Isle of Man Horse Trams set to return to Douglas Promenade

The horse trams last ran on Douglas Promenade in 2019

The Douglas Horse Trams will be running again by the end of the month, the infrastructure department has confirmed.

They service last ran in 2019 before making way for the capital's promenade refurbishment, which included the laying of new £1.2m tram tracks.

Kerry Sharpe MLC said the works on the track at the bottom of Broadway were complete and had been approved by the Inspector of Railways.

Training of the horses is under way.

There had been doubts over whether the services could run this year after there were difficulties securing the materials needed to complete the tracks.

Ms Sharpe told Tynwald it was "envisaged the horse tram season will launch during this summer's transport festival", which runs from 27 to 31 July.

The trams will run along a shortened line between the Derby Castle Terminus and Broadway.

While Ms Sharpe could not confirm whether the tram tracks would ultimately also be re-laid from the War Memorial to the Sea Terminal, she agreed there was "no point having half a tram track".

Although approved in the original scheme, which was backed by the Manx Parliament in 2017, the extension was put on hold last year after the money earmarked for it was allocated to another part of the promenade refurbishment.