THE ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH DRIVERS
IN SCOTLAND
CORRESPONDENCE ON THE EDINBURGH TRAM PROPOSALS
By Bruce Young:-
On 28th March, I sent the following questions to the City of Edinburgh Council Tram Managers for Lines 1 and 2, respectively, ian.mathie@edinburgh.gov.uk and cliff.hutt@edinburgh.gov.uk.
Line One
I am interested in the financial viability of the Edinburgh Tram project and would very much appreciate the following information for Line One.
- 1. What is the projected cost of laying the track on Line One? (I appreciate that the figures given to the City of Edinburgh Council in December last were simply a discounted cash flow, as at quarter two of 2003, of the projected costs of building the infrastructure).
- 2. What was the justification for producing a discounted cash flow as at that date, bearing in mind that the actual construction is intended to take place in the years 2006 – 2009?
- 3. What discount factor was used in that discounted cash flow and why?
- 4. Does this factor reflect the anticipated construction industry rate of inflation as a result of the high level of construction work currently being planned and executed locally? And, if so, what is your anticipation?
- 5. I have heard it suggested that three car units will be used, each capable of carrying up to 200 passengers. Is this correct?
- 6. If not, what configuration and capacity of units do you anticipate ordering?
- 7. What will be the capital cost of a tram unit, its expected life and the floor space available to passengers?
- 8. How many units will be required to service that Line?
- 9. Will there be transfers of units between Lines One and Two?
- 10. What are the anticipated annual running costs of each unit i.e.
(a) depreciation
(b) maintenance
(c) fuel
(d) Cleaning
(e) Staff - drivers and administration.
(f) What other routine costs are envisaged?
- 11. What are the annual routine maintenance requirements and do you anticipate having to hold reserve units while mainstream stock is being serviced?
- 12. What do you anticipate will be the cost per passenger mile from these units?
- 13. Accepting that steel shod wheels will be used on the trams, what maintenance cost do you anticipate in this particular respect and how does it compare with the cost of maintaining the equivalent sections of dedicated bus lane?
- 14. How frequently do you anticipate that the wheel rims will need to be replaced, bearing in mind the pressure between wheel and rail and the risk of rapid metal fatigue?
- 15. What grounds do you have for forming the view described in question (14) above?
- 16. What do you regard as being the economic life of the infrastructure and of each element i.e. the number of years over which the capital would be written off? Because, at the end of the period, the asset would have to be replaced entirely, or the capital expenditure profile over the decades:
(a) the track
(b) terminals and tram stops
(c) transformers, generation stations, switch gear etc
(d) Other
- Obviously, provision would need to be made in each year’s operating costs to meet that planned obsolescence.
- 17. What is the projected annual maintenance cost of the infrastructure, subdivided as above
- 18. What is the projected capital cost of property acquisition and compensation payments?
- 19. What are the projected annual passenger-km and peak loads
(a) in the first year of operation?
(b) year by year as the redevelopment of Granton / Leith Docks takes place?
- 20. The anticipated annual take from the fare box
- 21. The anticipated annual fuel consumption
- 22. Have the equivalent costs been calculated for the alternative introduction of bus services? If so, what are they?
- 23. Specifically, what would it cost to create the local infrastructure to enable buses to avoid congestion?
- 24. How many buses do you anticipate would be required to maintain an equivalent service, bearing in mind that a “quality bus lane” is already being introduced from Leith to Loanhead on existing roads?
- 25. What additional road building would be required for buses to provide the equivalent service and what would that cost? It seems to me that there would be a substantial reduction in the cost of providing that facility, compared to the laying of railways on ground, much of which will have to be purchased.
I would very much appreciate these details, which I am sure are already available as a result of the preliminary work carried out in determining the feasibility of this project.
Regards, Bruce Young
And Line Two
I am interested in the financial viability of the Edinburgh Tram project and would very much appreciate the following information for Line Two.
- 1. What is the projected cost of laying the track on Line Two? (I appreciate that the figures given to the City of Edinburgh Council in December last were simply a discounted cash flow, as at quarter two of 2003, of the projected costs of building the infrastructure).
- 2. What was the justification for producing a discounted cash flow as at that date, bearing in mind that the actual construction is intended to take place in the years 2006 – 2009?
- 3. What discount factor was used in that discounted cash flow and why?
- 4. Does this factor reflect the anticipated construction industry rate of inflation as a result of the high level of construction work currently being planned and executed locally? And, if so, what is your anticipation?
- 5. I have heard it suggested that three car units will be used, each capable of carrying up to 200 passengers. Is this correct?
- 6. If not, what configuration and capacity of units do you anticipate ordering?
- 7. What will be the capital cost of a tram unit, its expected life and the floor space available to passengers?
- 8. How many units will be required to service that Line?
- 9. Will there be transfers of units between Lines One and Two?
- 10. What are the anticipated annual running costs of each unit i.e.
(a) depreciation
(b) maintenance
(c) fuel
(d) Cleaning
(e) Staff - drivers and administration.
(f) What other routine costs are envisaged?
- 11. What are the annual routine maintenance requirements and do you anticipate having to hold reserve units while mainstream stock is being serviced?
- 12. What do you anticipate will be the cost per passenger mile from these units?
- 13. Accepting that steel shod wheels will be used on the trams, what maintenance cost do you anticipate in this particular respect and how does it compare with the cost of maintaining the equivalent sections of dedicated bus lane?
- 14. How frequently do you anticipate that the wheel rims will need to be replaced, bearing in mind the pressure between wheel and rail and the risk of rapid metal fatigue?
- 15. What grounds do you have for forming the view described in question (14) above?
- 16. What do you regard as being the economic life of the infrastructure and of each element i.e. the number of years over which the capital would be written off? Because, at the end of the period, the asset would have to be replaced entirely, or the capital expenditure profile over the decades:
(a) the track
(b) terminals and tram stops
(c) transformers, generation stations, switch gear etc
(d) Other
Obviously, provision would need to be made in each year’s operating costs to meet that planned obsolescence.
- 17. What is the projected annual maintenance cost of the infrastructure, subdivided as above
- 18. What is the projected capital cost of property acquisition and compensation payments?
- 19. What are the projected annual passenger-km and peak loads
(a) in the first year of operation?
(b) year by year as West Edinburgh / the Airport is developed?
- 20. The anticipated annual take from the fare box
- 21. The anticipated annual fuel consumption
- 22. Have the equivalent costs been calculated for the alternative introduction of bus services? If so, what are they?
- 23. Specifically, what would it cost to create the local infrastructure to enable buses to avoid congestion?
- 24. How many buses do you anticipate would be required to maintain an equivalent service, bearing in mind that a “quality bus lane” is already being introduced from Leith to Loanhead on existing roads and a bus lane is already taking up road space along broadly the line proposed for the trams?
- 25. What additional road building would be required for buses to provide the equivalent service and what would that cost? It seems to me that there would be a substantial reduction in the cost of providing that facility, compared to the laying of railways on ground, much of which will have to be purchased.
I would very much appreciate these details, which I am sure are already available as a result of the preliminary work carried out in determining the feasibility of this project.
Regards, Bruce Young
I had an acknowledgement from both saying that they had referred my questions to Transport Initiatives Edinburgh, who were managing the project.
I eventually received a reply from Weber Shandwick PR agency - please click here to view it.
Bruce Young
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