Tie have announced the construction programme for the Trams for Edinburgh project – it will see trams back and running on the Scottish capital’s streets by 2011. The main highlights of the announcement see construction commence in June 2008 and running through to January 2011, the first trams will run in passenger service in July 2011 and the final contract price has been set as £508 million (an increase of 2% on the price forecast in the Final Business Case).
Rigorous negotiations have taken place with the preferred bidders for the infrastructure and maintenance contracts and these have now been agreed. They are expected to be signed next month after City of Edinburgh Council approves them.
Willie Gallagher, Executive Chairman of tie, said: “I’m delighted to be able to
announce the construction programme for Edinburgh Trams. We are at the
cusp of delivering what we have promised – a world class public transport system in our Capital. We have struck the correct balance between price, programme, quality of the finished product and certainty of cost in agreeing this programme. The utility diversion work continues to progress to programme and to budget. The start of the infrastructure work will see the nature of the construction change – with rails being installed and the trams stops built. I’m certain that the people of Edinburgh look forward to seeing the physical attributes of the tram develop before them. The scale of these construction contracts underlines Edinburgh Tram’s position as one of the most important infrastructure and transport projects in the UK and establishes our ability to appoint successful, international organisations to undertake the project. tie, together with these companies, will deliver for Edinburgh the 21st century tram system that our city deserves.”
It is planned that the initial infrastructure works will commence in June 2008 and the first track will be laid in the city centre in August 2008. This will then continue until January 2011 with a target date of the start of passenger operation being July 2011 (a delay of five months from the initial plan). It has also been agreed that construction will take place between 0700 and 1900 Monday to Saturday after a request from the business community of Edinburgh to try and minimise disruption.
Neil Renilson, Chief Executive of Transport Edinburgh Limited, commented: “We are entering a very exciting time in the tram construction and we are confident that we can deliver a fully integrated transport network for Edinburgh. During the ongoing construction period we will continue to plan diversions carefully in close collaboration with our colleagues in tie and the City of Edinburgh Council in order to ensure minimum disruption to bus journeys."
Cllr Phil Wheeler, Transport Convener on the Council, added: “As this next phase progresses, with rails being laid and tram stops being built, we will be able to see exactly where trams will run on our streets. It’s an exciting time and brings us yet another step closer to a fully-integrated public transport network befitting a capital city. I commend Willie and his team at tie for the work that’s gone in to planning
this stage, which will ensure the city remains open for business while tram
work takes place.”
Although exact details of where and when the construction work will take place have not yet been released by tie the Edinburgh Evening News are reporting that Princes Street – the main shopping street in the city – will be closed for seven months at the start of 2009. All traffic will be diverted away from Princes Street between January and the end of July/start of August 2009. It is reported that buses, bikes and taxis will instead be diverted onto George Street with statues currently situated on roundabouts being moved so the flow of traffic can be managed better. Pedestrians will not be affected.
The Evening News have also been reporting this week about the rise in the cost of the tram project. At the start of the week they were reporting that because of the fluctuating exchange rate between the pound and the Euro (which has reached record levels) the project’s cost would rise by £30 million. This has since been reduced to £10 million because tie have managed to control it.
Willie Gallagher commented about this rise: “We moved to start hedging the exposure to the euro as soon as we had the specification sorted out, but we were unable to do this until the specification was sorted out."
This extra £10 million will come from the contingency fund which has always been in place for eventualities like this. The only concern now is that line 1b (a Roseburn to Granton spur) many now have to be put onto the back burner as the contingency fund was expected to be used towards this. Line 1b is currently on the drawing board as full funding is not yet in place but it remains a short-term aspiration of tie.
A spokesman from tie commented: “The business case for Line 1b is robust and we remain committed to delivering this next component of Edinburgh's integrated public transport network." Options are being considered for funding this – as previously reported – including selling off council assets.
Source: Trams for Edinburgh & The Scotsman