THE first set of rails for Edinburgh's £545 million tram project are expected to be laid this week after being delivered to Princes Street.
The rails, which had been expected to go down in Leith first, were unveiled by tram chiefs yesterday, with work to fit them set to start on Friday.
Contractors have already dug a trench in the road and are currently installing the sleepers on whi
ch the rails will run.
Those behind the project remain confident that the work in Princes Street will be completed by November, with track laying in Leith Walk now set to begin in September.
Steven Bell, director of the tram project, said: "We're on track for delivery in November. As ever, some weeks we will end up ahead and others behind, but we are doing all the right things for November completion.
"When you look at the project as a whole, there are parts that are a number of months delayed, but we are trying to recover and mitigate that. Princes Street is the key artery for the city, so it is particularly important that it is completed on schedule."
Councillor Gordon Mackenzie, the city's transport convener, said the arrival of the tracks was an "extremely significant milestone."
He said: "I'm was very confident this day would come and it's all the better that it's here now. People have been frustrated because of the roadworks, but I think this will be a turning point.
"People recognise the significance of this, but it will take time before there's a huge amount of progress. We will get Princes Street finished by November and we're currently in discussions with the contractor about the project as a whole, so we won't know until later in the summer what the overall profile of the project is."
The tracks, which are being supplied by Austrian firm VAE, arrived by ship at Leith docks in November last year. They were expected to be laid in Leith Walk and at Stenhouse earlier this year but a series of delays with utility diversions has meant the date has continually been put back.
Alan Rudland, chairman of the Leith Business Association, said there was a perception that work on some parts of the route was being sacrificed in favour of Princes Street. He said: "Once again playing second fiddle – we're the poor relation down here.
"There are work sites on Leith Walk where we're seeing little activity because workers are being reallocated elsewhere."
