A “RADICAL” plan for Glasgow’s public transport that would include a city-wide metro system and which could bring billions into the region’s economy has been proposed.

The vision from the Glasgow Connectivity Commission includes a metro system, preparation for HS2 high-speed rail services and the installation of a tunnel to connect Queen Street and Central stations.

The recommendations aim to reconnect left-behind areas to the city described as the “engine room” of Scotland’s economy, and to transform the economic performance of the region.

The commission was established by council leader Susan Aitken in 2017, and its first report, which was released last year, explored how the authority could transform the city centre and reverse bus use decline.

The new report, the commission’s second, examines elements out of the council’s control.

“The most glaringly obvious omission from Glasgow’s current transport system is the absence of the kind of comprehensive, modern rapid transit system serving inner urban destinations that just nearly all of Glasgow’s comparator cities have been busy building for the last 30-40 years,” the report stated.

The commission also found that areas of the city suffering high rates of socio-economic deprivation tend to have poor transport access to the city centre.

It said the first priority in fixing the public transport network should be the creation of a Glasgow Metro.

“The Glasgow Metro would be a network of high-capacity rapid transit lines serving as much of the city as possible so that the fixed transport system plays the fullest possible role in ensuring inclusive growth across the city’s communities, sustaining the international competitiveness of the key employment concentrations in and around the city centre,” the report said.

Officials recommended building a link between Glasgow Airport and Paisley Gilmour Street Station as the first leg of a Metro line that would then be extended to connect Renfrew, Braehead and Queen Elizabeth University Hospital to the city centre – a route described as the “south Clyde growth corridor”.

This first leg should be completed by 2025 the report noted.

The commission found that the separation of the city centre’s two main railway stations is one of the main barriers to connectivity throughout Glasgow.

It has recommended connecting Glasgow Central and Queen Street stations by a tunnel, providing 20 trains per hour across the city and transforming rail services across Scotland’s central belt.

“It would be possible to combine the Edinburgh and Ayrshire express services, giving the whole of the central belt a world-class regional express network, making Glasgow city centre unambiguously the most accessible place in Scotland,” the report said.

The experts further recommended redesigning Glasgow Central to accommodate HS2 trains.

Other key recommendations in the report included developing plans for bus priority on Glasgow’s motorway network and preparing for the shift to electric and autonomous vehicles by considering new methods of road charging.

The measures would cost around £500 million a year and could help close the productivity gap between Glasgow and the rest of the UK, generating £4.6 billion a year for the Scottish economy, the report suggested.

Professor David Begg, who chairs the commission, said the report’s recommendations were achievable and have positive business cases.

He said: “[The plans] are bold, ambitious and transformative but we are also confident that they are achievable and the right response to secure Glasgow’s long-term economic prosperity.”

Aitken said the plans deserved consideration, while Transport Secretary Michael Matheson added: “We will consider these recommendations as part of our appraisal, allowing us to balance the needs of communities around the country.”