. 

Most of Lanarkshire is quite car dependent  – both urban and rural areas. Many national routes go through the county – M8, M80, M73 and M74 (including the first Scottish motorway junction at Hamilton). Both councils have recent road-building programs – North Lanarkshire Council’s ‘Pan-Lanarkshire Orbital Route’ bulldozing through Motherwell and South Lanarkshire Council plans even more dual carriageways in East Kilbride. 

NLC did get upgrades to Motherwell station through City Deal but seem to have gone cold on a train station for EuroCentral business park. Ravenscraig is between two rail lines with no station – a link would add badly needed public transport for the Regional Sports Centre and the college. In South, upgrades are happening to East Kilbride station and a relocated Hairmyres ‘Park & Ride’ station. But Transport Scotland changed its mind on a dual line so EK will be stuck with two trains an hour.

Current Clyde Metro plans show new links to a few small towns in North and some neighbourhoods in South: in Rutherglen, East Kilbride and Hamilton (options A, B and D). But the latter would shadow, and compete with, existing rail routes. Lack of new links is an issue, especially for one of the Metro’s priority “trip attractors” – hospitals. 

Going to hospital

Lanarkshire has three major hospitals – Hairmyres (East Kilbride), Monklands (Airdrie) and Wishaw. Each is near a train station but few people in Lanarkshire would get to them by train. Most people would go by road – either driving or on the bus (adding to congestion and pollution). 

Clyde Metro is planning for the future Monklands site near Drumgelloch on the Airdrie to Bathgate east–west line. That’s fine from Coatbridge but most patients in Lanarkshire live to the north or south. Few probably know that recently revised train services via Coatbridge Central can bring you from Cumbernauld or Hamilton. However, despite passing over the Airdrie line, it has no connection to it (and trains via Whifflet don’t go east). You have to make your own way for half a mile between Coatbridge Central and Coatbridge Sunnyside to continue your train journey. Clyde Metro has no plans for any interchange.

Rural areas, like the Clyde Valley, have very few stations. There’s been little movement on bringing back stations at Law or Symington (part of the Clydesdale STAG process).

Even if you live near a station, you won’t get a train to Hairmyres from anywhere in Lanarkshire – the line only goes through Glasgow and East Renfrewshire. 

Top ten towns

So, can Clyde Metro deliver step change in Lanarkshire (outside smaller places like Glenboig or Fernhill)? It has an opportunity to connect the 6th and 8th biggest places in Scotland: East Kilbride (around 75,000 population) and Hamilton (about 55,000). Despite appearances on some maps, there’s just over a mile between the outskirts of East Kilbride and Hamilton/High Blantyre. That’s similar to the distance between Paisley and Barrhead.

Any connection would help trips for commuting, health or leisure between EK and Hamilton. That could ease congestion on the EK Expressway and pressure on car parking (including at Hairmyres). A connection to any station on the Hamilton Circle line would link to trains to Larkhall, Motherwell and Cumbernauld. If any new line reached the interchange at Hamilton Central/Hamilton bus station that would have even more direct knock-on benefits – links to national coach services and rural buses. Hamilton also has nearby access to Strathclyde Country Park and destinations like Hamilton Park racecourse.

Re-using rail routes

It looks like Clyde Metro is going for some ‘low hanging fruit’ such as old rail routes in Renfrewshire. That makes sense – there are plenty in Lanarkshire too, like the former Blantyre–East Kilbride branch near the EK Expressway. It may not be possible to re-use things like the Greenhall viaduct pillars but there are other options (north or south of EK Expressway). Part of the Hamilton–Strathaven branch went through what’s now Hamilton International Technology Park to the bridge across the Red Burn (now Westerpark Ave). 

The big prize there could be a link to the University of the West of Scotland and companies at the Technology Park (like Scottish Power, HSBC and Babcock Rail). Also, South Lanarkshire Crematorium and Crossbasket Castle aren’t far away – all could be “trip attractors” but none are on the Clyde Metro maps. 

Other potential rail routes include more of the Hamilton–Strathaven branch around Earnock – known locally as the ‘Black Path’. There’s also the North British Railway line – partly converted to the A724 but still visible on the path between Pollock Ave and Wellhall Rd (to the former Peacock Cross Station). There were also plenty of lines to coal mines around Hamilton and streets which carried trams pre-war.

Another option could be a replacement for the narrow stone bridge (known locally as ‘The Wee Bridge’) on Newhousemill Rd at Calderglen Country Park. It has vehicle strikes so often it has its own Wee Bridge Facebook page so you can check if it’s open! A new bridge to the north could carry road/light rail towards the crematorium. Then the Wee Bridge could be converted for active travel (walking/cycling/wheeling) to prevent further damage.

How dense?

A question about the EK–Hamilton issue during the webinar led to a vague answer about “density”. There doesn’t seem to be much in that with Barrhead and Paisley’s population density both around 3,000, EK’s slightly lower (2,800) and Hamilton’s higher (3,300). The Barrhead–Paisley route may go near a smaller hospital (Dykebar) and/or Hurlet Crematorium but these aren’t on the options maps (neither is Udston Hospital in Hamilton, east of UWS).

Rolling on

Critics may look at existing train lines and wonder ‘why bother’ with new ones. However, as well as access to jobs and greener travel, there could be some less obvious benefits. If any new trams are like those in Edinburgh, having level boarding for wheelchair users to roll on and off could make a big difference to some disabled people. 

Any new light rail lines could copy the model of the Airdrie–Bathgate line and have an active travel path alongside. This is badly needed between EK and Hamilton where there’s no safe link on Newcraighall Rd or Stoneymeadow Rd.

Walking the walk

It remains to be seen how far Clyde Metro gets. The ‘South Clyde Growth Corridor’ (airport) route is most likely to happen. Other routes within the city might follow but will take a lot of money and a long time to deliver. Will Clyde Metro change course to look at linking Hamilton and EK?
And, in reality, will anything reach Lanarkshire at all?