Edinburgh tram to be truncated to Haymarket in absence of £231M

[pemma]

The chief executive of Edinburgh's Chambers of Commerce has described the decision to cut short the controversial city tram route as "bonkers."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-14678578

While..

Edinburgh City Council hoped to borrow £231m to pay for the capital's controversial tram project.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-14594872

 

[T163R]

That's so stupid. Not even to Waverley ?

 

[Greenback]

The whole project has been a complete shambles.

 

[CompactDstrxion]

That's so stupid. Not even to Waverley ?

St Andrews Square, the terminus, is very close to Waverley.

 

[snail]

St Andrews Square, the terminus, is very close to Waverley.

Read the report. It's only going as far as Haymarket. Truly bonkers.

 

[pemma]

St Andrews Square, the terminus, is very close to Waverley.

There's no money to build the line to St Andrews Square though. See the BBC News articles in the OP. The line will be Haymarket station to Edinburgh Airport only.

 

[CompactDstrxion]

Failure to read the link but OP should have said. Can't believe this decision! It's going to be a complete farce of a service, and after they took a year laying lines on Princes Street too. The council is a disgrace.

 

[Greenback]

There's no money to build the line to St Andrews Square though. See the BBC News articles in the OP. The line will be Haymarket station to Edinburgh Airport only.

If it's not going into the centre it's pointless. It will require subsidy because it won't be used so much. It won't be used so much because it won't be going where most of the people want to go.

Edinburgh have made a right mess of this and it will mean no more light rail or tram schemes for decades.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Failure to read the link but OP should have said. Can't believe this decision! It's going to be a complete farce of a service, and after they took a year laying lines on Princes Street too. The council is a disgrace.

Exactly.

 

[pemma]

OP should have said.

I've added Haymarket in to the title. It did originally say truncated though.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Edinburgh have made a right mess of this and it will mean no more light rail or tram schemes for decades.

Is there any tram system in the UK that has been built in the last 20 years where all the lines have been newly constructed opposed to converting some existing or disused railway lines and adding on extensions?

 

[T163R]

Well if they didn't have enough money for a tram, why didn't they spend some on improving the actual bus network instead ? Stupid...really stupid.

 

[DarloRich]

The whole project is now pointless - they may as well have dug a pit, filled it with money and burnt it - madness!

 

[Aictos]

Gordon Mackenzie, Edinburgh City Council's transport convener, said Princes Street would still have to be closed to have the tram lines redone on health and safety grounds despite the trams not travelling that far.

What exactly does he mean? Does it mean resurfacing Princes Street or what?

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I've added Haymarket in to the title. It did originally say truncated though.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Is there any tram system in the UK that has been built in the last 20 years where all the lines have been newly constructed opposed to converting some existing or disused railway lines and adding on extensions?

Nottingham?

I agree, truly idiotic.

 

[T163R]

The whole project is now pointless - they may as well have dug a pit, filled it with money and burnt it - madness!

Yep, Airlink is sufficient now.

 

[Statto]

The whole project has been a complete shambles.

& a costly shambles at that.
Utterly bonkers, you dig up a major Street to put in Tram lines, now it's going to be dug up again & the Tram lines replaced, because of the cost of going[about 1 mile] to the City Centre.

Imo, public Transport at it's worst

 

[Greenback]

I've added Haymarket in to the title. It did originally say truncated though.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Is there any tram system in the UK that has been built in the last 20 years where all the lines have been newly constructed opposed to converting some existing or disused railway lines and adding on extensions?

I don;t know, what I do know is that anyone proposing any new scheme will be shouted down with 'Look at Edinburgh'!

The whole project is now pointless - they may as well have dug a pit, filled it with money and burnt it - madness!

I agree! It's a bit like the Piccadilly Line from Heathrow stopping at Gloucester Road.

Nottingham?

I agree, truly idiotic.

Was Nottingham built from scratch? What about Sheffield?

 

[pemma]

How much would a monorail system between Edinburgh Waverly and Edinburgh Airport have costed in comparison?

 

[T163R]

How much would a monorail system between Edinburgh Waverly and Edinburgh Airport have costed in comparison?

Lots more I think.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

What about a heavy rail station or link?

 

[pemma]

Was Nottingham built from scratch? What about Sheffield?

I'm thought both Sheffield and Croydon uses some train lines. I don't know if they were in the original network or added on later though.

 

[Bill EWS]

I think most of us knew that this project was going to end up being drastically pruned back. It got off badly from the start and just seems to have got worse. This is an obvious loss cutting exercise and while all the criticism is deserved the remaining service will capture a great deal of airport passengers. Locals having to take a bus to Waverley will probably find it just as convenient to go directly to Haymarket, so over time it may not be such a disaster. However, that the center of the City is bing omitted, as well as the longer project to Dock front it still represents a really poor planned and carried out project and a fantastic loss of time and money.

I'm all for the trams and greatly disappointed in this outcome as I had hoped it's success would have led to other Scottish Cities rebuilding tram networks. Trams really are the future. It's sad that this poor example has threatened the progress that could have been made over the next 20 years ot so. But there again! Perhaps serious lessons have been learned that will allow other projects to go ahead without this terrible experience.

 

[exile]

What about a heavy rail station or link?

That would have been much cheaper (re-open Turnhouse station - maybe 30 million?)

 

[pemma]

Locals having to take a bus to Waverley will probably find it just as convenient to go directly to Haymarket, so over time it may not be such a disaster.

Haymarket will probably end up being like Liverpool South Parkway but with tram links instead of bus links.

 

[90019]

As I posted in the other thread yesterday;

So, if the trams are ever finished, you'll have a choice when coming into the City Centre from the Airport;

• Take the Airlink express bus from the Airport direct to Waverley Bridge, right in the City Centre, or
• Take the tram to Haymarket, then change onto a bus to get into the City Centre.

:roll:

 

[Greenback]

From the perspective of tourists and visitors arriving at the airport, if there is a choice between a tram to Haymarket followed by a change to get to the city centre, or a double decker coach that will take them down Princes Street, I'd imagine quite a lot will prefer the latter.

 

[T163R]

From the perspective of tourists and visitors arriving at the airport, if there is a choice between a tram to Haymarket followed by a change to get to the city centre, or a double decker coach that will take them down Princes Street, I'd imagine quite a lot will prefer the latter.

Double Decker Coach that's much comfortable than the tram.

 

[90019]

They're not quite coaches, but they are the highest spec buses in Lothian's fleet.

 

[T163R]

They're not quite coaches, but they are the highest spec buses in Lothian's fleet.

Like the Scanias we can now find on line 35. Without tables.

 

[ChrisCooper]

Out of the new systems, Sheffield is the one most on new alignments, it's only the Meadowhall line that is mostly on former heavy rail alighnment (most still in place but singled). Nottingham is mostly sharing the alighnment of the Robin Hood line, other than the final part into the city. Croyden, West Midlands and Manchester use large amounts of old railway, with Manchester re-using old track, stations and on the Altrincham line, OHLE. Edinburgh does have large amounts of new off street track, wheras the other systems are mostly using heavy rail alighnments for off street running. That should be cheaper and easier than street running though.

 

[matchmaker]

The whole project has been a complete shambles.

Vitually anything transport-related in Edinburgh seems to turn out a shambles. Apart from the possible exception of rail!