Ice on the wires causes problems for NET

Posted on Friday 9 December 2016 by Gareth Prior

It is the same story as every year when temperatures fall, on Monday 5th December Nottingham Express Transit services were disrupted after a tram broke down at Moor Bridge with ice on the wires blamed. The tram was reported as broken down at around 0600 and services were unable to resume between Moor Bridge and Hucknall until 1015 once the disgraced tram had been moved out of the way. During the disruption both East Midlands Trains and Trent Barton buses accepted NET tickets.

This entry was posted in Nottingham Express Transit. Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to Ice on the wires causes problems for NET

  1. John Gilbert says:
    Saturday 10 December 2016 at 01:29

    O.K. So what happens in Switzerland and the other Alpine countries when ice “forms on the wires?” Is this another case of Britain refusing to learn from those who have dealt, as a normal occurrence, with this kind of problem for over a century?

  2. Steve Hyde says:
    Saturday 10 December 2016 at 14:20

    I don’t think that this is something confined to UK despite what the local press in those UK cities with 2nd generation systems might imply. The UK climate with its fairly high levels of humidity has a part to play in the problems. It leads to the formation of substantial ice deposits on the contact wire in sub zero conditions. In many countries where sustained subzero temperatures are experienced the climate is much drier.

    However one city which does seem to suffer problems similar to those in Nottingham and Manchester is Prague as the video in these links show.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=til9Ad2Ok24
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvvuDXNsKQc

    One would expect Prague with its long history of tramway operation to have conquered the problem if it was easy to do so.

  3. Nigel Pennick says:
    Tuesday 13 December 2016 at 09:59

    The trolleybuses in Maidstone and Wolverhampton used ice-cutters on the first bus of the day. But they were using trolley poles of course.

Comments are closed.