After the usual testing the first service starts at the end of this month with the first tram at 5am. For a Glaswegian like me and part of the traditional inter-city rivalry twixt them and us it is about time.
It was proposed initially to have 3 lines but the third was to be decided by the citizens and they said no. Then it slipped from the two to one. Even that is only part way as it was originally meant to go right through the city and the east a Leith. Now it runs a reasonable distance from the airport to the city centre. For a short time the City Council was going to stop it a mile before the city centre at Haymarket Station which would have been utterly stupid for visitors. So at least it reaches the centre. The eventual cost is somewhere welkl over £700,000,00 which is shocking and wpwas to have covered more than the one line. During the fiasco the City and the German builders were at loggerheads and work repeatdlly stopped and court action involved. As time and costs dragged on and rocketed the Edinburghers got slowly feeling more and more distant and recent news of 50 inspectors to be employed did not help much! When you consider the other systems in Gt Britain and a couple being extended how they managed this sorry tale is beyond comprehension.
As a train and tram fan I do still wish it all the best but am relieved the mess was over there and not here in Glasgow!
It was proposed initially to have 3 lines but the third was to be decided by the citizens and they said no. Then it slipped from the two to one. Even that is only part way as it was originally meant to go right through the city and the east a Leith. Now it runs a reasonable distance from the airport to the city centre. For a short time the City Council was going to stop it a mile before the city centre at Haymarket Station which would have been utterly stupid for visitors. So at least it reaches the centre. The eventual cost is somewhere welkl over £700,000,00 which is shocking and wpwas to have covered more than the one line. During the fiasco the City and the German builders were at loggerheads and work repeatdlly stopped and court action involved. As time and costs dragged on and rocketed the Edinburghers got slowly feeling more and more distant and recent news of 50 inspectors to be employed did not help much! When you consider the other systems in Gt Britain and a couple being extended how they managed this sorry tale is beyond comprehension.
As a train and tram fan I do still wish it all the best but am relieved the mess was over there and not here in Glasgow!