2023 should see the Edinburgh Trams network finally reach Newhaven as the second Trams to Newhaven project comes to an end with trams due to start running in service in the spring. Before we reach that milestone there remains some construction work to be completed ahead of commissioning and testing. In this latest construction update we go to the fifth floor of John Lewis to see what’s been going on around Picardy Place.
Picardy Place is the first new stop on the line and in effect replaces the former terminus at York Place which had to be removed to allow double track to be installed linking the old and the new sections of line. As with the majority of stops it will include an island platform.
This view looks down on Picardy Place and we see the island platform in the centre of the image (with shelter in place) on the north side of the reshaped traffic island. Trams for Princes Street and thence the Airport will use the nearside platform and run left in this view with those to Leith and Newhaven using the far platform edge and head right. Beyond the tramstop are buildings in Picardy Place including Holiday Inn Express on the right while the centre building is being converted to another hotel. On the bottom left is St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral and halls. The background of the shot shows Leith including the large white Estonian cruiseferry “Victoria 1” in Imperial Dock which has been chartered to house Ukrainian refugees. The locations of two further tramstops can also be seen: Foot of the Walk is adjacent to the single block of flats on the far right and Ocean Terminal is between the two blocks of flats on the left. (Photograph by Roy Calderwood, 29th December 2022)