Christmas Day shift for tram staff in bid to keep on track

Published on Thursday 18 December 2008 08:51

TRAM workers are to turn up for duty on Christmas Day as bosses look to keep the project moving over the festive period.

Workmen will carry out preparatory work on the rail line running through the council-run Carrick Knowe golf course ahead of plans to build a bridge in the area later in the new year.

The work is being done to minimise disruption to the rail network and tram bosses hope to have it completed by Boxing Day. The tram line, which will run from Newhaven to Edinburgh Airport when it is finished in 2011, is due to pass through Balgreen and Saughton, next to the golf course.

Elsewhere in the city, an embargo has been in place since December 1 to allow traders time off from the works in the run-up to Christmas. Business leaders today welcomed the decision to press on with the work over Christmas, despite the additional overtime cost.

Michael Dixon, spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses for Edinburgh, said: "Businesses in Edinburgh will welcome anything that makes sure the tram project is delivered as quickly as possible and with the minimum disruption."

A spokesman for tram firm TIE said: "They are going to be working on Christmas and Boxing Day from eight in the morning until eight at night.

"They are doing sheet piling work, which can only be carried out when the trains aren't running. They hope to have the work complete by Boxing Day, or they will have to go back on New Year's Day."

TIE said that letters had gone out to local businesses and residents earlier this month explaining that the work was to take place.

But Lothians SNP MSP Shirley-Anne Somerville said residents living in the area would be unhappy at having to put up with the work.

She said: "I understand they need to go ahead and do the work, but local people would have thought that the one day they could get some peace from the tram project would be Christmas Day during their Christmas dinner."

Councillors were today expected to rubber stamp the closure of Princes Street to traffic for eight months as work to prepare for the new tram line intensifies.

The track laying work will continue until the end of November – apart from a break for the festivals in August – with all buses and taxis diverted along George Street.

City leaders say they are confident the closure will not lead to chaos like that seen during the initial works on The Mound in October.