A race to reopen Princes Street in Edinburgh after almost a year of tram construction work should be completed on schedule at 05.00 on Sunday, said tramway developers TIE.

Princes Street has been closed since January to allow utilities to be diverted and rails laid. The works are now at an advanced stage, but retailers along the principal shopping street in the capital insisted that the road should be open again to normal traffic during the Christmas period.

24-hour working was introduced by the contractors earlier this month in a bid to meet the deadline this weekend.

Work on the new tram route, between Ocean Terminal in Leith and Edinburgh Airport, will continue in the New Year. Another pinch point to be faced in 2010 will be the important intersection of Lothian Road and Princes Street in the West End. At the moment, the tracks which have been laid stop just short of this junction.