Edinburgh, Scotland.
Mid-2000s.
A shiny new tram network was promised.
Fast, green, world-class transport across the city.

Greta was not born yet… but she could be smiling for ours to a project like this.

The vehicle?
Of course…

A complex PPP scheme led by Transport Initiatives Edinburgh (TIE) with multiple contractors, including Bilfinger Berger and Siemens.

​
Signed in 2006.
Cost? £375 million.
Opening date? 2011.

What actually happened?

• Endless disputes between the public agency and the private contractors.
• Construction delays so bad that people literally forgot the city was supposed to have trams.
• Streets ripped up for years, paralyzing local businesses.
• Costs ballooned to £1 billion — almost 3x the original.

Lawyers paradise… Who sued who?

• Contractors sued the public agency for design changes and late payments.
• The public agency threatened to sue the contractors for cost overruns and missed deadlines.
• Residents and businesses started separate lawsuits over lost income and disturbance.

2014 — The first line finally opens.
Seven years late.
One single line instead of the full network.

The political fallout?

• Heads rolled.
• Public trust in PPPs collapsed.
• Edinburgh became a punchline for bad project management across Europe.
• Great was born… unhappy.

Brutal lessons:

• If the project scope isn’t 100% locked before signing, you're building a time bomb.
• Multi-contractor PPPs need wartime-grade governance, not PowerPoint slides.
• Political wishful thinking kills delivery discipline.
• Litigation isn't a risk; it’s a certainty when your contract is a mess.

Moral:
If your project needs seven years of excuses, lawsuits, and triple the money,
you didn’t build infrastructure.
You built a monument to failure.

I have other interesting and horror stories about my last project in the link below.

PD 1: If you liked this email, don't keep it in secret and forward it to a friend. They will thank you enormously one day.

PD 2: If somebody has sent you this email and you want to receive emails like this yourself, visit vicentevalencia.com

PD 3: If you want unsubscribe, click the link below.