More delays feared after tram 'judge' backs foreign contractors

Published on Tuesday 31 August 2010 15:14

A NEW tram row blew up yesterday after developers of the scheme in the Scottish capital lost another round of their long-running legal battle with contractors.

An independent adjudicator has ruled against city council-owned TIE, the former Transport Initiatives Edinburgh, over 100,000 of disputed work near Haymarket. Sources close to TIE were reported to have claimed the decision meant the tram line builders could "hold the city to ransom" by downing tools every time a dispute arose over the cost of work.

However, sources close to the construction consortium, which comprises German firms Bilfinger Berger and Siemens and Spanish tram builders CAF, angrily hit back, describing such an interpretation as "very, very unfair". TIE sources said the adjudicator's decision was a test case which meant that if the consortium revised the cost of a job, TIE could not order it back to work until a new estimate was agreed.

However, a source close to the consortium told The Scotsman: "They are using very emotive language - we thought we were beyond that stage.

"You cannot blame the contractor for being cautious. All the consortium is trying to do is be very clear about what it is doing before starting any work.

"The adjudicator said there should be estimates before any extra work starts.

"The consortium is very nervous about starting any new work now. It was previously told just to go ahead, but that ended up in arguments over how much it cost. Doubt needs to be taken out of the whole equation.

"We would say to TIE, don't ask us to second guess things because that's what has got you into the problems you are in."

The latest adjudication is believed to be at least the seventh to be issued in the dispute, which ignited 18 months ago over the cost of laying tram lines in Princes Street.

However, both sides have disagreed over the results of the adjudications.The consortium has claimed to have won the majority but TIE chief executive Richard Jeffrey claimed in March that that was "disingenuous and misrepresents reality".

The two sides yesterday also disagreed over the current progress of work on the 545 million tram line between Edinburgh airport and Newhaven.

Work on streets has been halted because of the dispute, with only Princes Street having tram rails laid so far following a special agreement for that work to progress.

The former mile-long guided busway beside the main Edinburgh-Glasgow railway line in Stenhouse is the only main section of off-road track to be completed.

TIE yesterday issued a list of sites where construction was continuing, including at the tram depot at Gogar, on a viaduct at Haymarket, bridge work at Carrick Knowe and various earthworks, tunnelling and drainage.

However, a source close to the consortium said: "Things are at a low ebb, with just pockets of work being done. If the project was an engine, it would be idling. This is because there is no clear instruction being given on off-road works".

A spokesman from Edinburgh Trams said: "The adjudication process and its outcomes are a confidential part of the infrastructure contract and as such Edinburgh Trams does not intend to comment."