Manx Radio reports that passengers using the Douglas horse tramway 'should be able to travel the full length of the promenade again by the 2028 summer season'.
The Department of Infrastructure has informed Manx Radio that a tender process is being prepared for a launch early next year. The construction programme to extend the tramway from the base of Broadway to the Sea Terminal is provisionally expected to last between 35 and 40 weeks. Newly appointed Infrastructure Minister Jason Moorhouse notes that further details are anticipated soon.
Back in July, Tynwald voted to approve £2.5 million in funding to restore the horse tramway track along Loch Promenade. It is understood that a condition of the funding as agreed with Treasury is that this time the additional funding will be spent on the extension of the horse tramway.
ABOVE LEFT: The current terminus on Central Promenade. ABOVE RIGHT: Harris Promenade with the grassed so-called 'tramway corridor' visible on the right. The latter was installed circa 2020 as part of the overall Douglas Promenade reconstruction project.
Under the scheme, a single-line track will be laid from the current terminus on Central Promenade to where it should have been in the first place – the Sea Terminal. The track extension will be located on the sea side of the promenade along a so-called ‘tramway corridor’ located between the footpath and the wall of the sunken gardens.
Completion of the scheme will mean passengers from visiting cruise ships—there were thirty-seven cruises which called at the Island during 2026, boosting visitor totals by almost 17,000—will also be able to board a horse tram upon disembarkation, without being expected to walk almost a mile down the prom as has been the case since the line was truncated.
The reinstatement scheme will not start on site until well into 2027, the delay required to complete the aforementioned tender process, find suitable contractors, and to carry out 'off-site pre-construction work on structural and rail elements [points] needed for the project’,
Read the original Manx Radio report HERE