IT will come as no surprise today if the Government finally sounds the death knell to the ambitious plan to create direct rail links to Edinburgh Airport.
The scrapping of the £650 million EARL project has been on the cards ever since the new SNP Government reluctantly gave the go-ahead for the city's tram system. Since it, too, will serve the airport, there was a slim chance of both going ahead at a c
ombined cost of around £1.2 billion.
The recent cautionary note issued by Audit Scotland that the rail project may not have been properly costed proved the final nail in the coffin.
Despite Labour and the Liberal Democrats both still being in favour of the scheme, few others will mourn the decision not to go ahead with direct links from the city centre and central Scotland. While from a passenger point of view it is ideal to have a station within the airport, operator BAA will not lose much sleep over the axing of the project.
It has stated all along that the rail project was desirable rather than necessary, and did not see it as key to the future development of the terminal.
BAA is instead pushing for a direct road link from the M8 to facilitate its expansion plans, and despite the previous administration's apparent indifference to the suggestion last year, the operator has commissioned its own feasibility study into the project.
Nor is any decision to pull the plug on the scheme likely to have a detrimental effect on Edinburgh.
Travellers beginning their journeys in the Capital still have three choices - arrive by car, taxi, or airport bus with trams providing a fourth alternative when they come into service in 2010.
Those who will be put out most are people living in parts of the country with no major airport in close proximity.
To placate them, ministers are expected to announce the creation of at least one new station where passengers from the Dunblane and the Fife lines can alight near Gogar and continue their journeys to the terminal by tram.
Such a move would make sense in that it not only broadens access to the airport but makes trams a more fully integrated part of the public transport network.
But there is still a question mark over how best to serve rail passengers travelling to the airport from the west. Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson is expected to outline the SNP's approach to this later today.
If he should opt for stopping trains on the main Glasgow to Edinburgh line at Edinburgh Park and providing links to the airport terminal, there is a danger that this could have a serious impact on mainline service travel times.
To avoid this, it has been suggested eastbound trains are diverted on to the Fife line to a new station near the airport. But this could have a similar effect on some services.
Perhaps neither should be a priority. The west is already served by an international airport and will soon have a direct rail link of its own. Tram Line 3 or the South Sub would be of more use.
The full article contains 533 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
