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| Edinburgh councillors hope crisis-hit tram line will open early | Edinburgh councillors hope crisis-hit tram line will open early |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| Councillors in Edinburgh are mulling over an early opening for the city's highly controversial £776m tram line after the city took control on Friday of the first section of line. | Councillors in Edinburgh are mulling over an early opening for the city's highly controversial £776m tram line after the city took control on Friday of the first section of line. |
| The tram line's contractors are due to hand over the full nine-mile (14km) tram line in December, 50% over its original £520m budget and eight stops short of its original destination, bringing one of the most traumatic urban transport sagas in the UK near to a close. | The tram line's contractors are due to hand over the full nine-mile (14km) tram line in December, 50% over its original £520m budget and eight stops short of its original destination, bringing one of the most traumatic urban transport sagas in the UK near to a close. |
| As she took the first journey from Ingliston park-and-ride to Edinburgh airport on Friday morning, on the first completed 1.7-mile stretch of line, Lesley Hinds, a councillor and the city's transport convenor, said she was hopeful the entire line could open before the current target date of summer 2014. | As she took the first journey from Ingliston park-and-ride to Edinburgh airport on Friday morning, on the first completed 1.7-mile stretch of line, Lesley Hinds, a councillor and the city's transport convenor, said she was hopeful the entire line could open before the current target date of summer 2014. |
| The city has to run the trams empty for some weeks, to allow motorists and cyclists to get used to the 43-metre-long vehicles and train their drivers. But she hopes the six-month evaluation period could be shortened. | The city has to run the trams empty for some weeks, to allow motorists and cyclists to get used to the 43-metre-long vehicles and train their drivers. But she hopes the six-month evaluation period could be shortened. |
| "No one wants to see empty trams and we want to get on with it as quickly as possible, but we have got to talk to all the regulators," she said. | "No one wants to see empty trams and we want to get on with it as quickly as possible, but we have got to talk to all the regulators," she said. |
| Originally due to open last year, the tram line controversy has humiliated officials hired to build the line, the downfall of the city's previous Liberal Democrat-run administration and the former council leader Jenny Dawe, traffic chaos along its route, and a running feud between the city and the Scottish National party government, which opposed the project. | Originally due to open last year, the tram line controversy has humiliated officials hired to build the line, the downfall of the city's previous Liberal Democrat-run administration and the former council leader Jenny Dawe, traffic chaos along its route, and a running feud between the city and the Scottish National party government, which opposed the project. |
| The line was originally due to run from the airport through the city's western suburbs, under the shadow of Edinburgh castle in the city centre and via Leith on to Newhaven docks on the Firth of Forth. Two other lines were planned; both have been scrapped. | The line was originally due to run from the airport through the city's western suburbs, under the shadow of Edinburgh castle in the city centre and via Leith on to Newhaven docks on the Firth of Forth. Two other lines were planned; both have been scrapped. |
| After a series of engineering errors, lengthy contract disputes and conflicts over un-mapped gas, water and electricity pipes, the costs soared and delays increased. It will now stop in the Georgian city centre, several miles short of its original terminus, leaving the city heavily in debt. | After a series of engineering errors, lengthy contract disputes and conflicts over un-mapped gas, water and electricity pipes, the costs soared and delays increased. It will now stop in the Georgian city centre, several miles short of its original terminus, leaving the city heavily in debt. |
| Some estimates suggest the cost of servicing the city's borrowing to pay for the overrun over the next 30 years will raise its real cost to more than £1bn. | Some estimates suggest the cost of servicing the city's borrowing to pay for the overrun over the next 30 years will raise its real cost to more than £1bn. |
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