WORK to build a £130million viaduct over the M8 at Paisley for the Glasgow Airport rail link will begin in 2010, it was confirmed today.

WORK to build a £130million viaduct over the M8 at Paisley for the Glasgow Airport rail link will begin in 2010, it was confirmed today.

Seven companies will compete for the right to construct the St James Spur, one of four new bridges earmarked for the new route.

The viaduct, which will span the St James Playing Fields in Paisley before crossing the motorway, is the biggest piece of infrastructure for the long-awaited £210million link.

Around one mile of extra track will be laid to allow the link to merge into the main Glasgow-to-Paisley line.

The link will be similar to those at Manchester, Heathrow and Stansted, in that journeys terminate right at the airport.

A new airport station will be built south of the multi-storey car park and will feature a moving walkway connection to the air hub.

Both the new station's platforms will be built 30ft from ground level and will be located close to the airport's Terminal 1.

Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson today announced that BMV, a joint venture between Balfour Beatty, Morgan and Vinci, have bid for the lucrative viaduct contract, along with Carillion, Morrison Construction and Roadbridge/Sisk.

During peak times four trains will run every hour between the city and the airport. Each journey will take 16 minutes with just one stop, at Paisley Gilmour Street.

The rail link is set to be operational in early 2013, well in advance of the Commonwealth Games the next year.

Backers predict that setting up the new route will create around 650 jobs in Glasgow and Renfrewshire over the next 10 years, and 700 jobs in Paisley town centre by 2015.

Mr Stevenson said: "I am particularly pleased that seven major construction companies, either individually or in a consortium, are lining up to bid for this flagship public transport project in the West of Scotland.

"We are committed to delivering the project as efficiently as possible and have listened to the construction industry in order to take the necessary steps to protect the public purse."

Platforms at Central station are to be renumbered over the New Year as part of the project.

All high-level services at Central will be suspended from Boxing Day until December 30, during which time platform 11a will become platform 12, 12 will become 14, and 13 will become 15.

A new platform 13 will be built to accommodate the airport link.