Edinburgh's trams get the go-ahead, just

So, Edinburgh's tram system is to get the go-ahead.

The new SNP
Scottish Government were heavily outvoted when they sought to ditch the controversial £600 million tram scheme for the capital.

Responding to the defeat Finance Secretary John Swinney said the government would go ahead with the trams project but that the government would honour the £490 million commitment to the trams, but not a penny more.

The
EARL (Edinburgh Airport Rail Link) project, which was also costed at around £600 million looks unlikely to get the go ahead.

If you go to the continent you are certainly likely to find that the airport has an integral rail link into the city. That is how things should be. But at a cost of £600 million?

Edinburgh city centre
£490 million for Edinburgh's tram system?

It leaves one wondering what Aberdeen planners were thinking when they let the Aberdeen Airport terminal move from the east side of the airport (where it was right beside the rail station!) to the west side in the 1970s.

Now we face a similar conundrum about how to link Aberdeen Airport more effectively with the city (says the man who has stood at Dyce station waiting and waiting for a taxi to the terminal!).
|