Full speed ahead as Edinburgh’s tram undergoes test runs

AN EDINBURGH tram will be tested at full speed for the first time today.

A vehicle will be put through its paces at up to 43 miles per hour on track near Edinburgh Airport, in some of the most significant testing to date.

It has already been run on the stretch between the airport and the tram depot at Gogar, but only at lower speeds.

The tram runs and system tests are the final part of the development of this section of the route.

Overhead power lines between the airport and Gogar, 1.7 miles away, were electrified last month, meaning that section of line is ready for full-scale tests.

If all goes well, the stretch will be the first major section of the tram line to be completed. It will then be handed over by the contractors in March. Completion is scheduled for summer 2014.

The project is massively overbudget, with the revised cost put at £776 million.