Trams finally arrive in Edinburgh after project threatened to go off the rails

The trams in Edinburgh are finally running, years late and hundreds of millions over budget, but the doubters remained unpersuaded – including one protestor who is a dab hand with knitting needles.

This week, the benches and the ticketing machine at one of the Princes Street stops were covered with knitted pullovers, complaining about the trams that finally began running in late May.

Council tax bills will be £15 million (€18.61m) higher for each of the next 30 years, according to one, an intricately created, multi-coloured collection of crocheted panels.

“Still a tramway to hell,” declared another. So far, the identity of the knitter is unknown, but it is probably the same person who carried out a similar protest two years ago.

The trams’ project has been a nightmare. In 2003, it was planned to run from Edinburgh Airport to Leith at a cost of £375 million. In the end, it cost £776 million and it is not going anywhere near Leith.

Scottish first minister Alex Salmond, who was not in power when the project began, has this week ordered an official inquiry, but already there are fears that paperwork has gone missing.

Disputes

In the first weekend 40,000 people bought tickets ; while over 130,000 used the tram during its full first full week for journeys that run for 14.2km from York Place to the airport.

Now that the trams are in operation, Mr Salmond hopes they will be popular, but the dark memories left by its flawed construction could not just be forgotten.

Businesses went to the wall during the work, when timetables collapsed.

One businessman lost two shops at different ends of the line. Mr Salmond’s inquiry will be led by a judge, but will not have powers to compel witnesses – though the first minister hopes for co-operation from all those involved.

The Scottish parliament voted for the then £490 million tramway in 2007, but it quickly ran into problems partly because more than double the number of pipes, sewers and utilities had to be moved. Then, there were disputes with the contractor. By 2010, the project team told Edinburgh City Council that it was prepared to pull the plug.

However, mediation increased the budget and curbed the ambitions, while Turner and Townsend – project managers who played a role in Dublin’s Luas – were brought in.

The work was complicated by the need to protect Edinburgh’s Georgian heritage in the New Town, which has given the city Unesco World Heritage status.

Archaeological finds were made along the way: nearly 400 graves from the 15th to 18th centuries were discovered in Leith, before the plan for a line from there was scrapped.

Pre-historic settlements were found near the airport, while a Second World war bunker – which was in the city’s records but seems to have been forgotten about – was discovered in Haymarket.

Testing of the trams, which are 50m long and built to deal with Edinburgh’s sharp corners and gradients, began months before the official opening.

Drivers are limited to travelling at no more than 30mph on the street, or 45mph when they are on dedicated track.

Britain now has a 200-mile tram network. In Manchester, the Metrolink, which opened in 1992, is now being significantly extended, while its first generation of trams has been replaced.

Iconic

Described as “efficient and much-loved”, Manchester’s trams have become iconic, says the local council – responsible for spurring some of the city’s recent economic growth.

Metrolink receives no public subsidy. Today, more than 22 million journeys are made each year – up from the eight million in the first year. Numbers look set to rise by 50 per cent within 12 years.

Last year, Manchester City players Joe Hart, Vincent Kompany and James Milner recorded announcements for passengers on days when City play at home at the Ethihad.

For now, Scottish transport minister Keith Brown talks of relief, rather than joy, about Edinburgh’s trams, acknowledging the opening had been “clouded” by past troubles.

The knitted creations that adorned the stop this week were quickly removed by Transport for Edinburgh, though it professed admiration for “the obvious skill” displayed. In time, Edinburgh must hope that its trams – a far less ambitious project than Manchester’s – will become equally as loved. If not, the mystery knitter will no doubt return.