TRAM bosses have released a series of pictures showing progress on the project, just days after engineers claimed the scheme was now “even more out of control” than when arms-length council company TIE was in charge. The photographs show the state of work at various points along the route between the airport and York Place. And officials said work on re-laying the track in Princes Street was on course for completion ahead of schedule in the next few weeks, paving the way for the road to be reopened to buses next month.

The Capital’s main shopping street has been closed to all traffic since last September, with a month-long suspension of work over Christmas. It was scheduled to re-open in July, but now officials say the work is nearing completion and Princes Street will be returned to normal next month between Lothian Road and Waverley Bridge. The works at the junction of Princes Street and South St Andrew Street will not finish until the end of the year.

LEITH Walk and Edinburgh’s Waterfront face being cut adrift from the capital’s tram project for at least another five years after the tram finally gets up and running. The new Labour and SNP coalition running Edinburgh City Council has agreed to press ahead with just half a tram line to the city centre during its term in office. And a referendum may eventually have to be held before the council agrees to pursue any further extensions.

The previous Lib Dem-led administration had been hoping to raise extra funding to finish off the first line of the much-delayed project, which had been due to reach major regeneration areas of Leith, Newhaven and Granton. Much of the £600m spent on the project has been eaten up on tramworks from Leith Walk to the waterfront, where the project started just over five years ago.

Retailers have been promised buses and taxis will be back travelling along Edinburgh's Princes Street by the end of the month. Edinburgh City Council has confirmed the thoroughfare will reopen west of Waverley Bridge. However, tram works will close St Andrew Square and York Place in the autumn. Work will finish at the end of the year when the square will reopen. However it is unclear whether it will be open in time for Christmas.

An Edinburgh City Council spokesman said: "The revised programme of works is designed to minimise the time we spend on site, particularly in the city centre, and to complete the project as soon as possible. Working continuously on-site gives us the best chance of sticking to this programme. In the meantime, we will continue to offer city centre traders all available support."

PRINCES Street will re-open to buses within days – just before one of the busiest routes into the city centre closes for more than a year. The Evening News can reveal today that York Place will close to all vehicles except buses from July 14 before being completely shut in September to make way for the latest stage of tram works. It also emerged today that the bus station will be closed for more than a year to allow the laying of tram tracks.

York Place will not re-open until the end of 2013, meaning motorists are likely to face hold-ups and a winding diversion through the lanes of the New Town for up to 16 months. Transport chiefs believe the cobbled streets will be able to cope with the huge increase in traffic and will alter parking arrangements, including banning “nose-in” parking to widen the road. They claimed it would result in delays of only around five minutes.

Buses have returned to Princes Street as the road has been reopened after ten months of tram works. Contractors had to replace the tarmac between the tramlines after the weight of the buses had caused it to crumble. Most city centre buses will return to the road but some diversions are still in place.

Princes Street reopens on Saturday from the west end to North Bridge. Buses will still be diverted away from West Maitland Street and Haymarket Terrace and buses between North Bridge and Princes Street continue to be diverted non-stop via Leith Street and York Place. The main stop for night buses will still be on George Street. Lothian Buses said the details of all the diversions will be shown at all bus stops.

EDINBURGH’s controversial trams could be up and running at least six months earlier than expected. Behind-the-scenes talks are taking place to try to allow passengers on board the first services by the end of next year, sources close to the project have revealed. An improved rate of progress since a long-running dispute with contractors was settled a year ago has raised hopes of an earlier-than-scheduled completion of the project’s curtailed route from Edinburgh airport to the city centre.

Under the current timetable, the city’s £776 million system was not due to be operational until July 2014 at the earliest. But it is understood so much progress has been made since the contractual dispute ended that the timetable is about to be brought forward.

PEOPLE will finally be able to see trams running in Edinburgh again within weeks, council leaders confirmed today. More than five years after work began on the capital’s long-delayed scheme, the first full test runs are to finally go ahead on a stretch of line between the capital’s airport and Gogar from 26 November.

The section is the first part of the tram project to be completed and is due to be handed over to the city council from the project contractors in March. The first public services are not due to start running again until July 2014, although the council has admitted it may be able to start running them earlier than that due to the rate of progress on the project.

Princes Street will reopen fully to buses, taxis and bikes on Saturday following tram works. The busy thoroughfare between North Bridge and South St David Street will be opened from 00:01 on Saturday. Bus stops outside the Princes Mall will also be reinstated for both eastbound and westbound buses by early December.

The Alive After Five initiative is also to be reintroduced from 3 December to 5 January, where shops open later and evening parking charges will be waived. It is part of a drive to encourage city shoppers to spend more time in the city centre.

THE Capital’s trams are today being tested at full speed for the first time. A tram is being put through its paces at up to 70km per hour on a stretch of track at Ingliston, as the track and vehicles undergo some of their most demanding tests yet. The tram has run on the stretch between Edinburgh Airport and the tram depot at Gogar, but at lower speeds. The runs and system tests are the final part of the development of this section of the route. The tests are being monitored by transport convener Lesley Hinds and Scottish transport minister, Keith Brown.

The tram system will eventually run 18.3 miles from Edinburgh Airport to York Place. Overhead power lines between the airport and Gogar, 2.8km away, were electrified last month, meaning that section of line is ready for full-scale tests. If all goes well, the stretch will be the first major section of the tram line to be completed. It will then be handed over by the contractors to the city council in March, a clear sign that the troubled project is on track for completion in the summer of 2014.

The Evening News has won a major victory for Edinburgh’s old and disabled folk by ensuring they will be able to use their bus passes on trams for free when it begins operating. Our pressure – backed by hundreds of loyal readers – has been hailed as a victory for common sense.

City transport convener Lesley Hinds welcomed the major step forward for the city and said: “We are determined that Edinburgh residents who are eligible for free travel across the country should be able to use the tram on the same basis and we’re now working with Transport Scotland to explore ways in which Edinburgh City Council can support such a local scheme.”

Today’s announcement comes after the Scottish Government and council chiefs agreed to find a way of extending concessionary fares to cover the tram network. Talks on how the scheme will operate are expected to take place between the council, government agency Transport Scotland and bus and tram operator Lothian Buses in the near future.