A commission led by transport specialist Professor David Begg also recommends that Central and Queen Street rail stations be linked by a tunnel, providing 20 trains an hour across the city.

Creating a new regional transport authority to co-ordinate local investment and land planning and developing plans for bus priority on motorways around the city are other key points of a blueprint launched on Monday.

Linking Glasgow Airport to the rail network could be achieved by 2025, the Glasgow Connectivity Commission says. But an earlier proposal to build ‘pod’ style people carriers to serve the airport has been rejected.

Instead, it recommends a link between the airport and Paisley Gilmour Street station as the first leg of a metro system that would then extend to connect with an advanced manufacturing district in Renfrew, Braehead shopping centre, Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and the city centre.

Abandoned rail routes across the city should then be used to extend the network over the coming two decades, the report adds. It is estimated that interventions will cost in the region of £500m a year, but could generate £4.6Bn a year for the Scottish economy.

“The proposals we have recommended here will deliver a step change in Glasgow’s economic performance and drive Scotland’s ambitions to deliver stronger, sustainable, inclusive growth,” Professor Begg said.

“They 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.”

The report was welcomed by the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure & Connectivity Michael Matheson. “The Commission’s report is timely as Transport Scotland takes forward a nationwide assessment of transport requirements with work on an updated National Transport Strategy and the second Strategic Transport Projects Review under way. We will consider these recommendations as part of our appraisal.”

Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken added: “These proposals are worthy of detailed consideration. This is the kind of thinking which Glasgow has needed and it’s clear that the Connectivity Commission has benefited from a very high calibre of evidence and expertise.”