Our favourite thing to complain about has presented itself once again, with Edinburgh Trams announcing closures between 7pm and 7am for travelling to and from Leith and Newhaven. Princes Street and St Andrew Square are also off-limits, with the trams terminating at Haymarket starting October 27.
Edinburgh Trams announced the closures are due to “essential engineering works” needing to be carried out on the tracks at York Place and Shandwick Place. At the same time, some regular checks and maintenance will be carried out on the overhead lines. The works will take place during a 12-hour window starting from 7pm every night between Friday, October 27 (no more quick Friday night rides home for me) and will finish at 7am on Sunday, November 12.
During the closure period, trams will only run between Edinburgh Airport and Haymarket, with buses available as an alternative method of transport.
Edinburgh Trams to Newhaven officially opened on June 6, 2023, and have been operating for four months before being closed again for two weeks. The extension has proven to be well-used among the community, cutting commute times by a significant amount.
Now, it takes around twenty minutes to get from Leith to the city centre, and around an hour on the whole line from Newhaven to Edinburgh Airport.
Speaking of the closures, Andy Conway, Edinburgh Trams Head of Engineering, said: ”
“As part of our scheduled maintenance programme, we will be changing tracks and points on two key sections of the line for the first time since the start of operations in 2014. This will ensure the safety and reliability of future tram services.”
“We will also use this works period to conduct a full maintenance check on some parts of the vital operating equipment on the new section of our network to Newhaven.”
“Works have been timed to conclude ahead of what is expected to be a busy Christmas period and our Customer Experience team will be available on X (Twitter), at help points and via the live chat, to offer travel advice.”