Tuesday April 21st 2026
Tram Trains for Edinburgh (TTfE) public meeting last October at Edinburgh's City Chambers
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
With the SNP party announcing in their manifesto that they will fund a study of a new tram-train route in the capital if they win the election, Edinburgh campaign group Tram Trains for Edinburgh (TTfE) have backed the party’s commitment, calling the decision a significant development in their campaign.
Started in August 2025, the campaign group has been calling on local authorities to consider reintroducing the Edinburgh South Suburban Railway line for public use and linking it to the already exciting tram lines and planned expansion of Edinburgh’s tram system, using vehicles named tram trains to smoothly adapt to various rail types.
Founded to ‘promote the construction and use of public transport in Edinburgh by the use of tram-train technology and to integrate such developments with the existing tram and/or rail networks’, the group was partly formed in response to an extensive study from students at Heriot-Watt University which received significant public interest.
The proposed plans could see a potential expansion into Midlothian and East Lothian, enabling travel beyond the cities boundaries.
In their manifesto, the SNP party announced that they will fund a new study into the potential for tram-trains in Edinburgh, following growing interest in the concept over the past years. The manifesto commitment comes as the Edinburgh Council’s SNP group came out earlier this month in favour of building the southern portion of the city’s new planned tram line.
The concept has received strong support outside of parliament with many Edinburgh councillors backing the plans. Attending a TTfE public meeting last October, Councillor Tim Pogson has been a strong supporter of the concept, alongside SNP councillor and candidate for Edinburgh Eastern, Musselburgh and Tranent Kate Campbell who said a tram-train line could ‘transform’ the city.
Tram Trains for Edinburgh’s Chair, Rob Falcon, welcomed the announcement, describing the study as ‘super helpful’ for their fight for improved transport.
He added: “With all the caveats that go with the middle of an election campaign, it is nevertheless significant that the City Council’s SNP group has come out more clearly in favour of the city’s tram extension.
“However, that the SNP group are clearly supporting the southern tram extension to the Bioquarter, should be seen as a major step forward. As the group says, this route will have a major regional impact by enabling journeys beyond the city boundary into Midlothian and East Lothian.
“It’s also hard not to argue that the project would be easier to deliver – both practically and financially – by being done in smaller sections. We now need the SNP to stick to that position, whilst funds are sought and feasibility studies written – and to win support from their colleagues at the Scottish government.
“Edinburgh needs to get on with developing a mass transit solution to its congestion problems – if not, the economic dynamism of the region risks being undermined.”
Rob Falcon also explained that some members of the SNP group within Edinburgh Council ‘complain that the route takes away a well used active travel path’, adding that many would question this point of view as ‘active travel should be encouraged but this seems an absolutist position when the Council has proposed a viable proposal for trams, cyclists and walkers to share the route’.
This issue is similar to opposition against the Edinburgh tram northern leg expansion to Granton with many residents and politicians concerned about losing the Roseburn path.
The party manifesto said the new tram line should not use the Roseburn Path for its northern leg, but only specified that an ‘alternative route’ should be found.
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