The Strategic Business Case and SEStransit workstream
At the Transport and Environment Committee on 10 September 2026, the Strategic Business Case for the Trams from Granton to Edinburgh BioQuarter / Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh was approved. Full minutes of the meeting and confirmation of decision reached will be published in due course.
It was agreed the immediate priority would be the southern section (city centre - Edinburgh BioQuarter / Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh) and the next step will be to position the plans within the findings of SEStransit, a study for transport in the South East of Scotland region, which is expected to be delivered in the autumn of next year.
The purpose of the SEStransit workstream is to build on Transport Scotland’s Strategic Transport Projects Review 2 Intervention 12 on mass transit in Edinburgh and the South East of Scotland, by preparing a strategic business case for a programme of mass transit across the region that is capable of transforming regional connectivity given its importance to Scotland.
Potential interventions will be modelled and appraised to understand their likely benefits, costs and wider economic impacts. Individual project Outline Business Cases can emerge from SEStransit, as opposed to the whole network being put forward for funding all at once.
This work will also be aligned with the feasibility study on the potential reintroduction of passenger services on the South Suburban Railway line, currently being undertaken by Transport Scotland and Network Rail.
City of Edinburgh Council officers sit on the working group for SEStransit and on the Board at Director level, whilst City of Edinburgh Council councillors sit on the SEStran Partnership Board.
View the approved Strategic Business Case.
An Executive Summary of the Strategic Business Case is available along with a Technical Summary Report which summaries the analysis that was undertaken to support the Strategic Business Case.
In addition, an 'Easy Read' two-page summary of the Strategic Business Case is available to view.