Capital trams could be leased to other cities

Published on Wednesday 16 February 2011 16:59

SOME of Edinburgh's trams could be temporarily leased to other cities to provide extra income for the cash-strapped project while part of the route remains on hold.

City council-owned tram project developers Tie said it was "prudent to look at every option" as the Edinburgh airport-Newhaven line may initially run only as far east as the city centre.

It is understood only about half the 27 Spanish-built trams would be required to serve that part of the route. So far, 22 have been completed and the rest are due to be finished by April.

However, Tie said yesterday its dispute with the tram line construction group would have to be settled before it could rent out vehicles, as they formed part of the contract.

That would effectively rule out Edinburgh bidding to provide the ten trams being sought by Transport for London for the London Tramlink network in Croydon and Wimbledon, as the deadline for initial bids is next Monday.

A Tie spokesman said: "Tender notices for tram vehicles are quite commonplace and at the moment we have made no decision on any potential leasing of Edinburgh's trams in the future, as it is much too early at this stage to do so.

"Our focus is entirely on the mediation process at present and the time to look at our options will be once a resolution has been reached." He declined to say how much it expected to make from leasing.