Minister 'not hopeful' Manx horse trams will run in 2022

The horse trams last ran along a stretch of Douglas Promenade in 2019

It is still uncertain when the horse trams will resume running on Douglas Promenade, the Infrastructure Minister has said.

Tim Crookall said he was "not hopeful" at this stage that the heritage tramway would resume services this year.

The horse trams were suspended in 2019 to accommodate the promenade refurbishment project.

Mr Crookall said there had been "considerable difficulty in securing materials to finish off" the tracks.

He told Tynwald ongoing issues with the delivery of the tramline points, which are needed to run the trams to Broadway, were holding up the reinstatement of the lines.

'Outstanding components'

"I am very disappointed that there is not a definite delivery date on the outstanding components so I am not yet able to provide a date for completion," he said.

Attempts were being made to find an alternative solution to allow the trams to operate this summer, he added.

Speaker of the House of Keys, Juan Watterson, said the project had "lurched from one crisis to the next", while Daphne Caine MHK said the future of the horse trams was being put "at risk because of the department's incompetence".

MHK Jason Moorhouse asked when politicians would make a decision on funding the reinstallation of the tramline to the Sea Terminal, adding: "The minister has been toying with us over that very issue for months and months now."

Mr Crookall said he would be coming back to Tywnald in June to ask for an approval of funding to cover an overspend on the rest of the promenade project and would seek "verbal" agreement from members for the extension then.

"If Tynwald doesn't support me then I won't bother taking that to treasury later on when we go back for budget talks," he added.