Return of the Tram

TRAMS | 117 Return of the tram David Walmsley reports on the latest tramway developments around the country, based on reports from the LRTA Annual Officers’ Conference held recently in Edinburgh here are currently seven to ensure that, as far as humanly possible, it New battery technology modern tramways in Britain, does not happen again. Some say: why have a tram when a bus will in Manchester, Sheffield, West So, what’s not to like? Well, tram systems do the job just as well? Buses are effective Midlands, Croydon, Nottingham, are undoubtedly expensive and require over a wide range of scenarios, but on a Blackpool and Edinburgh. considerable investment in infrastructure. busy route buses are limited to about three TTogether with the two light rail systems in Their substantial fixed costs mean they thousand passengers an hour, whereas a Tyne and Wear and London Docklands, they work best in busy urban corridors with tram system can carry ten thousand an hour carry 274 million passengers a year, about large flows of passengers. Sometimes or more. Trams also last two or three times sixth as many as the entire rail network. tramways are over-engineered with heavy, longer than buses. So, buses and trams Modern tramways have proved very rail-like construction, and it is also true are both components of an efficient public effective in France, Spain and other that the construction phase of a tramway is transport system. countries, and in Dublin the Luas tramway disruptive to traffic, but so are most major A number of technical developments are goes from strength to strength. city-centre construction projects, and the emerging which might reduce the cost of Transport professionals recognise that effect can be reduced by careful design and tramways and encourage their wider use. trams provide fast, frequent, high-quality management. One of these is tram-train, whereby a vehicle public transport that shifts large numbers of people in busy urban corridors. Surveys show that around twenty to twenty-five per cent of the passengers on a tram are former car travellers, so trams are good at attracting people from their cars, much more so than bus rapid transit. Trams are accessible to mobility-impaired passengers. They do not produce pollution in the street, neither from exhaust emissions nor from the mixture of brake, tyre and road surface dust produced by all rubber-tyred vehicles. Trams can contribute to a pleasant, car-free cityscape (as in Grenoble and Bordeaux), they attract investment and can provide a catalyst for urban development and regeneration (see London Docklands or Salford Quays), and they provide a permanent statement of a city’s political will and confidence in itself. Trams have fewer accidents than cars. One cannot ignore the horrific incident in Croydon in 2016 when, due to a lack of awareness by the driver, a tram took a bend much too fast, derailed, and seven passengers lost their lives. But it should be remembered that these were the first passenger fatalities on any modern tram system in the UK. As with all train and tram accidents, the Croydon accident has been thoroughly investigated and lessons learned Rail Professional 118 | TRAMS can run on-street like a tram or on the railway like a train. There can be problems of course, but they are not insurmountable. There is a pilot scheme under way in Sheffield to link the existing Supertram network over the railway into Rotherham. The new vehicles are in service now and will run into Rotherham later this year. New forms of propulsion are becoming available. Battery-powered trams operate in a number of European cities, such as Nice and Seville; they use conventional overhead wires in the suburbs, and switch to batteries in the historic city centre where wires might not be acceptable. In Bordeaux, the same effect is achieved with APS (alimentation par sol), a ground-level electricity supply which is only energised when a tram passes over it. Other technologies such as super- capacitors and hydrogen fuel cells are being developed. What developments might we see in British tramways over the next ten years or so? Here we see an interesting difference: almost every existing tramway is successful and extending its network, but in spite of plans in many other cities, there are no definite developments. We start with the existing networks. extension to Lytham St Annes using tram- network to Metro-style operation. Manchester Metrolink has recently train vehicles is proposed. London is well served by public completed its ‘Big Bang’ expansion and now Edinburgh became the first Scottish city transport. The Docklands Light Railway has nearly 62 miles of track. An extension with a modern tramway in 2014. Plans for a and the Overground have been enormously to the Trafford Park industrial estate and three-mile extension to Leith and Newhaven successful, and Crossrail and Northern Trafford Centre is under construction are expected to be approved during 2018. and Bakerloo line extensions are in the Sheffield Supertram will shortly open its As far as new tramways are concerned, pipeline. But London still needs local high- extension to Rotherham there are various proposals in many other capacity transport. Oxford Street is one of West Midland Metro has ‘Big Bang’ plans cities, but in the current economic climate the busiest and most polluted streets in the of its own. The extension from Birmingham probably only a few will be built over the country and buses are slow. A tramline could Snow Hill through the city centre to Grand next ten years. Below we summarise the transport people more swiftly and create a Central (New Street station) is being further most promising possibilities covered at the pleasant, safe pedestrianised environment. extended to Centenary Square and on to Edinburgh Conference. The Cross-River Line proposal, sadly not Edgbaston. Trams will use battery power being pursued, would have seen trams along on the first section. In Wolverhampton, the New prospects the busy corridor from Waterloo to Euston line is being extended to the railway and bus Leeds, Liverpool and Bristol are among and Kings Cross. London also has a number stations. Further extensions to Birmingham the largest cities in Europe without trams. of district centres similar to Croydon which Eastside (to link with HS2), to Birmingham Currently, only improved bus services are are transport, shopping and employment International and the airport, and to under discussion. A promising proposal in centres in their own right, such as Stratford Brierley Hill from Wednesbury, are planned Leeds is for tram-trains to operate from or Richmond/Kingston, where a tramway London (Croydon) Tramlink has several the city centre onto the railway to Leeds/ could be effective. possible routes for extensions, as envisaged Bradford Airport and possibly to Harrogate. Many other cities have plans for tramway in the Mayor’s Transport Strategy. The likely Bristol is currently developing a ‘Metrobus’ and light rail lines, but the current economic first development is a line to Sutton. bus rapid transit solution. There is a plan for climate is not favourable. However, with the Nottingham Express Transit has recently a tramway in Bath with a link to Bristol. increasing devolution of transport planning opened two major extensions, one to On thesouth coast there is a proposal powers to local partnerships and combined Beeston and Chilwell, and one to Clifton, to introduce light rail or tram-train on the authorities, and increased involvement of more than doubling the track length to Southampton to Eastleigh corridor, and private funding, more local funding could just under 19 miles. An extension of the to Fareham, which could be extended into become available. The next decade might Chilwell line to an HS2 interchange at Toton Portsmouth. On the Isle of Wight, South see some of these schemes coming into is under consideration. There are proposals Western Railway is considering replacing operation. to extend this line into Derby via Pride Park, the ex-Underground vehicles, possibly with and a future link to East Midlands Airport is light rail stock with street-running in Ryde. David Walmsley is an LRTA Council Member and possible. Northwest England has proposals for a a member of the tramway industry body UKTram. Blackpool Tramway, which dates from tramway in Preston using light vehicles, and He represents the United Kingdom on the 1885, was completely renovated in 2012 one in Warrington with possible links into European Urban Tram Forum and was formerly with new infrastructure and vehicles. Two Liverpool and Manchester. Fixed Track Executive at the Confederation of new vehicles have recently been purchased Glasgow already has extensive suburban Passenger Transport. to meet rising demand, and a half-mile rail, and its subway is being modernised. The extension to the town’s main railway station Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL) is planned The Light Rail Transit Association (LRTA) is is under construction. Some of the former to connect Glasgow Central via Paisley to an international organisation which campaigns historic vehicles have been retained and the airport with tram-train vehicles. Cardiff (as TramForward) for better fixed-track public provide a popular heritage tour service. An has plans to convert the Valley Lines rail transport, in particular tramways and light rail. Rail Professional.

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