One in, one out at Tramlink

The latest Variobahn for London Tramlink is now on British soil but the number of the Stadler trams in Croydon has not increased with one having to be returned to Germany for repairs following a recent incident. The two trams involved are newbie 2561 with 2556 the one making the return journey to mainland Europe.

It had been four months since the last delivery to Tramlink has occurred but on Sunday 6th September a low loader arrived at the Therapia Lane Depot again with a sparkling 2561 ready to start its career as part of the London Tramlink fleet. The tram was swiftly unloaded and was initially moved into the workshops for an inspection and the first stages of commissioning but 2561 was soon moved out into the open and has remained on the east apron of the depot yard for most of the week.

Whereas normally when a tram is unloaded the low loader can make a quick exit on this occasion it was to go back with a return load – 2556. Earlier this summer 2556’s pantograph was ripped off causing significant damage to the roof area and the decision was made that the damage was so severe it would need to be done by Stadler at their factory. The easiest way for this to be done was to wait for the next new tram to arrive and with that duly happening on 6th September it was time for 2556 to depart Croydon.

There are due to be a total of 10 Stadler Variobahn’s as part of the Tramlink fleet with the first six (25542559) having been delivered in 2012 and have been running since then. The second batch (25602563) are now being delivered with 2560 arriving on 4th May 2015 but still not accepted into service with a lengthy testing and commissioning procedure currently still taking place. It is not yet known when 2562 and 2563 will make the trip to the UK and whether they will arrive before 2556 returns.

This entry was posted in London Trams. Bookmark the permalink.