Governing top politicians in Uppsala took turns on Thursday to symbolically dig in a pile of gravel along Dag Hammarsköld’s road to illustrate that the work on the tramway has now begun.
One of them was Erik Pelling (S), chairman of the municipal board.
The Uppsala package
333 trees are to be removed in Uppsala – now the light rail construction begins
Uppsala’s tram has cost 166 million – before construction has started
– There are few issues that have been investigated so thoroughly in Uppsala. It has not been obvious to me that we should have a tramway, but it has been obvious that we need to expand public transport, he says.
The issue of light rail or “superbuses” has been fought and fought for decades and led to the Alliance’s split last summer when the Liberals in Uppsala stood behind the rail-driven alternative.
Everything is not decided
But despite the fact that construction has now begun, the last word has not been said. Not all parts of the route are decided and ready.
– We will do everything in our power to stop this project in the event of a change of power, says Therez Almerfors (M), municipal councilor in opposition.
Erik Pelling (S) does not consider it irresponsible to start the giant project before all the parts are in place.
– It would not have been responsible not to work in parallel with several processes. It costs a lot of money and in the meantime we have to procure contractors to meet the 2029 schedule.
In the clip above: Here, Erik Pelling (S) is celebrating in the excavator – and starting the tramway construction.
This is how the tramway is planned to run:
Photo: Uppsala municipality