Campaigners for the reopening of Edinburgh's South Suburban railway say a public meeting showed strong support for their plan to run tram trains on the line and link it to the city's tram system.

Organisers say about 100 people attended the event at the City Chambers on Tuesday evening.

And Rob Falcon, chair of the Tram Train for Edinburgh (TTfE) campaign group said: "The broad reception was very enthusiastic and we got quite a few people wanting to get involved.

Organisers say there was strong support at the public meeting for the tram train plan | supplied

placeholder image — Organisers say there was strong support at the public meeting for the tram train plan | supplied

"I was delighted by the turnout and the strong support shown by the audience during the questions and discussion.

"The South Sub is a sadly underused public asset which can and should make a significant contribution to better public transport in Edinburgh."

Tram trains, which can run on both tram tracks or rail lines, are already used elsewhere in the UK, including Sheffield. And TTfE say they offer the key to reopening the South Sub to regular passenger services for the first time in more than 60 years.

Sheffield already has tram trains which can run on both tram tracks and railway lines | supplied

There have been repeated calls over the years for the South Sub - currently used only for freight and occasional diversions - to be brought back into use.

But TTfE treasurer Lawrence Marshall - who has been involved in campaigning for better rail services in Edinburgh since 1989 - said: "Tram-trains are game-changing because they can run on-street in the city centre and on traditional rail lines, and are what makes the difference from previous South Sub reopening proposals.

"Tram-train services would run westwards from Portobello along the South Sub and connect to the current tram at Murrayfield; they could then continue to both Princes St. and Leith, or Edinburgh Park and the airport."

The campaigners say there are no clear road parallels to the route of the South Sub running east-west across the south side of the city and it therefore provides a unique additional route across town, not currently available to car or bus passengers.

They say journeys such as Craigmillar/Liberton to Tynecastle or Craiglockhart/Morningside to Fort Kinnaird, are currently complicated, time-consuming and often involve passing through the centre of the city, but would be easy using the South Sub.

And linking it to the existing tramline and the proposed new North-South tramline would enable many more connections between communities currently without an easy link.

Stations on the South Sub would be at Murrayfield, Gorgie, Craiglockhart, Morningside, Cameron Toll, Craigmillar, Fort Kinnaird, Brunstane and Portobello.

TTfE says the cost of reopening the South Sub with tram trains would be limited because the rail lines are already there and the new infrastructure required would mainly be at Murrayfield to link into the existing tramline and at Portobello to cross the existing road and rail routes to reach the proposed station site.

The campaign was launched partly in response to the public interest in a proposal to run tram-trains on the South Sub developed by Heriot-Watt University masters students earlier this year.

Corey Boyle, one of the Heriot-Watt team, spoke at the public meeting, describing how their study had concluded that using tram-trains on the South Sub would bring many benefits to Edinburgh, including reducing congestion by cutting car journeys, encouraging urban regeneration, and improving access to jobs, education, and health services for communities across the south of the city.

Although the tram train plan is not part of the North-South tramline proposal currently out to consultation, transport convener Stephen Jenkinson has said he can see the benefits of a reopened South Sub as a complement to the tram.

Anyone wanting to help with the TTfE campaign can get in touch at [email protected].