When Edinburgh Trams finally opened at the end of May it was just a single line and a tint proportion of what had been hoped for. However could we see a larger network in the future? Edinburgh City Council have commissioned a detailed business case to see how feasible it is to extend the line to Leith as hopes are raised that the Scottish capital could one day end up with a tram system it deserves.
A recent report, “Future Investment in Public Transport – Potential Tram Extension”, has set out plans to extend the current system from the city centre terminus at York Place along Leith Walk – as per the original plans. The report suggests it would cost £80 million to construct the line and the hope is most of this would be funded privately by the developers of the St James Centre. A £1 billion project to redevelop the area is due to be launched in 2019 and it is thought that extending the tramway to serve this would be the icing on the cake.
A council source was quoted in the Edinburgh Evening News: “The St James Quarter represents a massive investment into the east of Edinburgh and the city can’t really afford to pass it up. The trams were always intended to regenerate Leith and there looks to be money on the table to do just that. It has to happen eventually so there’s a general sense it might as well go ahead to coincide with and benefit from the St James development.”
The business case will cost £400,000 to produce and will be presented to Councillors in the spring after which a decision will be made on whether to go ahead with the plans.
Hopefully the days of squabbling, chaos and budget over-runs are behind this system, but the council might have their work cut out convincing potential investors of that. Let’s hope it goes ahead before they start selling off ‘surplus’ trams.
To quote comments made by John McEnroe in the early 1980’s “You cannot be serious”. After the pain, grief and bankruptcies suffered by many traders in Shandwick Place, does Edinburgh Council REALLY want to inflict the same fate from Leith Walk to Ocean Terminal ? Expanding transport links usually attract developments. To extend the tram to Leith/Ocean Terminal will provide no benefits to residents and traders. It must be remembered that Airport to Ocean Terminal is already covered by Lothian Buses service 35; additionally Gyle Centre to Ocean Terminal is adequately served by Lothian Buses service 22. No need for further duplications !
The high-frequency of bus routes to Leith, I would have thought, rather indicates the good traffic potential for trams. Most of the infrastructure work to relocate utilities en-route to Leith was undertaken prior to curtailment back to York Place, so it seems like a no-brainer to me. The system is now carrying an impressive 90,000 passengers a week, on a sub-optimal network, so extension to Leith can only improve viability and connectivity. Interestingly, proposals to revive the Granton route and even that over North Bridge were made a few weeks ago, so I think sentiment is changing. It reminds me of the early days of Metrolink in Manchester where there were many and vociferous critics, but it is now regarded as a vital part of transport in the city.
Bear in mind Alasdair, one Edinburgh tram is the equivalent of what, 3 double decker buses? More capacity per trip worked in one movement, potentially faster and smoother, and cheaper in the long term, more frequent! Plus More jobs!
Yes the trams will improve transport in Leith and on the tramway alignment, and away from it as those buses freed from the route can be added to other routes, increasing frequencies and travel and access to employment.
Short term thinking causes long term disruption and higher costs which is partly what caused all the arguments in the first place. It is just typical nimbyism, that with an extension will eventually become not being able to live without the tram. Long term thinking will cause short term disruption but will lead to huge benefits and long term ones at that.
So there are already people who would prefer no gain rather than any pain – there always are folk like that, (even though, to be fair, Edinburgh has inflicted much more pain than gain on its hapless inhabitants.) However by preferring no gain (presumably forever!) rather than any pain you are really saying that you would still prefer to be living in caves and painted blue – it’s the same thought process!!
Just a small addendum to the above. Having ridden on the trams in Edinburgh my chief grumble would be the very sharp curves at several points on the outer section of the line, especially by the depot and just beyond at the next station. These very sharp curves waste a lot of time and strain the trams’ bogies considerably, to judge from the groans and juddering experienced as they traverse these curves. Surely bad design?
In relation to John Gilbert’s comments, manufacturers tend to brag that their trams will go round a 25m curve with no trouble so infrastructure engineers tend to take them at their word. A good rule of thumb is to double the manufacturer’s claimed minimum radius wherever there is room to do so.
James,
After the debacle of Shandwick Place during construction of the present truncated line from city centre to Airport which took over five years, can Leith traders endure the likelihood of similar “pain and grief” with massive disruption and lost trade ? No. I fear many more bankruptcies are on the horizon if this scheme goes ahead. One thing’s certain, Edinburgh Council will not pay any recompense.
Extending the trams, or rather, completing the line to Leith, will give the council the opportunity to replace the appalling road surface on Leith Walk with a smooth finish. But given the Scottish National Party’s (or is it Alex Salmond’s?) seeming irrational hatred of trams (e.g. the Aberdeen proposals) their luddite tendency may well prevent Edinburgh from having the urban transpost system a capital city deserves.
QUOTE “Extending the trams, or rather, completing the line to Leith, will give the council the opportunity to replace the appalling road surface on Leith Walk with a smooth finish.”
The irony is, they have just spent the last month doing exactly that, as well as extending out the pavements – all expensive work that will need to be reversed should the extension go ahead!
The problem isn’t that people in Edinburgh “prefer no gain,” it’s the fact that we have seen, time and again, a total lack of competence in CEC in delivering any “gain,” while at the same time creating untold “pain.” The motto, it seems, is that if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly.