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Edinburgh's Tram Depot: visit hosted by Mike Connelly, Head of Public Affairs, Transport Initiatives Edinburgh - Tuesday 24 May 2011

The entrance to the main depot building, still under construction.d

The entrance to the main depot building, still under construction.

© John Yellowlees, 2011

The Depot that is now nearing completion at Gogar will accommodate the 27 tram vehicles, each of 43 metres in length with a capacity for 250 passengers, that have been procured from Spanish manufacturer CAF for the initial line of Edinburgh's network, which will be powered by electricity collected from 750V dc overhead lines.

Trams will be stabled and maintained in the Depot, which is being provided with facilities for cleaning and sanding, a bogie wash, a wheel lathe for maintaining wheel profiles, underfloor lifting equipment, vehicle inspection pits and overhead gantries, interlocked for safety with the overhead line isolation equipment.

The CILT party inside the main shed.d

The CILT party inside the main shed.

© John Yellowlees, 2011

Upstairs is the Service Management Centre, which will be staffed on a 24/7 basis and is being equipped with a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System enabling traction power to be switched off remotely.

The Centre will be able to monitor tram movements, along with the status of the traction power supply system and other network equipment. Alarms will be generated and displayed on control system monitors in response to various events or control conditions.

The Tram Position and Detection System comprising trackside and tramborne equipment and a communication link to the Service Management Centre will give information on the position and identity of the vehicles and enable the tram to set routes automatically, operate points and request the tram signals at road junctions to be changed to proceed.

The Service Management Centre.d

The Service Management Centre.

© John Yellowlees, 2011

In full operation there will be 220 operational staff and around 30 maintenance staff, all based at the Depot, the majority of whom will be required to carry out safety-critical work. Use will be made of a Mercedes Unimog road-rail vehicle and of a shunter for shunting operations in and around the depot.

Nearby will be the interchange at Edinburgh Gateway with the Edinburgh-Fife line (which Transport Scotland's Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme will link directly with Glasgow), and connections with the mainline rail network will be made also at Edinburgh Park and Haymarket. The tram operation will be integrated closely with Lothian Buses.

The Scottish Region thanks Liz Parkes and Mike Connelly of Edinburgh Trams for organising and hosting the visit. Edinburgh City Council is due to decide the way forward with the tram project on 30 June 2011.

Report by John Yellowlees.

 

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