The Edinburgh Tram network operates a fleet of

CAF Urbos 3 The CAF Urbos is a family of trams, streetcars, and light rail vehicles built by CAF. The Basque manufacturer CAF previously manufactured locomotives, passenger cars, regional, and underground trains. In 1993, CAF started building trams for Met ...

low-floor Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i.e ...

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

s that were specially designed for use in the city. Twenty-seven were built in

Beasain Beasain is a town and municipality located in the Goierri region of the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, northern Spain. It has an important industry of railway vehicles and related equipment ( CAF) that ...

, Spain, between 2009 and 2011.

History

The contract to build a fleet of 27 trams for the Phase 1a (currently on hold) and Phase 1b tram lines was awarded to the Spanish rail equipment manufacturer CAF in November 2007 and is worth up to £40 million. The trams are built to meet the highly bespoke specifications issued by

Transport Initiatives Edinburgh Tie Ltd. (previously Transport Initiatives Edinburgh Ltd.) was a Scottish company which, from May 2002 to August 2011, project-managed large-scale transport projects on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council in Edinburgh. It was brought in as par ...

which precluded the use of an existing design. CAF was selected by competitive tender from a list of four rail vehicle manufacturers, the others being

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...

, Bombardier, and

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

. A full size mockup of the front of the proposed tram was constructed and put on display on

Princes Street Princes Street ( gd, Sràid nam Prionnsan) is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, stretching around 1.2 km (three ...

for the public to view. The replica tram was moved to Constitution Street at the foot of

Leith Walk Leith Walk is one of the longest streets in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is the main road connecting the centre of the city to Leith. Forming most of the A900 road, it slopes downwards from Picardy Place at the south-western end of the street to the ...

in April 2009. There was also a tram front mockup put on display at the Gyle Shopping centre next to the bus stop. The first finished tram was delivered on 26 April 2010 and went on public display on 28 April 2010 at the location of the previous mockup in Princes Street, before being moved to open storage in

Broxburn Broxburn ( gd, Srath Bhroc, IPA: �s̪ɾaˈvɾɔʰk is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, on the A89 road, from the West End of Edinburgh, from Edinburgh Airport and to the north of Livingston. Etymology The name Broxburn is a corruption of " ...

in November 2010. The tram arrived far in advance of the completion of infrastructure (including its home depot), which has suffered serious delays and cost over-runs. The tramway opened on 31 May 2014.

Specifications

The Edinburgh trams are bi-directional, long and built with 100%

access Access may refer to: Companies and organizations * ACCESS (Australia), an Australian youth network * Access (credit card), a former credit card in the United Kingdom * Access Co., a Japanese software company * Access Healthcare, an Indian BPO se ...

to meet UK Rail Vehicle Access Regulations for disabled people. Passenger capacity is 250 – 78 seated, 170 standing and 2 wheelchair spaces – and the trams will be fitted with

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...

Several special requirements were specified for the tram vehicles: they have to cope with the steep slopes of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

streets, operate with low noise and offer a visual fit suitable for a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

. The particular requirements were specified by Transport for Edinburgh with the aim of designing an advanced tram system tailored for the needs of Edinburgh. To achieve the low noise requirement a self lubricating system is used to avoid the squeal of wheels on track when turning tight curves around streetcorners at intersections and elsewhere.

Livery

To create a visual continuity between the tram fleets and local bus services, Edinburgh trams have the same livery as that of

Lothian Buses Lothian Buses is a major bus operator based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the largest municipal bus company in the United Kingdom: the City of Edinburgh Council (through Transport for Edinburgh) owns 91%, Midlothian Council 5%, East Lothian ...

. The tram mockup shown in 2009 was decorated with the red and gold "harlequin" design that was introduced on Lothian Buses in the 2000s. Following the announcement of a rebranding of the bus fleet in April 2010, Lothian Buses reintroduced their traditional

madder ''Rubia'' is the type genus of the Rubiaceae family of flowering plants, which also contains coffee. It contains around 80 species of perennial scrambling or climbing herbs and subshrubs native to the Old World. The genus and its best-known spe ...

and white

livery A livery is an identifying design, such as a uniform, ornament, symbol or insignia that designates ownership or affiliation, often found on an individual or vehicle. Livery will often have elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or ...

, and the tram livery was updated to a matching colour scheme.

Testing

The first part of the tram line to be completed was a short section between Gogarburn and the depot at

Gogar Gogar is a predominantly rural area of Edinburgh, Scotland, located to the west of the city. It is not far from Gogarloch, Edinburgh Park and Maybury. The Fife Circle Line is to the north. Etymology The name of Gogar first appears in a clearly ...

. Testing of new trams on this stretch of track started in December 2011 - the first time that a tram had moved under electric power in Edinburgh since 1956. The first daytime test run of a tram along the full route from

Edinburgh Airport Edinburgh Airport is an airport located in the Ingliston area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the busiest airport in Scotland in 2019, handling over 14.7 million passengers. It was also the sixth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom by t ...

to York Place took place on 20 February 2014.

In service

The fleet of 27 was ordered before the proposed network was curtailed. An attempt in 2011 to lease ten trams to Transport for London for use on

Tramlink London Trams, previously Tramlink and Croydon Tramlink, is a light rail tram system serving Croydon and surrounding areas in South London, England. It began operation in 2000, the first tram system in the London region since 1952. It is manage ...

was unsuccessful and thus Edinburgh Trams took delivery of all 27 even though only half are required to operate the network at its peak.Edinburgh's trams are on track for Croydon
''The Herald'' 26 March 2011

References

External links

{{Transport in Edinburgh Edinburgh Trams Tram vehicles of the United Kingdom CAF rolling stock Train-related introductions in 2014 750 V DC multiple units Electric multiple units of Great Britain