As a student at the university, I don't think I've ever known Leith Walk *without* the closures. I suppose from my perspective when it finally reopens it'll seem like a jump in both tram and bus provision!
Between the trams (both times) and construction of the golden jobbie, there's barely been a full year in the last 15 when Leith walk has been fully open. It will be a momentous day for all of us
www.edinburgh.gov.uk
I presume from this comment that there is still widespread vehement opposition to the Edinburgh tram scheme. Could locals confirm.
I live in Leith for part of the time. The preparation work has been an endless nightmare which everyone is sick of, but most of the people locally I know feel that when it finally opens it will be a real asset. (Some of them were against extending down to Leith & Newhaven because of the uncontrolled costs but have changed their views over the years).
They're pretty popular with almost everybody I know. I'm not especially keen on them from a personal point of view, but I wouldn't call them a white elephant
Exactly this. See Birmingham for a reason why it isn't a good idea to just build 1 line and hold off any expansion for future years to come.
I agree that cancelling it now is the wrong thing to do, but much, much more could/should have been done to minimize disruption. For example Leith Walk could have been made bus-only, instead of the buses constantly having to divert up Easter Road because of the congestion.
If you follow the regular updates on Trams to Newhaven you will see that the project is very much entering the home straight. These long-term diversions won't last that long.
For a good reason too, they're unnecessarily narrow and wonky which could well be unsafe and cause conflicts. The construction is annoying to deal with but from what I've heard most people are just looking forward to when they'll finally get trams on Leith Walk.
Indeed, but it's only taken Birmingham 20 or so years to finally start to play catchup though. That said, we are of course seeing the construction of the first branch off of the former GWR route and the so called "Line 1" (Dudley / Brierley Hill). At least the extension within Birmingham City Centre taking the line down to Grannd Central made the line a little more useful and easier to use - when it runs!Birmingham is playing catch up, as there are now four extensions under construction
Now all they need is some trams that don't fall to bits as soon as they start moving.
- Along Broad Street to Edgbaston Village (NB nowhere near the cricket ground)
- To Wolverhampton Station
- To Dudley and Merry Hill
- To Digbeth
No service across the entire network since March 19th.
Is this (https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/history/vintage-edinburgh-tram-map-shows-23641470) the sort of thing you're looking for?
Yes, and I have seen that but the resolution is so bad I can't read it.
A map and list of Edinburgh tram routes in 1950 is available at http://www.tundria.com/trams/GBR/Edinburgh-1950.shtml Edinburgh Corporation was still building tramcars up to 1950, at which date decisions had not yet been taken to close completely any of the 4 big city tram networks in Scotland.
I'm not sure this is true. While there was a lot of resistance to the trams initially, I'd say the prevailing attitude now is "well, if we're going to have trams, let's at least do it properly and build a proper network". The SNP included extension plans in their council manifesto and performed well, as did Labour and the Greens, both of whom also indicated support for extensions in their manifestos.
That's probably a fair characterisation, but the next extension (Granton to the Royal Infirmary) will play a big role in addressing that if it goes ahead, which I think (and hope) it will. A lot of work has already been done behind the scenes in preparation for this, and the business case is already being worked on. The line will serve several deprived areas (or provide scope to serve them in future) and this is one of the reasons it scored very highly and is being prioritised.
