The Initially Proposed Route Described

The proposed route would run from Newhaven to Haymarket, a distance of 7.06km (4.38 miles). Throughout its length the route would be double track laid in the highway. Various methods to give priority to the trams would be used, including Trambaans and operation of traffic lights in favour of the tram. As a result the tram would be about 20% faster than existing services.

At this stage in the project there are a number of options regarding the detailed route and the design and location of stops. The route outlined here is provisional.

Newhaven to Foot of Leith Walk

The route would start at Pier Place, Newhaven, adjacent to Harry Ramsden's Fish and Chip Restaurant. This would be the end of a loop that would turn the trams without the driver having to change ends. The tracks would keep to the north side of Lindsay Road as far as Anchorfield. From this point they would run through the Dock Estate, emerging onto the highway again at Portland Place.

Portland Place is the junction of Lindsay Road, Commercial Street, North Junction Street and the 'middle' entrance to the Docks. The route would emerge from the Dock Estate and run along the centre of North Junction Street. The route would then continue along Great Junction to the Foot of Leith Walk.

Leith Walk

The location of the tracks on Leith Walk would need careful consideration. Initially the intention was to run them along the outside lanes. However, since the initial studies Greenways have been laid in what was the centre lane. The tracks would continue up Leith Walk as far as Annandale Street/Montgomery Street, where they would transfer to the west side of Leith Walk and run from there past Gayfield Square and along Picardy Place.

Picardy Place to St Andrew Square

Emerging from Picardy Place the tracks would cross Broughton Street and continue along York Place. They would then turn sharply into North Saint Andrew Street with a stop at the bus station. The arrangement of tracks in St Andrew Square provides a way of turning trams short of their destination if necessary. Part of this track runs the "wrong way" along St Andrew Square. This would be made under traffic signal control.

Princes Street

Given the plans to restrict car access to Princes Street, trams will fit into what would be called a public transit mall in North America. The location of the tracks is proposed to be on the north side of the street, with buses on the south side. There are many examples of very busy streets where pedestrians and trams operate perfectly happily on the mainland of Europe.

Shandwick Place to Haymarket

The tracks would continue along Shandwick Place and West Maitland Street to Haymarket. Trams to Haymarket would not run around roundabout formed by Torpichen Street, Torpichen Place, Morrison Street and West Maitland Street. Instead they would continue along West Maitland Street under traffic signal control.

Two locations have been considered for the terminus at Haymarket. One is in the goods yard to the west of the station. This is less cramped and serves the new developments here. A reservation for trams was left here as a condition of planning permission. The other option is a terminus in front of the station area. This would be cramped.

The Roseburn Link Described

(Taken from our proposal of June 2000)

Given the (continuing) uncertainty over the Princes Street Galleries project NETCo has been looking at an alternative route to Leith, as the first stage of a modern tramway in Edinburgh. This is outlined below in extracts from the proposal.

NETCo have submitted a proposal for the first phase of a modern tramway on a circular route serving the north of Edinburgh including Leith, Newhaven, Granton and districts using the route of the old railway between Granton and Haymarket. In particular it would serve the proposed "Waterfront" Development being promoted by the City of Edinburgh Council, LEEL, Scottish Homes and British Gas and the developments being pursued by Forth Ports. As possibly the biggest and most prestigious development schemes in Edinburgh for the first two decades of the new millennium, the area demands transport facilities of the very highest quality.

It is generally recognised that the Waterfront Development, Britannia and the Ocean Terminal will call for substantially improved access by public transport to the north of the City. Because of the limitations of the road network it is impracticable to provide this by increasing the number of conventional buses which in any case would not offer the improved quality of service that is required.

Heavy rail is impracticable, given the required routes and cost as well as the difficulty of accommodating the number of trains which would be required on the main line network.

Guided buses as adopted by the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) for its CERT scheme have been suggested but are subject to considerable limitations and doubts as to their operational advantages. This Company is convinced that the only feasible transport mode that can deliver the necessary level of quality, operationally and environmentally, that will attract new residents and visitors to the area, serve the existing residents adequately and encourage drivers to use public transport is light rail, specifically a tramway, partly street running and partly segregated. Thus the proposed line is to be operated as three sections of street tramway with two sections of off-street light railway ("tramroads").

NETCo also believes that it is important to put high quality transport in place as soon as possible, before the majority of the development takes place, so that potential new residents will see the new transport system and be encouraged to use it from "Day One" instead of developing reliance on private transport. Because of the visible investment that is apparent with light rail there will be a high level of confidence in this mode.

The scheme exploits the ability of light rail to use any available formation, i.e. the disused railway routes where they follow sensible transport desire-lines and public streets at other places, even where there is minimum width available. There is also the ability to use the rail routes while still maintaining facilities for walkers and cyclists. At pinch points, such as over and underbridges, the light railway can if necessary use interlaced or single track, devices which are not available for guided buses (since workable points or switches have not been developed). Preliminary careful examination of the bridges along the route leads us to believe that every one of them can accommodate the light railway and the cycleway/walkway without major reconstruction. At one or two locations, lightweight bridges might be constructed beside rail bridges for cyclists and walkers.

Because of the need to get the transport system in place early, the Company has not shown the complete route running along Princes Street and Leith Walk to Junction Street to create the full circle. This would obviously be the most desirable service for the travelling public, but the Company proposes a route commencing from Haymarket Station (in the south-west of the circle), running via the Roseburn Walkway, Granton and Newhaven, and terminating at Great Junction Street (in the north-east of the circle) so that there is a service from the Waterfront developments to points that are very near to the centres of both Leith and Edinburgh.

NETCo is confident that the technology that they propose to use is tried and tested. NETCo is also confident that their technology offers the best value for money and the Company's proposal would therefore come out top in the tendering process, with the added advantage that there is every possibility that the light rail vehicles can be built in Scotland.

A full assessment has however been made of the section of route that was not part of NETCo's earlier proposal and this has shown that there are no engineering difficulties.

The Company has taken a close look at the costings used previously, especially where these attracted adverse comment. Some of the prices used before were indeed found to be too low; in other cases the prices were confirmed and some might indeed have been overstated.

NETCo firmly believes that one of the most attractive features of a transport service must be high frequency. The current proposal is therefore for a basic ten-minute service to commence with, to be operated throughout the day, seven days a week. Such a timetable will become instantly fixed in the minds of potential passengers and be a powerful marketing tool. The table below shows the basic features of the tramway, translated into fleet sizes.

Tramway no.1, from Gt.Junction St.to Trinity Road, 2.4km, estimated operating speed 20kph, time required 7.2 minutes.

Tramroad *no.2, from Trinity Road to West Harbour Road/Oxcraig St., 1.4km @ 28kph, 3.4 minutes needed.

Tramway no.3, from West Harbour Road (via the new road) to Ferry Road, 2.0km @ 20kph, 6 minutes needed.

Tramroad *no.4, from Ferry Road via the disused railway to a point between Devon Place and the main Edinburgh to Glasgow railway, 3.6km @ 32kph, 6.75 minutes needed.

Tramway no.5 completes the route to a street terminus at Haymarket Terrace, 0.4km @ 20kph, 1.2 minutes needed.

* "Tramroad" is the perhaps archaic term still used to describe a reserved-track tramway or light railway in legal language.