Edinburgh Tram developments

[ModernRailways]

In other words, they have kind of future proofed the system by getting longer trains from the get go? Although, I imagine in the public's eyes getting shorter trains and then extending them later on would look better.

 

[CallySleeper]

To put this into perspective further: the start date for Edinburgh phase 2 was announced on 2nd May, as being the 31st of May.

NET Phase 2 will open on 14th December. This was announced at the beginning of February.

Classic Edinburgh.
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In other words, they have kind of future proofed the system by getting longer trains from the get go? Although, I imagine in the public's eyes getting shorter trains and then extending them later on would look better.

Not only would it look better than potentially running half empty trams (but then who at Edinburgh Council would expect that?!) but would have saved money when it was needed earlier by buying shorter trams; also, in construction (shorter tram stops)

 

[ModernRailways]

To put this into perspective further: the start date for Edinburgh phase 2 was announced on 2nd May, as being the 31st of May.

NET Phase 2 will open on 14th December. This was announced at the beginning of February.

Classic Edinburgh.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Not only would it look better than potentially running half empty trams (but then who at Edinburgh Council would expect that?!) but would have saved money when it was needed earlier by buying shorter trams; also, in construction (shorter tram stops)

Ultimately it would have cost more as tram stops would need extending, as well as other infrastructure improvements needed.

 

[Starmill]

I'm not sure Edinbrugh should be criticised so readily for future proofing when everywhere else fails to do just that so spectacularly...



And regarding the announcement of opening dates... some of the Manchester extensions were confirmed to be opening less than a week before the big day.

 

[CallySleeper]

Hypothetically, would a cheaper and quicker solution to increasing capacity in the future surely be to increase frequency? Edinburgh has the infrastructure to potentially run trams every four minutes, and that's without having to extend infrastructure. Or am I being too pragmatic?

If my back-of-an-envelope calculations are correct, NET will be running every 3-4 minutes over the core by the end of the year.

e: Edinburgh tram timetable
service guide
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Full timetable for your perusal

 

[MCR247]

If my back-of-an-envelope calculations are correct, NET will be running every 3-4 minutes over the core by the end of the year.

Sorry to go off-topic but do you know what service frequencies will be on NET?

 

[oldman]

Another good news story from the evening news.

Trams will get an extra 5 minutes running time to start with. Cue outrage from EN readers.

http://m.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/trams-on-go-slow-for-first-few-weeks-1-3421756

 

[CallySleeper]

Sorry to go off-topic but do you know what service frequencies will be on NET?

Not officially, but from what I've calculated/heard in the pipeline it could easily be every 3-4 minutes.

Another good news story from the evening news.

Trams will get an extra 5 minutes running time to start with. Cue outrage from EN readers.

http://m.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/trams-on-go-slow-for-first-few-weeks-1-3421756

I'm not sure this is necessary? Has this been done in the early days of other systems? Public transport averaging about 20mph in Edinburgh is of course commonplace but I'm not sure that this will help the effect the trams are already having on other traffic.

I'd also note that 39 min journey time is for all journeys all day. So at quiet times there could be frustrating amounts of slow/dwell time, and at rush hour no extra time to compensate for increased traffic. What about (inevitably!) when the tram is delayed, are they allowed to run at full speed to make up time?!

 

[WatcherZero]

Yeah its pretty standard when new Metrolink lines open, gives time for infrastructure and timetable to bed in and for drivers to get used to the route. Timings are usually tightened a few months later.

 

[90019]

And so it continues.

http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.c...-down-tram-causes-city-centre-chaos-1-3422194

A broken down tram brought traffic to a standstill for almost two hours in the centre of Edinburgh yesterday.

Around 10 buses were forced to reverse on Princes Street to find an alternative route after police closed the road to westbound traffic..

The chaos comes just over a week before the proposed 31st May launch date.

The incident which happened around 10.30 am at the bottom of the Mound led to congestion with buses being diverted onto St Andrew Square.

Crowds of onlookers gathered as engineers from Spanish firm CAF moved the tram to assess what caused the fault.

The latest breakdown came as Edinburgh Council held an information event to inform passengers about ticket buying with a parked tram open to board in St Andrew Square from noon until 2pm.

 

[Blindtraveler]

I was caught up in this, thankfully not for long but none the less!

 

[90019]

I've been away over the weekend, so avoided it.


I did get caught up when the tram signals failed on Shandwick Place last week though, which wasn't reported anywhere, but caused lots of traffic around the West End.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Copt this one too as it happens, not having much luck! I am rather surprised the media havnt mentioned it, twitter was rather busy!

 

[90019]

Copt this one too as it happens, not having much luck! I am rather surprised the media havnt mentioned it, twitter was rather busy!

Yeah, I was driving the 12 that was right behind the tram heading towards Haymarket when it got stuck. I was so close to being able to get past it, but had to reverse back a couple of inches to make it.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Yeah, I was driving the 12 that was right behind the tram heading towards Haymarket when it got stuck. I was so close to being able to get past it, but had to reverse back a couple of inches to make it.

I was on a 26 not far back and the driver just gave up and switched off till the blessid thing got mooving!↲

 

[90019]

I was on a 26 not far back and the driver just gave up and switched off till the blessid thing got mooving!↲

Depending how long you were stationery, the bus may have turned itself off, as the Volvos have an idle shutdown that activates after a couple of minutes and turns the bus off if you don't cancel it.
I was sitting there for a few minutes trying to figure out what the hell was going on, because we had initially stopped for the pedestrian crossing, and I'd stayed out of the left lane because of a Firstbus in the first stop.

 

[CallySleeper]

And so it continues.

http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.c...-down-tram-causes-city-centre-chaos-1-3422194

Again?!

I was having a browse over the timetable at the weekend; amongst other oddities it looks like some trams have 10 minutes turn around at the airport, some have 14-16 minutes. I mean I appreciate the need to factor in delays but to me that's not best use of resources..

 

[Deerfold]

Again?!

I was having a browse over the timetable at the weekend; amongst other oddities it looks like some trams have 10 minutes turn around at the airport, some have 14-16 minutes. I mean I appreciate the need to factor in delays but to me that's not best use of resources..

That's not a huge amount of time, surely. I suspect it only looks large due to many modern bus timetables being pared to the bone in terms of recovery time - which shows when there are problems.

 

[NotATrainspott]

Again?!

I was having a browse over the timetable at the weekend; amongst other oddities it looks like some trams have 10 minutes turn around at the airport, some have 14-16 minutes. I mean I appreciate the need to factor in delays but to me that's not best use of resources..

I think the intention is that there will always be a tram sitting at the airport for passengers to board to give them plenty of time to store their luggage, claim their seats and get away from the rain when there's such woeful weather protection at the stops.

It'll also be for recovery time when the other end of the route is just a single siding in the middle of a road. The original plans had a three-platform tram stop at the Ocean Terminal that would have been ideal for recovery from delays but the airport is the only place right now that the timetable can recover other than terminating trams short at Haymarket Yards.

 

[JonathanH]

Again?!

I was having a browse over the timetable at the weekend; amongst other oddities it looks like some trams have 10 minutes turn around at the airport, some have 14-16 minutes. I mean I appreciate the need to factor in delays but to me that's not best use of resources..

It isn't like they are short of trams to be able to do something like this either. There are 27 trams - what is the Peak Vehicle Requirement? About half that by the looks of things if they are to have something like a 90 minute cycle and operate every eight minutes.

 

[reb0118]

From the notice board at work:-

1) Edinburgh plus bus with be valid on the trams from York Place to Ingilston P&R,

and,

2) The Edinburgh Airport bus add on (via Haymarket) will additionally be valid on the trams from Ingilston P&R to the airport. Interchange will be permitted via Edinburgh [EDB], Haymarket [HYM], and Edinburgh Park [EDP].

 

[jopsuk]

A suitable tune for today?
[youtube]a0HZM6B33Ow[/youtube]

 

[34D]

On national news that it's opened.

In the timetable, do all trams just do York Place to Airport, or do any terminate/start short and use crossovers?

 

[ninja-lewis]

On national news that it's opened.

In the timetable, do all trams just do York Place to Airport, or do any terminate/start short and use crossovers?

The timetable only shows 11 early/late services starting/terminating short at the Gyle (missing out Gogarburn, Ingliston and the Airport). Potentially an extra tram could be held at Haymarket Yards to deal with peak demand at Murrayfield while trams could be terminated at Shandwick Place when Princes Street is closed for an event.

 

[GodAtum]

Interesting video of the route here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-27610252

what is the station between Gogarburn and Gyle Centre as it is not marked on the map?

 

[ninja-lewis]

Interesting video of the route here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-27610252

what is the station between Gogarburn and Gyle Centre as it is not marked on the map?

Just a halt at the depot. There will be a stop between the two bridges just afterwards as part of the Edinburgh Gateway station on the Edinburgh-Aberdeen line.

There may be ground works in place already for another stop between Ingliston and Gogarburn for the planned Edinburgh International development. Certainly there's a road crossing ready.

 

[Starmill]

I cannot believe it is actually open!

 

[St Rollox]

Well after all that the trams are finally running.
Next up Borders Rail.

 

[bussnapperwm]

One thing I've noticed on that video is the amounts of grassy based track. Could we see a new type of cancellation??

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

On national news that it's opened.

On the BBC TV news this morning, the female presenter only wanted to talk about the lateness of the project and the over-budget figure when she was talking to a person from the council.