Preston's £1m pilot tram line backed by council
Plans for a pilot £1m tram line in Preston have been approved.
Tram Power Ltd has been granted planning permission for 0.8 miles (1.25km) of tracks on the former Preston to Longridge railway line. Construction of the new Guild line, including a station platform near Deepdale Road and a tram depot at the former Deepdale coal yard site, is due to be finished by summer 2017. Trams have not operated in Preston since 1935. A similar plan, which proposed public use, was rejected in April 2015. Lincoln Shields, the firm's business development manager, said only demonstration rides would be available to authorities and members of the public. He added the firm would submit another proposal to Preston City Council in December to "extend the line to the Red Scar industrial estate near junction 31A on the M6". If approved, fee-paying journeys would be introduced after the completion of the extension. The old Longridge railway line closed in the 1970s.