Trams face more delays – and cost may top £545m budget

Published on Tuesday 16 March 2010 23:41

FURTHER delays to Edinburgh's troubled tram scheme have been signalled after the city council admitted preliminary work will not be completed until November – nearly two years late.

Officials also said there was now a "strong probability" the final cost of the project would exceed the available 545 million funding.

They confirmed there were "fundamental differences" between council-owned tram developers TIE and the consortium building the line.

A series of update reports to be considered by councillors next Monday show work to divert underground pipes and cables so track laying could start would not be finished until September.

But they also say further cabling work by utility companies would continue until November.

The reports said this work "does not generally require any excavation work to be carried out and should be unlikely to present any significant obstacle to progress on street".

However, sources close to the consortium, which has refused to start laying tracks on streets until this work is finished, said their contract required "exclusive licence" – ie, no other work taking place at the same time.

Reports say the most significant differences between TIE and the consortium – led by German firm Bilfinger Berger – are over design-related issues, responsibility for delays, the "lack of a properly defined programme".

Spanish firm CAF is said to be making good progress on tram building, with 17 of the 27-strong fleet under construction: two are at a test track in Germany. Completion is due next January.

The order is 0.4 per cent over budget because of interior improvements, but officials warned costs may increase if track-laying delays holds up testing.

The first 250-person capacity tram will arrive in Edinburgh next month and be put on display in the city centre.