Two trams have been involved in a collision at Halfway on Stagecoach Supertram with both suffering damage in the low speed incident. The two trams involved were 107 and 123 with the incident taking place on Thursday 8th June.
107 was already situated in the single platform at Halfway at the far end of the line when 123 arrived and hit the front of the tram causing both trams to suffer damage to their ends. It is not known why 123 failed to stop in time but it is unusual for there to be two trams at the terminus although the platform area is long enough for when this does occur.
Once an investigation was launched both trams were able to return to Nunnery Square Depot under their own power where they will be assessed before it is known what work is required to return them to service. Supertram is already operating at near capacity of their trams – at least until the City Class trams enter service later this year – so it is hoped that the damage can be quickly rectified and both 107 and 123 will be carrying passengers again.
* Photographs of the aftermath of the collision can be found on the British Tramway News Facebook page.
Just to clarify:
The platform at Halfway is only capable of accommodating 1 tram, the track continues for some distance, more than enough to accommodate another tram, and ends in a stop block. Occasionally a tram is parked just beyond the platform but usually in the early morning or early evening. 107 was in this area beyond the platform and when hit by 123 was pushed against the stop block which in turn was moved approximately 3″, 123 coming to a stop about 10-12 feet past its normal position in the tramstop.
I was in the right place at the right time to see the aftermath of this while driving past. There was only one tram present (and quite a lot of staff) so I assume 123 had been removed. As I was driving I didn’t notice any damage, but wasn’t taking much notice because as Nigel says, it’s quite normal for a tram to be up to the buffers out of service while a second car arrives and departs. This is a normal scheduled move at peak times so is nothing out of the ordinary.
I’d be interested to know how a tram travelling slowly managed to over run by 15 feet and still have enough inertia to move a stationary tram (presumably parked with it’s brakes on) into the buffer stop. I assume there will be a report in due course.
As an aside to this… Trams on the Halfway route do seem to me to travel noticably faster than they did when the system first opened. Can anyone confirm this or is it just my memory playing tricks?