Tram work disruption: 'Everything is pretty much on schedule'

Published on Friday 27 June 2008 09:07

WHEN the Leith Walk traders hit by the tram work might have thought things couldn't get any worse, along comes the latest development that will see the introduction of a one-way system – and the bad news for Easter Road residents is that the traffic going in the opposite direction is coming their way.

No-one living or working along the tram route was led to believe the construction programme was going to be easy, but the level of disruption is surpassing all expectations. The network company TIE cannot be blamed as it appears everything is going pretty much to schedule and it is simply doing what it has to do.

Unforeseen circumstances, such as the plunging pound and the soaring cost of materials, may yet push the final bill beyond even recent estimates, but the evidence so far is that the work is being as well-managed as possible.

Of course it remains of no comfort to those bearing the brunt of the disruption, but it remains the case that Edinburgh's public transport system needs to take a massive step forward if the city is to sustain the population growth projected for the next 20 years. By 2022 it is estimated that some 30,000 more people will be living in Edinburgh, and the immediate region will grow by 100,000 people. Given that most will work somewhere within the city boundaries, it is fanciful in the extreme to think that a transport system already at maximum capacity could cope with such an explosion.

The alternative was, of course, not to bother and let poor communication play its part in keeping a cap on expansion – there are those who do not believe it is good for Edinburgh to swell and for them the status quo was preferable.

Edinburgh has long punched above its weight for a city of its size, but it cannot stand still if its prosperity is to continue. In the digital age businesses are not tied to particular locations and it is the environment on offer which makes all the difference. And fast, clean and modern transport has a crucial role to play.

That is why it was encouraging that TIE chief executive Willie Gallagher finally aired his ambition to expand the tram line to incorporate a tram-train hybrid that could see the network running services round the South Sub and down the Waverley line, with an interchange at Haymarket. That is just the sort of imaginative thinking the city needs, but it also requires the same level of vision and energy from the politicians who in the past have found reasons not to do things rather than the opposite.

In recent days there have been signs of a new can-do attitude, with approval for the Caltongate scheme and the dramatic Haymarket hotel plan. Not everyone is happy but at least Edinburgh is not standing still.