Flexity2 015 arrives in Blackpool

Less than a day after the latest delivery of a new tram to Croydon it was the turn of  Blackpool to be receiving a delivery with 015 becoming the penultimate Flexity2 to be in the resort. 015 arrived during the afternoon of Friday 8th June having travelled the now well worn route across from Hull to Blackpool.

With 015 now having arrived there are fourteen of the sixteen Flexity2 trams in Blackpool with just 016 not having yet arrived in the UK. In addition 002 is back in Germany having
been a return load for 014 to allow Bombardier to undertake some rectification work under warranty.

Of those Flexities in Blackpool 001 is currently out of service in the Workshops at Starr Gate depot where it is receiving modifications whilst 003 to 014 are regularly out on the Prom, either in service or on Driver Training.

On 1st July it is planned that the promised 10 minute frequency between Starr Gate and
Fleetwood Ferry will be introduced so these extra Flexity trams will be required to provide this service. Currently just six trams are needed for the bulk of the service (although normally at least seven trams are used to try and prevent delays in departing Starr Gate) but this will obviously need to increase with the improved service.

This entry was posted in Blackpool Tramway. Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to Flexity2 015 arrives in Blackpool

  1. Ken Walker says:

    The 10 minute service will be much needed. With the overcrowding which has been the order of the day on many occasions, although the Fleetwood feeder situation prevents a 10 minute frequency on the full line at present, I can’t understand why a Pleasure Beach / Cleveleys service hasn’t been introduced already to give this frequency on the prom. If insufficient Flexities are available surely they could have used modified balloons to make up the numbers, after all that was the purpose for which they were modified at great expense!

  2. David Taylor says:

    It is little wonder that the trams cost so much if they have to be returned to Germany for repairs. Why not Derby or better still have technitions at blackpool. Siemens do it with the railways. Bombardia have a bad reputation on the railway so why expect better of the trams.

  3. Andrew Blood says:

    The problem with using the widened Balloons is that many of the direct entry tram drivers recurited to staff the Flexities have never been trained on a traditional tram. Therefore the staffing problems this would cause if an untrained driver were to take over a Balloon is preventing their use. Other difficulties are that the adverts on the trams have expired, plus there will be no requirement for a supplementary service from July 1st. The fact that one has not been introduced in the interim reflects the fact that everyone, even BTS have been surprised at that level of partonage on the new trams.

  4. Andrew Blood says:

    The problem with using the widened Balloons is that many of the direct entry tram drivers recurited to staff the Flexities have never been trained on a traditional tram. Therefore the staffing problems this would cause if an untrained driver were to take over a Balloon is preventing their use. Other difficutkiues are that the adverts on the trams have expired, plus there will be no reuirment for a supplemtary service from July 1st. The fact that one has not been intorduced in the interim reflects the fact that everyone, even BTS have been surprised at that level of partonage on the new trams.

Comments are closed.