ANOTHER House of Commons select committee has criticised the Government's approach to light rail and tram systems.
Planning and approval of schemes has taken too long, says a report from the Commons Public Accounts Committee.
The Department for Transport (DfT) should have acted more quickly when design and delivery problems started to appear and costs started to escalate, it said.
Its concerns followed those from the Commons Transport Committee, which said the DfT had failed to give a strategic lead in the development of light rail.
The accounts committee said the DfT only had a partial evaluation of what light rail had delivered.
Although light rail and tram systems had improved the quality and choice of public transport, they had not delivered all the anticipated benefits.
"Some have fallen well short of their passenger forecasts and have been poorly integrated with other forms of public transport," it said.
"Systems in France and Germany are better connected to centres of social and economic activity and given priority at junctions to provide quick and punctual services."
English systems have not provided complementary measures, such as park-and-ride facilities, to attract passengers and reduce car use and traffic congestion.
