Work Goes on at Trams Depot

Submitted by edg on Tue, 12 Apr '11 9.17am

TIE, still bogged down in its dispute with its contractor, have tried to strike an upbeat tone about the Edinburgh Trams project in a newly released video illustrating progress on the depot at Gogar.

"Despite the ongoing dispute, a lot of work has been carried out on the Edinburgh Tram Project," the video says at the opening.

"In particular, tracks are being laid at the maintenance depot at Gogar as well as in the building which will house the control centre."

Kevin Keating, Operations Mobilisation Co-ordinator, explains that although the purpose-built nerve centre for the tramline is still not completed, an internal crane assembly has been installed, tracks laid, and substation equipment to power the overhead line brought in.

The next step is to put in the electrics for the equipment that will monitor the tram. So a tram may be in Edinburgh soon, just not running very far.

Watch the video 

How nice to hear that work is going on at the tram depot!   It better had get a move on as the new trams will be arriving soon and the Council will have nowhere to put them.   As Edinburgh has ordered 'bespoke' trams for the city, which are not of a standard size, this makes it unlikely that the much vaunted plan to lease trams to Croydon will go ahead.  

This is because the Edinburgh trams will be too wide to get round some of the corners on the Croydon network.   It has also meant that because the Council ordered especially wide trams, that some main roads in Edinburgh, like Shandwick Place will have to be closed to other traffic.   The result - traffic being forced through residential areas with increased noise and higher pollution.  

So everything that the Council have tried to make 'special' has misfired and turned into a disaster - their 'bespoke' contract with the consortium and now ordering non-standard trams.   It simply shows up the incredible nativity and incompetence of those working on the project in Edinburgh Council.   We are all left waiting for the next disaster to be exposed.