Edinburgh trams halted by power faults

EDINBURGH’S tram system was halted by power faults for the second time in five days today.

A tram at Haymarket suffered a power problem around 4.30pm. Picture: Malcolm McCurrach

A tram at Haymarket suffered a power problem around 4:30pm, bringing all trams on the eight-mile line to a standstill for about one hour.

The tram was returned to the depot at Gogar and services resumed. Passengers were switched to Lothian Buses services during the disruption.

The incident followed an overhead line problem on Monday which hit the entire Edinburgh Airport-York Place route for about 45 minutes.

Last week, trams were halted for nearly two hours between Murrayfield and York Place after balloons became tangled in overhead wires in St Andrew Square.

City council controlled Transport for Edinburgh, which runs Edinburgh Trams and Lothian Buses, said an average of 90,000 passengers a week were using the trams, which were launched two months ago.

That means the total is on course to beat its 4.5 million first-year target.