RAIL experts got together on one of the biggest decisions Scotland will make. Do we need a bullet train between our two biggest cities? 

 

TOGETHER they pack quite a punch. Glasgow and Edinburgh, rivals for centuries, make a truly great team. They are already being marketed to foreign tourists as Scotland's twin cities.

 

And many businesses are drawn to one so they can enjoy access to the other.

 

But just how close do the cities need to be? Alan James reckons: "Twelve minutes. What you've got then is a single city."

 

Dr James is the face of Ultraspeed, a consortium backing maglev, a system that could one day see trains whizz between London and Glasgow in 2hrs 40mins on a magnetic cushion.

 

The technology, already working in Shanghai, China, is being touted worldwide as an alternative to environmentally unsustainable cheap flights.

 

But could it replace the comfy diesels that, on a good day, take 50 minutes to chug from Queen Street to Waverley?

 

Yesterday Scotland's rail experts, economists, transport officials and, yes, anoraks, met to look at some of the options as part of a conference on the much mooted new "city collaboration".

 

They are not asking which technology Scotland should choose for inter-city links, they are asking whether Scotland needs high-speed links at all.

 

Mary McLaughlin of Scottish Enterprise, one of the experts most involved, said: "Traditionally in Scotland we come up with a transport proposal then look for the problem it could solve.

 

"This piece of work is to look and see what the problem is."

 

Ms McLaughlin is working on what all of Scotland could do with better transport links. A system such as Ultraspeed's could ultimately link Scotland to the north and south of England.

 

Both conventional and maglev backers have proposed tracks with Glasgow at the end of a UK north-south "spinal" route.

 

But some enthusiasts would like to see the Glasgow-Edinburgh link in place first.

 

One is Alistair Watson, chairman of Strathclyde Partnership Transport, the new SPT.

 

He tried maglev in China and liked it. And SPT is working on a feasibility study with their Edinburgh counterparts.

 

Today Mr Watson said: "If Britain is going to have a high-speed network there is no way it should be built in the south-east of England first.

 

"We were promised links through Eurostar and they never materialised. This time we have to make sure we take advantage.

 

"I think there is the possibility here to create a single city region."

 

Mr Watson said business leaders at yesterday's conference were enthusiastic about highspeed city links.

 

Moir Lochhead, boss of transport giant First, envisages a maglev buzzing on an elevated guideway above the M8 and it's not surprising business is interested.

 

Glasgow and Edinburgh put together would have more than a million people and an economy second only to London.

 

Dr James believes a maglev terminal could be sited close enough to Glasgow city centre to be served by a "travelator", the flat escalators seen in airports. Over in Edinburgh, the station would be as close to Haymarket as possible.

 

So how much would it cost for a stand-alone Central Belt line? The Evening Times understands the Ultraspeed option could cost more than GBP2billion.

 

A more traditional rail alternative would not come cheap either. Bullet trains like TGV couldn't run on existing track or travel into city-centre stations.

 

Some politicians would rather see the money spent elsewhere.

 

Charlie Gordon, the Cathcart MSP and former Glasgow council leader, has long taken an interest in maglev.

 

But he's worried a big-ticket infrastructure project might deflect much-needed funding from other worthy projects.

 

Mr Gordon said: "I'd like to ensure they have enough money to complete projects such as the Glasgow Airport rail link."

 

Around 19,000 people a day travel on First ScotRail's weekday services between Glasgow and Edinburgh. Clearly that number would leap if trains took only 15 minutes.

 

BUT it would also free up capacity at our airports, on existing roads and, most importantly, on our existing railways.

 

Bristow Muldoon is a former railway manager, now MSP for Livingston, who might have been expected to oppose a high-speed link that would bypass his constituency.

 

But he said: "I think people in Lanarkshire and West Lothian could benefit from more services on conventional capacity freed up by high-speed links."

 

But would a high-speed rail link blur the differences between the two cities? Fans doubt it.

 

Both cities were today praised in the latest edition of the Lonely Planet guide to Scotland.

 

The walk out of Edinburgh's Waverley Station was "probably the finest first impression of any city in the world", while a visit to Glasgow was "the highlight of any trip to Scotland".

 

It would take more than a short railway journey to turn Glasgow and Edinburgh into one urban mass.