PLANS for a Rail Link to Glasgow Airport remain on hold as councillors spend half a million pounds to address concerns with the project.

A report for Transport Scotland last year raised issues with the capacity of the rail network in the west of Scotland to deal with extra trains going from Glasgow Central Station to Paisley Gilmour Street before branching off to a new line and station at the airport.

Last year cash was held back from developing the rail link plans any further until concerns raised have been dealt with.

So far a total of £2million has been spent on the project.

The latest development is the first time any more money will be approved on the programme

For the last three months the Glasgow City Deal Cabinet officials have been meeting with Transport Scotland and the firm who produced the report to discuss how the concerns would be dealt with.

The flagship City Deal project has a budget of £144m and a Final business case was due in 2021.

A report to the City Deal committee this week states: “Capacity on the existing rail network for a rail- based solution (e.g. tram train) for improving surface access to the airport has consistently been highlighted as a key risk to the project.”

The work to be done will include evaluating passenger demand for a service and predictions for how many will use a train to get to the airport instead of car or bus.

It will review the economic benefits of a rail link and the impact on rail operations and any mitigations.

It has been noted that the plans for an Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District in the area close to the airport and the new National Manufacturing Institute for Scotland will be in the vicinity, creating thousands of new jobs.

The report states: “The opportunity to provide a sustainable transport link to this area is views as a key opportunity.

This will be fully explored to ensure these opportunities are taken into account and included in the work to revisit the Business Case for the project.”

The work will cost £500,000.

The aim of the work is to address the issues in the Transport Scotland report and allow Glasgow and Renfrewshire councils to move forward with the project. should it require any additional cash it will have to come from the two council’s budgets.