Core at the heart of Tram project
- Friday, April 10, 2009

Core has recently been awarded a prestigious contract to provide the new electrical infrastructure for the Edinburgh Trams project.
Trams have not been seen in Edinburgh City since 1956 however Edinburgh Council and the Scottish Government both realised the benefits of installing a Tram network to create a long-term solution to keep Scotland’s capital city moving.
Core has been tasked with connecting the first two phases of the new Edinburgh Tram Network. The contract includes the connection of 9 new high voltage metering units and 1 x 1000kVA unit sub-station. The total connected capacity for the project will be 12.7MVA.
The line will run between the Ocean Terminal at North Leith to Edinburgh Airport via Leith Walk, Princess St, Haymarket, South Gyle and Gogarburn. The connected length of track at this stage will be 17kM.
David Hall, Senior Project Engineer explains Core’s involvement in this contract “We have worked on the Edinburgh Tram project since 2005. In that time we have been involved in design work and consultation, maintaining dialogue with the tram partners as the project has progressed and the stakeholders changed.
“There is no recent precedent for this type of connection in Scotland and Core has been active in consultations regarding stray-current mitigation and harmonic distortion assessment.” David continued
“We also visited experts in Sheffield from the local DNO and Sheffield Tram Company to gain insight into power quality related issues and experiences they have had.
“This is a high profile contract for Core to be awarded and demonstrates our commitment to work with our clients throughout the design process and provide the best solution for our client.” David concluded
Core is due to commence works on-site in June 2009 with the final works complete by March 2011.Construction work is well underway on the streets of Edinburgh relocating the existing utilities. The infrastructure works started in April 2008 and this work will be carried out by Belfinger Berger and Siemens.
The initial phase of the Edinburgh Tram’s project is on track to become operational by July 2011.