Tram information signs are torn down across the board

TRAM bosses have removed a series of information boards from along the proposed route after admitting they don't know when the project will be finished.

The public information boards were set up by tram firm TIE at various places along the 11-mile route, including Haymarket, St Andrew Square and Leith Walk.

The signs have now started disappearing after tram chiefs admitted the information was out of date.

Traders in Leith had said that only signs in their area had been removed, adding to suggestions that tram bosses are set to confirm that the route will only initially go as far as the city centre.

TIE later issued a statement, stressing that the boards were being taken down across the route.

A spokesman said: "There has been some speculation over the removal of tram information boards on Leith Walk. We can confirm that these boards are being removed from all parts of the route as part of the overall clear up of the city.

"Until a more definitive timetable has been agreed for the tram works, there is little point in continuing to keep out-of-date notice boards on the street where they are effectively another piece of street furniture. We have therefore taken the decision to remove the boards."

He added: "We are still fully committed to delivering the whole route of the tram. There has been no change in that."

TIE said that new "public information mechanisms" would be looked at once work on the next phase of the project had been agreed.

Alan Rudland, of the Leith Business Association, said he was "suspicious" that TIE had only moved to get rid of the boards now.

He said: "Eighteen months of work later and they are now removing the public information boards from Leith Walk. It's suspicious.

"They've never been very good at having up-to-date information in the boards anyway and there's been nothing in them for months. They were more advertising boards than information boards."

Yesterday, the Evening News revealed that city leaders expect to secure a deal relating to the future of the project soon after an improvement in relations with contractors Bilfinger Berger.

Bilfinger Berger is set to provide a full breakdown of the costs and timescales involved by the end of this week.

Tram bosses - who had hoped to receive the proposal in time for a TIE board meeting on Wednesday - admitted that the time the process is taking is a "considerable frustration".

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