Plans for a high-speed rail link between Glasgow and Edinburgh were put before Scottish ministers in 2009, according to newly-released papers. But the proposal for a 500 kilometre per hour monorail was summarily rejected.
A confidential study was led by Transport Scotland into the plans, which would have cut journey times to just 18 minutes between the two cities. The train would have been powered by so-called MagLev technology, which would suspend the carriages in the air using electromagnets.
The paper was presented to former First Minister Alex Salmond’s cabinet by John Swinney, who was serving as finance secretary. After initially being delayed by a week, the cabinet – still dealing with the after-effects of the 2008 financial crash – did not progress the plans.
The cost caused concern among the small number of officials who were aware of the proposals.
“Finance directorate have been made aware of this proposition (on a very limited circulation),” the report said. “While they are not in a position to verify the exact level of cost that would fall on the Scottish Government’s revenue budget, they point out that a commitment of this magnitude could only be met through substantial cuts in established programmes.
“They confirm the view… that there is no prospect of absorbing the costs of this project within the transport budget.”
The papers were released 15 years on by National Records of Scotland. The initial pitch appears to have been made by a company called UK Ultraspeed, which was hoping for a deal with ministers on the project going ahead.
The company urged secrecy from the Government, with the report saying: “At this early stage, it was agreed with UK Ultraspeed that the details of the project would not be widely discussed.
When the plans were eventually put before cabinet in the spring of 2009, ministers agreed it was technologically feasible but voiced concerns about cost. “The cabinet agreed that there should be no public funding to develop this proposal further but that other options for taking this forward could be explored,” the report said.
No further mention of MagLev technology was made in the documents for 2009.
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