Tram leaders must stay on track

Published on Monday 15 December 2008 21:22

IT IS a safe bet, from experience elsewhere, that the reintroduction of trams to Edinburgh will be a major success.

The city would be acting against the grain if there was no clamour for more lines once the 512 million airport-Newhaven route starts operating in 2011.

The trams might even prove to be a victim of their own success, if their popularity causes overcrowding and complaints about insufficient carriages.

However, any attempt just now to convince weary commuters, jaundiced by an enduring rash of roadworks, is likely to be met with scepticism, if not disbelief.

Travellers who regularly negotiate their way across the city and who are now all too familiar with cones, holes and traffic queues, will shudder at the thought that the disruption is due to last for at least another two years.

Traders in Leith Walk were among the first to complain when work began to move underground pipes and cables away from the tram route. The first major city centre test for the tram developer, TIE, was the closure of Shandwick Place in March. Taxi drivers predicted gridlock – but it didn't happen.

Subsequent roadworks at Haymarket also caused less chaos than feared, although residents of some New Town streets were up in arms at extra traffic rumbling past their homes.

TIE then perhaps became complacent and launched its next phase of work at the Mound in midweek, rather than at a weekend as it had done previously. The result was traffic at a standstill, angry motorists and everyone involved trying to blame each other.

This was followed by the resignations of the heads of Transport Edinburgh – designed to co- ordinate buses and trams – and of TIE itself.

After such turmoil, the new year might mark a watershed for the project.

The Scotsman has learned that TIE believes the laying of the first tracks will start to convince long-suffering residents that progress is being made. It is also hoped that a full-size tram model, in its proposed Edinburgh livery, will enable people to finally visualise what's in store.

However, the evenly split opinion on the merits of trams shown in last month's Scotsman poll could yet slide away disastrously from TIE, unless it redoubles its efforts to minimise disruption.