Edinburgh trams probe to be ‘swift and thorough’

Work will began immediately on an inquiry into the trams project

The move came a week after the First Minister confirmed an inquiry would be held into the increased cost, delays and cutbacks to the £776 million project.

Yesterday he told MSPs: “We look forward to a swift and thorough inquiry.”

However, the Scottish Government was unable to say how quickly hearings would start.

The similar Holyrood building project inquiry began taking evidence five months after it was announced in 2003.

Trams started running two weeks ago, three years late, and several hundred million pounds over budget.

The originally-planned two lines were reduced to part of one line, running between  Edinburgh Airport and York Place in the city centre.

The inquiry will examine the project from its inception to completion, including “its governance, project management and delivery structures, and oversight of the relevant contracts”.

This will be to “establish why the project incurred delays, cost considerably more than originally budgeted for and delivered significantly less than was projected”.

The inquiry will also make recommendations on how  similar projects could avoid such problems in the future.