£3/4Bn not £3-4Bn. As in £750M. There is also the projected £4M annual loss.

Oh right.

Still seems a hell of a lot though, relatively.

http://www.edinburghtrams.com/index.php/route_map/ Take a look at that link if you want to see some absolute comedy gold. For those who arent local it will now start at Haymarket which is at the jumction of the A8 and the A70. The gray and white line that the tram follows for most of the route is the existing railway line.

http://iaindale.com/posts/paint-the-streets-gold

🙂

The Forth Replacement Crossing was originally budgetted at £2 BN but is currently forecast to come in significantly under that original budget. It may well go over the current estimate but I doubt it will exceed the original budget. The scandal is not that it might go over budget or take longer than expected – that sort of thing is unfortunately expected with big capital infrastructure projects and should have been considered in the ROI calculations. The scandal is they are building a bridge which is already too small for the required capacity.

The scandal is they are building a new bridge at all!

The capacity is irrelevant – there is no room to get any more cars into edinburgh so a larger bridge just means larger queues to get into Edinburgh

£750 million for this??? Was gonna take a pic of where the track stops for no reason at the junction with Waverly bridge but just couldn’t be arsed. It’s literally just round the corner from St Andrews square though- what an utter shambles…

Epicsteve- Corstorphin resident unhappy with something? That’ll be a first!! It won’t run down Corstorphin road but can you imagine the outrage there would have been if it did! How would they have been able to drive to work if they were taking months (I’m guessing) digging up the road to instal the tracks??
Looking at the route tho, it’s only about a 5 to 10 min walk from Corstophin rd isn’t it? I suppose the fact that it only goes to Haymarket does render it pretty much useless for everyone, tourists and residents alike!! Unless your office is across the road from Haymarket that is!!
Interested to know where the bridge to nowhere is in Glasgow though? Is that the off ramp south of the Kingston bridge for what was orinally supposed to be where the m74 joined on? That’s the only one I can think of.. Or possibly the pedestrian bridge that stretches over the northern end of the M8/Kingston bridge but only reaches the ground on one side?

She’s not singing yet…

althepal: your answer is probably on one of the best sites on the internet, pathetic motorways: http://pathetic.org.uk/

What’s the expression “You’ve made your bed…”

Edinburgh council need to suck this up and complete the project. Stopping at Haymarket I mean WTF!!

The whole project is mired in incompetence and stupidity but to now not run it along Princes Street (where they already laid the tracks!!)

Not all infrastucture projects in Scotland need to be late and over budget, the M74 was on time and within budget

althepal: your answer is probably on one of the best sites on the internet, pathetic motorways: http://pathetic.org.uk

“Best sites on the internet”, that’s stretching it a bit

So to summarise, government spent a lot of money, new government don’t want to spend that money, government can’t decide where to stop and where to start trams, construction company do piss poor job then complain they need more money, Edinburgh complains, no one else cares because it’s just Edinburgh complaining again.

And Japan can get a motorway back in service ten days after a Tsunami? go figure

“Best sites on the internet”, that’s stretching it a bit

On the contrary. It has a clear vision, a consistent tone, a decent user experience and interface, it is comprehensive on its subject, it has a snappy URL and it’s free. What else do you want?

The scandal is they are building a new bridge at all!

The capacity is irrelevant – there is no room to get any more cars into edinburgh so a larger bridge just means larger queues to get into Edinburgh

brilliant idea – close the arterial route to the north east of scotland. And how do you propose that traffic to and from the north east gets in and out of edinburgh? through dunfermline and over the kincardine bridge?

What else do you want?

A tinfoil hat so the paranoia rayguns don’t get me

The scandal is they are building a new bridge at all!

The capacity is irrelevant – there is no room to get any more cars into edinburgh so a larger bridge just means larger queues to get into Edinburgh

brilliant idea – close the arterial route to the north east of scotland. And how do you propose that traffic to and from the north east gets in and out of edinburgh? through dunfermline and over the kincardine bridge?

Thing is the current bridge is falling down so needs to be replaced. You aren’t going to replace it with a shittier bridge are you?

Saw the tram lines near Murrayfield recently. Would make quite a nice cycle track if they scrap the project.

A question to people who live in Edinburgh, Why didn’t they just put a spur off the railway line which runs right past the airport to a new station at the airport? (not trolling, just curious…seems like an obvious thing to do?)

there was such a project, called Edinburgh Airport Rail Link http://www.earlproject.com/

It was pulled by the SNP as they didn’t want 2 large infrastructure projects serving the airport, sadly as it has turned out it would have provided the same route service and cheaper option in the end, who’da thunk it.

I think that wasting this much money on a pointless tram line should be a criminal offence and people responsible should be punished accordingly, it is an absolute farce.

And my understanding is the lines already laid on Princes St will not actually be removed, but they will replace the tarmac around them as they put the wrong stuff down but leave them there to be removed again at a later date?

Thing is the current bridge is falling down so needs to be replaced. You aren’t going to replace it with a shittier bridge are you?

I think tj’s argument was that the bridge shouldn’t be replaced because it adds to congestion in Edinburgh.
Typical Little Englander attitude “nothing north of me matters”

Typical Little Englander attitude “nothing north of me matters”

Or maybe he just hadn’t considered it… wind your neck in.

On a happier note, The Scottish Government has stepped it. After the SNP abstained from the cooncil vote, they’re now throwing some weight around by withholding money:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-14713476

Wunundredanwun! 😀

It’s the New Wunundred… 8)

‘Pathetic Motorways’; see, this is the beauty of tinternet, to bring you such joys of a website for arguing about mortorways! 😀

Thank you STW.

Typical Little Englander attitude “nothing north of me matters”

I think you’ll find RichMTB ain’t a ‘little engurlander’, but is actually a Scot.

I think you’ll find the barb was aimed at TJ 🙂

The money spent achieving **** all in Edinburgh would have dualled the A9 to Inverness with plenty left over.

BigButSlimmerBloke – Member

Thing is the current bridge is falling down so needs to be replaced. You aren’t going to replace it with a shittier bridge are you?

I think tj’s argument was that the bridge shouldn’t be replaced because it adds to congestion in Edinburgh.
Typical Little Englander attitude “nothing north of me matters”

Nope. thats not my point at all – its that the new bridge is the wrong answer to the wrong question. Repair the existing one. Or build a different fixed link. We don’t even know if the dehumidifying work is reducing breakage. Its a gentle decrease in load carrying ability anyway. It should be possible to repair the bridge anyway

A new bridge alongside the old one is no answer. all it will do is increase congestion south and north of it.

Newsnight scotland on the box tonight re. the trams. The first time I have ever shouted at a television. Party politics still getting in the way of project management I see….

The old road bridge is literally falling to bits – gaps in places where you can see to the water.

Once the new one is complete, the old one will be getting fixed.

Also, the old bridge will be used for public transport / taxis / bikes (eventually).

Konabunny, that’s a cracking wee site.
The Glasgow ring road eh? Bonkers!
But Prob not as bonkers as a £1bn trainset!!
To be fair, that amount of money could prob have done a lot more than just dual ing the a9!!!

Who actually came up with this idea of bringing the trams back?, at some point someone in the council/government must have stuck their hand up and said “hang on a minute, I’ve got a great idea………….”
Does this person still have a job?

Thing is the current bridge is falling down so needs to be replaced. You aren’t going to replace it with a shittier bridge are you?

Kind of. It’ll run £300 million over budget, then Labour will vote to have it terminate half way across the Forth.

I think you’ll find the barb was aimed at TJ

I think it’s a bit “off” when people make jabs at people based on who they are and not what they say.

Looks like we might be back to St Andrew Square again after all.

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/topstories/Dramatic-Uturn-by-SNP-will.6828345.jp

The whole thing is, in the words of Malcolm Tucker, an omnishambles. I won’t believe we are getting a tram until I am sitting on a real moving one.

Althepal, the bridge to nowhere in Glasgow is the one that crosses above the M8 at the Charing Cross underpass.It now has a brown office block built on it.

Apparently it was never meant to be a road bridge but was intended to be the base for an office development. It sat unused for over 20 years.

There is a footbridge, level with the Hilton, that is also known as the bridge to nowhere. Wiki says that Sustrans hope to finish the bridge as part of an easier access route to the west end of the city centre. Danny MacAskill jumped off it in the S1 jobs.com advert.

http://g.co/maps/ve6x

Stucol, aye, I remember the bridge before it was an office- always thought it was supposed to be a flyover tho?

The Bridge to Nowhere is the Anderston Footbridge is it not? You know, the bridge that ends up in the sky as seen here http://www.computescotland.com/glasgows-bridge-to-somewhere-541.php

Nah – that at least as one end firmly on terra firma. The Bridge to Nowhere is the one which now has the office block on it.

I’m sure that’s an urban myth.

What is?

That the bridge to nowhere is the one that has the office blocks built on it.