{"id":7422,"date":"2014-05-02T11:21:52","date_gmt":"2014-05-02T11:21:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=7422"},"modified":"2014-05-02T11:48:09","modified_gmt":"2014-05-02T11:48:09","slug":"edinburgh-trams-to-launch-31st-may","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=7422","title":{"rendered":"Edinburgh Trams to launch Saturday 31st May 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a week of significant news stories the lot may well just have been trumped by the confirmation from Edinburgh that the first passenger journeys on their new tram system will be on Saturday 31st<\/sup> May 2014. The first departures will be at 0500 and will be the culmination of all the hard work, disruption and controversy since construction begun in 2007.<\/p>\n

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There can be no denying that so far the project has had more downs than ups but with the reaction seen on the streets of Edinburgh since testing started hopefully the corner has been turned and Scotland will be able to enjoy a successful tramway again for the first time in over 50 years.<\/p>\n

Making the announcement, Cllr Lesley Hinds, Transport Convener on the City of Edinburgh Council, said: \u201cWe are very pleased to be able to confirm today that passenger services on Edinburgh Trams will begin running from 5am on Saturday 31 May 2014 – we’re ready to roll. The trams have already become a familiar sight in Edinburgh’s city centre as the\u00a0comprehensive testing and training programme has progressed. This period has been invaluable for tram drivers and their fellow road users, including pedestrians and cyclists, as everyone gets used to interacting with the trams. I’ve been contacted by a great many residents eager to know when they’ll be able to start using the trams and I’m sure that now that the official start date is known, we’ll see that\u00a0anticipation build further. Over the coming weeks in the run-up to 31 May, Edinburgh Trams will be releasing full timetable and ticket details, as well as holding\u00a0helpful ‘roadshow’ events at\u00a0tram stops to help residents and visitors become accustomed to using the trams, for example how to validate their ticket. In the meantime,\u00a0Edinburgh Trams will\u00a0ensure all staff\u00a0complete any outstanding\u00a0training requirements.”<\/p>\n

Edinburgh Trams are now entering the final stages of the rigorous testing, commissioning and driver training programme in the build-up to opening and to make sure that everything is working smoothly when the first fare paying passengers are carried on the last day of May. At the moment full details of ticketing and timetabling has not been released but what is known that is that anyone wishing to travel through to Edinburgh Airport should be prepared to pay a premium fare with cheaper fares available between all other stops on the line.<\/p>\n

It probably doesn\u2019t need saying again but the originally envisaged tram network for Edinburgh has been much reduced over the years following budget overruns partly caused by the need for far more utility diversions that were expected which led to serious concerns that the project may be abandoned altogether. But fortunately that didn\u2019t happen although what we are left with (for now?) is a 14km route between Edinburgh Airport and York Place in Edinburgh City Centre. There will be 15 stops open to the public at Edinburgh Airport, Ingliston Park and Ride, Gogarburn, Gyle Centre, Edinburgh Park Central, Edinburgh Park Station, Bankhead, Saughton, Balgreen, Murrayfield Stadium, Haymarket, West End \u2013 Princes Street, Princes Street, St Andrew Square (for Waverley) and York Place.<\/p>\n

A fleet of 27 trams was ordered for the original expanded network and although the shorter line will not need all of these vehicles they have all been constructed by CAF in Spain and delivered to Edinburgh. They will all be used in service (although obviously not all at the same time) and 275 is currently being tested carrying a special livery (yet another livery these vehicles have carried in their short lives!) advertising the start date for the trams with the hashtag #readytoroll being used. The trams have capacity for 250 people including 80 on plush leather seats.<\/p>\n

It may have seemed over the years that the project was doomed but finally on Saturday 31st<\/sup> May we will be able to say Edinburgh Trams is open!<\/p>\n

* Unfortunately British Trams Online<\/em> is already booked elsewhere on Saturday 31st<\/sup> May (we were actually hoping for an early May opening!) so if anyone is present we would gladly receive any photos to provide extensive coverage (if we receive enough we would love to feature a full Photo Gallery on the opening). In the meantime we do have some Edinburgh Trams at test photos waiting in the wings and a gallery will be added of these soon.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a week of significant news stories the lot may well just have been trumped by the confirmation from Edinburgh that the first passenger journeys on their new tram system will be on Saturday 31st May 2014. The first departures … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7422"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7422"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7424,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7422\/revisions\/7424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}