Tram sceptics fly in the face of reason

It is a nonsense that a capital city like Edinburgh should not have a modern, environmentally friendly and efficient means of delivering passengers from the airport to the city centre. For that purpose alone the tram project is justified, as an alternative to the Airport Rail Link scrapped by the SNP when it came to power in 2007.

Even with the recent, and very likely temporary, dip in traffic, passenger numbers at Edinburgh Airport are still in the order of between eight and nine million per annum. Some industry estimates suggest these could rise to 26 million per annum by 2030, a good proportion of whom will wish to continue their journey into Edinburgh.

The trams do of course have the broader purpose of serving the needs of those along its whole route, and in common with countless other cities where trams have been introduced, they will surely prove to be popular among residents and visitors. As someone who has civil engineering works associated with the tram line in progress virtually yards from my home, I would be the first to say the management and delivery of the project has been woeful in the extreme, but with good progress now being made, isn’t it about time the detractors accepted that it is being built and will one day be operational?

The future enquiry will no doubt lay bare the numerous failures which have occurred, and hopefully lessons will be learned in anticipation of the completion of the line to Newhaven and for extensions of the line which will follow in future decades.

Bill Goodall

Baird Drive

Edinburgh

Contrary to the tone and implication of your recent article (“Tram costs hit £600m with two years to go”, 12 April), I would like to reassure the public that the Edinburgh tram project is running to schedule and remains on budget.

The claim that the “final bill heads for £900m” has no substance. Costs are not linear, nor would they be for a construction project of this scale.

The project is currently going through its busiest and most constructive period to date.

The spend profile remains entirely in line with expectations, as does the progress of works along the length of the route from the Airport to St Andrew Square.

Extensive sections of work, including drainage, ground works, utility packages and the tram depot, have been completed, as per the target programme published late last year.

We remain on course to deliver the project within the revised budget by summer 2014.

I would once again thank the people and businesses of Edinburgh for their patience while we do so.

Sue Bruce

Chief Executive

City of Edinburgh Council

Edinburgh