'No way' tram project will stay within £545m budget

THE city's tram line will not be ready until May 2012 unless transport bosses can make up for a nine-month delay on crucial work at the Gogar tram depot, it can be revealed today.

The setback is likely to push up the cost of the £545 million scheme by millions and piles pressure on the future of the project, which is meant to be finished by July 2011.

The site next to Gogar Roundabout will house the tram depot, a tram stop and all of the main signalling and electrical equipment for the tram line.

But the Evening News understands that engineers have encountered a series of problems on the site, including complications on diverting a huge water pipe which runs under the A8 close to the Gyle Shopping Centre.

There have also been delays in starting work to remove the 141,000 cubic metres of earth from the site.

Work on the Gogar site is one of the tram project's "critical path" activities, which means that TIE cannot work around it as scores of other jobs hinge on the depot being finished on time.

Another headache for transport bosses is the plan for a new railway station on the Gogar site. Transport Scotland has still to firm up its plans for the interchange and this could impact upon progress on the depot.

The first tram cars are expected in Edinburgh next summer, and once the depot is completed, a stretch between Gogar and Edinburgh Park is meant to be used for the first trials.

Tram firm TIE today insisted it was working on a number of initiatives to speed up construction which it hopes can slash the delays at Gogar by six months.

However, John Carson, the former head of one of the country's biggest engineering firms Miller Civil Engineering, cast doubt on the chances of TIE catching up.

He said: "There is no getting away from how critical the depot site is to the whole project.

"It energises it, it signals it and these things all need a long bedding in and testing period.

"This project is nine months late and that can only push the cost of the project in one direction. There is no way they can bring this in within the £545m – they need to face up to that now."

In conjunction with the work on the depot, a £4m project to bore an underpass beneath the A8 in order to connect the tram depot and Gyle Shopping Centre got under way last year. A bridge will be built over the A8 to allow pedestrian access to the Gogar depot stop, but the location of this bridge will hinge on the final siting of the Gogar train station.

When the line is completed, trams heading to Edinburgh Airport will go through the tunnel from the Gyle and turn left into the depot area. They will then head onwards across fields at Gogar to the airport.

A spokeswoman for TIE said: "The Edinburgh Tram Project is currently working to formally agree a revised programme with the tram consortium.

"It is a priority that any revision of the programme agreed with the consortium will include the optimal solutions for recovering some of the lost time in depot construction."

MSP welcomes cuts to bonuses

THE decision by tram bosses to review their bonus scheme has been welcomed by the MSP who flagged up the payments.

Earlier this week the Evening News revealed that bosses at the council-owned company had ruled the bonus pot for 2008-9 is to be cut from around £600,000 to £100,000 after the Newhaven to airport line slipped behind schedule and over budget.

Shirley-Anne Somerville, the SNP MSP who uncovered figures showing nearly £1 million had been paid in bonuses up to March 2008, said she was pleased TIE was cutting "fat cat" bonuses.

She added: "I welcome any move towards a fairer and tighter bonus system, but it is vital this is a thorough and genuine review."