Trams in Preston – Edinburgh’s lessons

For quite some time there has been the idea of building a tram track and trams in Preston using part of the old Longridge rail line, including a route along Church Street. On paper this seems a good idea enabling the railway station to be linked to the new bus station and then Deepdale and the Bluebell Park and Ride area.

Recently the example of Edinburgh highlights the risks of what appears a relatively simple task.  Edinburgh’s tram system is years late, has cost around 5 times more than planned and is going to be under half the original length. In the last week there has been a lot debate about whether the track will reach the city centre at a further cost of £250million.  A lot of this seems to be put down to inadequate survey of the route. Most people don’t realise that all utilities under the track are moved so that the track isn’t dug up on a regular basis. In Edinburgh this turned out to be a very major job with unknown tunnels and sewers.  It might be thought Preston has less likelihood of unknown under road obstacles.  It is also said that Manchester and Nottingham did a bigger survey and had less problems although maybe they wouldn’t have had them anyway.

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