Last week the British-Irish Council Transport Work Sector convened in Glasgow where our Member Administrations explored initiatives being employed by Transport Scotland to enhance HGV linkages across these Islands.  Officials had the opportunity to engage on challenges to the flow of HGV vehicles and learn about Scottish Government initiatives in this policy area through a series of site visits.

The Work Sector heard a presentation from Heriot-Watt University academics about their work on freight movement modelling in Scotland. Transport is the biggest emitter of carbon emissions, with freight transport accounting for approximately one third of these, so engaging on ways of adapting HGV transport systems to low carbon technologies is vital for the future health of the planet.

The group then took part in three site visits across  Glasgow and Polmadie; the M8 Woodside Scheme, the CECA Academy at Paisley College Campus, and the First Bus Caledonia depot.

At the M8 Woodside scheme,  SW trunk roads are conducting essential, long-term repair works to address structural deterioration on a motorway section carrying up to 150,000 vehicles per day.

Next stop was to the CECA Scotland Academy which was established by the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) Scotland to address the skills gap in the civil engineering sector. Designed to provide practical, hands-on training, the academy helps develop the next generation of skilled operatives and professionals.

Finally, the Work Sector  toured the First Bus Caledonia depot, where they learned about business-to-business charging, sustainability and other efficiencies such as grey water recycling as well as a visit to the onsite skills and repair workshop.

Many thanks to our wonderful Scottish Government hosts for such an insightful and informative programme, as well as to site visit providers for engaging with the Work Sector.

Last week, over 100 officials from across the eight British-Irish Council’s Member Administrations joined a BIC Transport Work Sector webinar on Creating Modal Shift: Active Travel & Public Transport Initiatives.

Achieving modern and clean transport systems and infrastructure to support the decarbonisation and broader green transition goals is a primary focus of the BIC Transport Work Sector. 

This webinar brought together work sector officials as well as policy leads and stakeholders in this subject area across the BIC Administrations who are seeking to identify solutions to offering alternative forms of transport and active transport.

In this webinar, the Government of Ireland Department of Transport and the Llywodraeth Cymru / Welsh Government Transport for Wales outlined measures being undertaken in their respective administrations to reduce reliance on private car use and boost the uptake of public transport and active travel to address some of the environmental impacts of transport.

Many thanks to our Chair and the excellent presenters for your engagement.

The British-Irish Council Transport Ministerial meeting took place in Belfast on Friday 4 April 2025, hosted by the Northern Ireland Executive, and chaired by Minister for Infrastructure Liz Kimmins MLA. Ministers agreed a new Forward Work Plan for the Transport Work Sector for the period 2025-27.  This will primarily focus on the following themes:

• Modal shift/active travel/public transport
• Importance of HGV and linkages across these islands
• Decarbonisation of Ports
• Sustainable transport in rural areas

Ministers also outlined developments in transport in their administrations over the last year.  

Ministers agreed that the BIC Transport Work Sector has been a valuable forum for ongoing cooperation in sharing information and experiences of developing and implementing transport policy.

In April, the Transport Work Sector was hosted by Government of Ireland where officials were given the opportunity to attend the Transport Arena Research (TRA) Conference in the Royal Dublin Society (RDS), generously funded by the Government of Ireland Department for Transport.  The TRA Conference offered a great venue for researchers, policymakers and industry representatives to get together and contribute to the discussion on how research and innovation can reshape the transport and mobility system. The conference provided a unique opportunity to hear about mobility trends in different parts of Europe, learn from achievements in the industry as well as share best practices of policies and deployments.

The Officials were also given a tour of Irish Rails new National Train Control Centre, in Heuston Station.