Analysis: Only way for Edinburgh to move forward is to embrace the trams

THE waiting is still not over for Edinburgh to get its tramway.

Yes, it has been a fiasco, with the current estimated completion cost now £776 million, more than double the original estimate, for only a small part of what was intended to be a circular route embracing the city centre, Haymarket and Leith.

It has taken a ridiculous length of time for the city to get its trams but it is important for everyone to put the situation into proper perspective.

Yes, the costs have spiralled to more than double the original budget of £375m. Yes, at £90m per mile it is without doubt the most expensive tramway in the UK and one of the most expensive in the world. And yes, a full public inquiry needs to be held and to reward success and punish failure.

But, let’s face it, cost overruns in major public infrastructure projects are nothing new and far from unique to the Edinburgh tram project. The question is never, and has never, been over whether trams themselves are a mistake for the city. Instead it lies with the project’s planning, contractual and procurement strategies and implementation.

Edinburgh’s other problems are also not unique, but symptomatic of a wider affliction that affects public infrastructure investment across the world. Certainly, in UK terms there are many barriers to tramway development, but these are not insurmountable as there are hundreds of very successful tramways globally that have transformed the towns and cities they serve.

With recent positive moves to get the project back on track and on budget (although, like the M74 extension, in this case ‘on budget’ simply means a little revisionism in light of increases incurred well after the project’s inception), it is important to focus on the job at hand and make it a success.

Edinburgh’s traders and residents have suffered enough without the talk of making them wear sackcloth and ashes. A full public inquiry needs to be held and I am sure will be.

In terms of tramway development as a whole, the importance of the Edinburgh scheme cannot be underestimated. The tram as a mode of transport has been a fantastic success in Manchester, Croydon, Nottingham, Sheffield, Dublin and hundreds of cities worldwide. All parties concerned in Edinburgh now have a responsibility to make it a success and profitable as soon as possible.

The only way for Edinburgh to move forward now is to embrace the tramway, manage the remaining works and operation effectively and look forward to the benefits trams will bring come 2014.

Edinburgh needs trams, more of them, but only if new procurement and contracting strategies – as well as united support and reduced political infighting – can be secured to ensure that the Scottish capital gets the full network it deserves rather than a single orphan line.

• Simon Johnston is editor of Tramways and Urban Transit magazine.