Simply by attending the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, delegates will experience one of rail’s unique environmental benefits – the ability to move large numbers of passengers into major cities quickly and efficiently with the minimum carbon footprint.As a city, Glasgow simply doesn’t have the hotel rooms to accommodate the large number of delegates, others attending, plus representatives from the world’s media – expected to total around 30,000.
As a result, delegates will be travelling into Glasgow from Edinburgh, Motherwell and other towns and cities in the Scottish central belt. Traffic volume and security will rule out driving to the conference, but fortunately central Scotland is particularly well served by rail.
Reflecting this, Network Rail’s primary aim, according to Group Safety & Engineering Director Martin Frobisher, will be to provide this tide of daily commuters with ‘really rock solid, reliable public transport during the conference’. Scotrail and Transport Scotland have been preparing for this test, taking as their model the successful provision of public transport for the London 2012 Olympics.
Also joining the Scotrail transport team at COP26 w…