The first of six new trams for the London Tramlink system has arrived at the Therapia Lane Depot having travelled from Chemnitz in Germany where it had been undergoing initial tests. The Stadler built Variotram departed the German city at 1900 (GMT) on Wednesday 4th January and had been making its gradual way across Europe before arriving in Croydon in the very early hours of Monday 9th January.
Numbered 2554 – carrying on the numbering scheme of London trams as per the Bombardier vehicles already in service – the tram was built at Stadler’s plant at Pankow near Berlin and once it was completed here it was moved to Chemnitz where some test runs were undertaken in the period between Christmas and the New Year.
Once these tests were successfully completed the tram was put on a low loader – which was in fact the same low loader as had been used to transport the Flexity2 trams to Blackpool – and left Chemnitz during the evening of Wednesday 4th January making its way across Europe. It is not known for certain which route the tram took to get to the UK but the Bombardier CR4000s went to Dartford before being driven to Croydon.
2554 was first seen in daylight still on the low loader during the morning of Monday 9th January and during the day it was unloaded and was later seen in the Depot complex with the destination screens showing Crystal Palace!
As the tram is the first of a new type to operate in the UK it is likely that major acceptance tests will be required before the tram can enter service and this will have to include Network Rail as the Variotrams will run alongside mainline railway tracks. Transport for London are still saying that they plan to introduce the trams into service by (or during) spring 2012. When they are introduced a new service will start on the Tramlink network operating between Therapia Lane and Elmers End (mainly as this will cover the busier part of the system through central Croydon).
A further five Variotrams are due to be constructed and built for London Tramlink and these are expected to be delivered over the next few months. Interestingly 2554 becomes the first tram that a combined London transport authority (London Transport/Transport for London) has ordered and owned from new since London Transport was originally created in 1933!
As mentioned in previous stories on this subject with Tramlink now starting to receive the Variotrams, four different systems in the UK are now receiving new trams: Blackpool, Edinburgh and Manchester being the others. This year is also expected to see Centro announce who has been selected to build the new trams for Midland Metro whilst Stagecoach Supertram will also be placing an order in the future for four extra trams in the future.