The Election Publicity Tram

The recent JEP headline said: "Tram for the Waterfront?"

According to the writers, Harry McRandle and Ben Quéré, Jersey could again have a railway running from the west to town.

"Representatives of a leading transport company are visiting the Island this week to talk to politicians about the feasibility of creating a light railway or tram system. Experts from Transdev were invited to the Island by the Environment Scrutiny panel and will meet representatives of the Transport and Technical Services department and the Environment department. The visit comes at the instigation of Scrutiny panel member Deputy Paul Le Claire. The Deputy said: 'I have always thought there was room for a light railway or tram system. I put the idea to the panel and they asked me to look into options.' He said that he had spoken to a number of expert businesses and the visit of Transdev on Thursday was the first tangible step into assessing feasibility and potential costs."

This seems extraordinary. Where are they going to fit it on the stretch between Bel Royal and Beaumont?

And is it advisable to involve Transport and Technical Services, aka, the Ministry of Cock-ups?

Call me cynical, but I think if I had a "caption competition" to put words into the Deputy's mouth, it would be "I have always thought there was room for an attention grabbing, headline making bit of publicity when elections are due in October".