The Edinburgh Trams Nightmare

Posted by lemiffe in Business, Travel on Sep 1st, 2011 | 0 comments

Over four years ago I started making plans to come to Edinburgh, UK, to study a master degree. Naturally, I did some research into the city beforehand and found out that one of the major local issues was the construction of a tram network that would run from the airport all the way to the city centre.

I remember reading that a large percentage of the locals opposed the tram system, partly because the bus system is already an excellent travel option, but primarily because of the chaos the construction would cause. By the time I read that, I believe it had already been under construction for quite a while.

I moved to Edinburgh over two years ago, only to find Princes Street (one of the main streets in Edinburgh) still closed due to the construction. Buses were taking an alternative route, but the people still weren’t happy. This seems quite logical, as it had already been under construction for years with no end in sight.

About a year ago I remember quite clearly that the works on Princes street were finished. The end seemed near. Then shortly before the Pope’s visit not so long ago they even placed a tram on the rails on Princes St. But, was it functional? Well, the thing itself seemed pretty functional… but the rails lead nowhere! Yes, Princes St. had rails installed, but at each end they just terminated abruptly. Construction was still not finished, and there was no evidence to why the works were halted.

Shortly after the scandal grew as the council got into endless debates with the construction committees and the mediators. There was a lot of frustration over the cost of the whole project, and the fact that it was coming out of the public’s pockets. Then they started a debate over whether to scrap the whole project and remove the tram lines, or finish the project off. The issue was costs of course: Is it cheaper to go on or to back off? This was followed by more discussions…

At the end of August, 2011, there were several interesting events reported in the news. I believe the first one is that the council decided to back out and scrap the project. Alarmingly quite a lot of people complained, including citizens who initially opposed the project. Afterwards, the tram chiefs decided it might be best to terminate the line at Haymarket. Finally, according to the Metro newspaper, a consortium (Train manufacturer Bombardier and French company RATP) declared that they would like to take over the construction of the trams and offered a good price. They tried the same previously but were rejected.

Now for my personal view: This is an absolutely ridiculous matter. Come on, years to build a tram system? How hard can it be? So much debate about the costs, so much time wasted, so much money spent on ridiculous meetings in posh hotels that reached no conclusion, so much chaos in Princes St. for years. I wonder how stupid a group of people must be not to be able to develop a proper system, a clear view of the costs based on materials and labour, a precise estimate of time, and a funding effort to obtain the money from various sources instead of relying primarily on the council.

Half of the tram line is already there! It’s just a matter of being intelligent, adding some numbers, deciding on the best strategy, and going ahead with it. You can’t back out now. That would be like NASA saying “oh, sorry astronauts, we’ll have to leave you up there on the ISS because we’ve disbanded all our shuttles and it would cost us too much money to get someone else to bring you down.” (I seriously hope that doesn’t happen, that will be the moment I lose faith in humanity).

Anyway, that is just my 2p on this issue. Think first, then act, but don’t spend too long thinking, and don’t back out when you’ve already started to act.

Bi-Weekly Highlights (05/09/2010)

Posted by lemiffe in Photography, Sightseeing, Weekly Highlights on Sep 7th, 2010 | 1 comment

Two weeks full of madness, fun, work and partying! I have switched to part-time at work as I am starting a Masters degree at the University of Edinburgh. This picture is from a couple of weeks ago when they started road works outside my office and I had to walk a great deal to the nearest bus stop. It was worth it, beautiful plains to take pictures of. Blurriness is intentional.

So I moved to Edinburgh a week ago, and one of the first things I did was take a stroll through Princes Street all the way to St. Andrew’s square. This is a picture of the castle taken from Princes Street.

A few days ago we had the Edinburgh Fireworks as a close to the Festival… beautiful. A camera can never capture the full glory of fireworks, but I’m posting this picture anyway as a memory.

I climbed Holyrood yesterday with my best mate. 1 hour cycling to/from my house, and 2 hours to reach the top and get back down again… Good exercise!

So that’s all for this week… cheerio!

Bi-Weekly Highlights (22/08/2010)

Posted by lemiffe in Photography, Weekly Highlights on Aug 23rd, 2010 | 0 comments

Haven’t posted in a couple of weeks. Been extremely busy but finally I have a few minutes. We’ve had really really random weather, ranging from the nice and warm to the dreadful storms. Today I thought the world would fall on me.

So, at the start of a couple of weeks ago we enjoyed a few days of great weather:

Followed by mad rains, which quickly vanished as the next photo describes.

The road outside the office has been under repair for a week now. Today I had to run under the rain for 20 minutes, without much hope of finding a bus as they had been re-routed. Fortunately one stopped for me, in the middle of the street. I think he had a bit of compassion for a drenched soul wandering the highway. This picture was taken near the office last week.

I went travelling this weekend to Edinburgh for a fun time and a look around. Before I left I passed this chippie. I’ve never actually been there, but I’ve taken many photos of it, hoping some day I get the chance to visit it.

Weekly Highlights (28/03/2010)

Posted by lemiffe in Photography, Weekly Highlights on Mar 28th, 2010 | 0 comments

This is a random picture I took at the Edinburgh Airport at the beginning of the week. No, I haven’t been flying, I went to say goodbye.

After that I caught a terribly bad cold/cough, hence the fact I have no more photos to show this week. It’s bad in a way, you know, breaking the habit. Having at least those 3 photos every week gives me a reminder of time, and when it becomes something consistent you know you can always go back 2 weeks, 5 months, a year, and see what you were doing on a precise week.

So I’m starting to recover at last, Sunday, and I have a heavy working week ahead of me. I hope to be in a good enough condition to be able to concentrate adequately on my work. At least the rain and grey skies have cleared for a couple of days, I hope it lasts a bit longer.

Weekly Highlights (22/02/2010)

Posted by lemiffe in Art, Photography, Weekly Highlights on Feb 22nd, 2010 | 0 comments

A photo from Croy Railway Station. One train was waiting on the left rail, one was arriving on the right-hand side. I took it with prolonged exposure to be able to capture the movement. Taken about 3 days ago on my way back from work.

This place reminded me a lot of a Mexican patio. The old fan sitting around, unused. The type of patterned wall. The small storage shed on the left. And specially, the iron grid with spirals used as protection on the window where I took the photo from. Very Mexican indeed.

So I went out for a walk around Glasgow city centre yesterday. I found this sign which caught my attention. Deep fried Mars bars, heheh… Had to give it a try!