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Edinburgh trams: Section of track to be ripped up
"
MORE than 150 metres of concrete laid as part of the tram works will have to be ripped up following a sub-contractor blunder, the News can reveal.
The concrete between Haymarket and Shandwick Place will have to be redone, with estimates suggesting the work will take up to four weeks.
"
(That bit always did seem amazingly bumpy to cross...)
It amazes me that only these sections fail to meet a satisfactory standard, given what I've seen to date, and reports on this thread.
Maybe there are lessons to learn from a number of US cities (over 80 I'm told) who have restored streetcar systems to link up parts of the city. They are designed to have a minimum amount of on street track, often using 'grass track' to manage noise, rainfall run-off, pollution, and local climate. To start up the service, and make the schemes affordable they use refurbished secondhand vehicles, or run-on production from an existing order placed by a comparable system.
The US PCC trams, the Czech Tatra units and the German standard vehicles illustrate how to deliver a universal and low cost mass produced vehicle can make trams affordable but as new, and given the success of rebuilt PCC and Tatra trams, with new wiring, and low floor vehicles. Hopefully if Glasgow decides to restore trams we can get some more prudent specification ... but I'm not holding my breath.
"It amazes me that only these sections fail to meet a satisfactory standard"
Well, it will be interesting to see what is 'found' before the line is passed for public use.
Anti-tram yarn bomber strikes with new banner
Hurrah for the yarnbomber.
Nice has neatly avoided the unsightly mess of tram wires and poles in sensitive areas
Anyone else concerned about the amount of yellow paint now put down where the tram tracks cross roads, presumably to "mark" them for the benefit of drivers?
Possibly a bit niche for most, but the junction of Lochside Avenue and Lochside Crescent (Ed Park/Gyle) is looking increasingly dodgy for 2-wheelers. (It's not just paint, and tram-related ironwork - the radius of the kerb heading west has been tightened, and there seems to be a new set of pedestrian-crossing studs to avoid eastbound).
Location here: http://goo.gl/maps/OCwdN surface detail well out-of-date.
Meanwhile in Sheffield http://www.greatgasbeetle.com/cycling-and-the-sheffield-tram-network-a-match-made-in-hell/
Why are they installing cables? None of the artists impressions had cables and I assumed it was therefore powered by some sort of fusion reactor or similar (that money must have went somewhere, after all) I now feel somewhat mislead. I should complain to someone.
Fusion, from the way they were talking I assumed they ran on The Force.
When the trams were originally planned, the section in the center of town was to have used "Bordeaux rails" - power rails that activate when the weight of the tram is applied. This was a tad expensive, and was the first thing to be scrapped when the project went over budget.
I'm looking forward to them.
They're no more potentially injurious to a cyclist's health than any number of other hazards, most particularly badly driven motor vehicles.
They're likely to be a driver for the removal of traffic from the city centre.
What's not to like? The decision was made, they're coming, welcome them. There's no point whinging because it sounds ever more like the car-bound anti-cyclist brigade.
What's not to like? Great idea, but it would have been nice if the execution had been better. :-X
"would have been nice if the execution had been better"
And a more useful route (with less political prestige involved) - and without the financial millstone legacy for the city.
Regarding paths closed due to tramworks currently;
Please find below both completion and projected dates for the remaining sections west of Haymarket Yards to be open/re-opened.
Balbirnie to Russell Road footpath - Open
Water of Leith walkway, East side closure at railway bridge - Open
Water of Leith walkway, West side closure at railway bridge - End of July 2013
Path from Balgreen Road up to old railway line to Pinkhill, adjacent to Jenners Depository - Mid August 2013
Path behind the Carrick Knowe golf course clubhouse, along the North side of the tram tracks to a path off Carrick Knowe Avenue - Summer 2013 (no specific date yet), only the section from the Clubhouse Gate to S23 Carrick Knowe bridge, including the link behind the flats.
Trams running slowly from gogarburn to airport and back now on regular basis, without passengers. Looking good. Time to shift the moaning which is of course perfectly justified into some other stance. Ironic distansiation might be good? As trams beloved in Manchester and Dublin now despite earlier resistance similar to that in Edinburgh.
if there is parking at gogarburn everyone needs to drive there and then catch the tram, it will be super smooth
Oh I love tram, I love it because it's tram as Oscar The Trash Monster used to sing
"Trams running slowly from gogarburn to airport and back now on regular basis"
Yes, I suppose there needs to be a running-in period but I would expect them to have speeded up by now.
"Time to shift the moaning which is of course perfectly justified into some other stance. Ironic distansiation might be good?"
Had to look that up -
The effect of distancing or estranging a spectator through means within the form or content of a text that challenge basic codes and conventions, and therefore mainstream ideological expectations
"
If you say so...
I like trams, and trains and bicycles and buses (if they are not too close).
My main 'problems' with the tram are -
Poor and expensive implementation.
Inability to take advantage of 'disruption' to ENCOURAGE walking/cycling/PT use (and make it clear it won't be 'business as usual' - for motors - when tram is running). The Princes/George Street 'fuss' is a bit late and about too small an area.
And the inevitable - if only they'd spent that much money on...
Spot the wires -
I wonder if history could ever repeat itself in Edinburgh?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22932518
Costs only e38M!! Cheap as chips.
Population of Vélez Malaga: 74,190. Tram connected to Torre del Mar, don't know about the population there, but presumably highly seasonal.
Two issues: not enough tourists, and city finances. Spain has been in recession for longer, and I imagine the tax take is down...
somewhere convenient to hang the bunting from in the Festival!
How long before we see the obligatory plimsoles with laces tied, dangling from the overhead lines? I wonder how many pairs of plimsoles would have to drop on the tram before the build up is considered a hazard to pedestrians walking along side the trams? ;o)
so they're hoping to turn a profit by stringing lots of words together that a sentence do not make?
And for anyone not reading the comments, there was an interesting financial analysis from someone in South Queensferry, who predicts that the trams will incur "a gross loss of £25.3m per year for the next 30 years alone."
http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/opinion/letters/figures-off-track-1-2974064
It occurred to me that the trams to date have probably benefitted Edinburgh's cyclists in terms of improved fitness, by making them ride further than usual and up hills they would normally avoid.
I am worried by the continued stress on the fact that they are definitely not going to take money away from Lothian Buses. Definitely not. Definitely no money from Lothian Buses. Lothian buses will definitely not be affected.
I can smell the sort of screeching u-turn normally associated with black cabs in the city centre when there is "only a cyclist in the way".
My bike handling skillz have increased no-end having to Danny Mackaskill my way to work along the Broomhouse Path.
The simple way to put the Tram back into to profit is to remove the conductors and have a 'driver-only' system.
This is the way they do it in France. You purchase a ticket at the tram stop, or in advance. You then jump on a tram and stamp your ticket in the machine ('composter'). An inspector could get on to check your ticket, but not always.
Yes, the system is then open to abuse, but the lost revenue would be a lot less than the cost of employing conductors for every tram.
I notice that the traffic lights have been installed at the junction of Haymarket yards. That's two sets within 50 yards on NCN1.....sigh
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