The Edinburgh tram: how did things go so badly wrong?

Edinburgh’s first tram line was delivered three years late, cost £230m more than budget, and was about three miles shorter than planned. After months of gathering evidence, the Scottish Government-ordered inquiry has started taking oral evidence into the fiasco. Andrew Forster reports on the revelations

Donald Anderson

Donald Anderson

It’s a depressingly familiar story: a transport project runs millions of pounds over budget and is delivered years late. Yet Edinburgh’s first tram line managed to excel in the fiasco stakes. In 2008 councillors awarded the construction contract for an 11.5-mile route connecting the city’s airport in the west with Newhaven in the north via Edinburgh city centre. The project’s expected costs were £508m and opening was scheduled for 2011. But problems mounted, delays...

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