Tram-train contracts signed

A major milestone in the history of light rail in the UK has moved a step closer after the contracts for the Tram-Train project between Sheffield and Rotherham were signed. This will be the first official Tram-Train to operate in the UK – although you may well argue that Manchester Metrolink got there first 21 years ago! – and is due to start operating in early 2016. Transport Minister Norman Baker was on hand to sign the contracts on behalf of the government during a brief ceremony at Meadowhall South tramstop where the Tram-Train vehicles will leave the existing Supertram network to reach Rotherham.

The service will operate between Rotherham Parkgate and Sheffield city centre operating on the existing Supertram network and the national rail network. The route will be upgraded in the next couple of years before services commence in early 2016. New vehicles constructed by Vossloh will be delivered before then and these will be dual voltage to allow for any subsequent electrification of the Midland Mainline by being capable of operating at both light rail and heavy rail operating voltage.

Norman Baker commented: “Providing better connections between the heart of Sheffield and Rotherham’s centres and residential areas will help to reinvigorate the local economy. It will also encourage people to leave their cars at home. “Tram-Trains are an innovative and high-capacity transport system which have proved very successful in other European cities. We will be monitoring the scheme over the course of the next two years and I look forward to seeing if it would be appropriate to replicate it elsewhere in the UK.”

Work needed to upgrade the current heavy rail line will include a new link junction being built between the light rail and heavy rail lines near Meadowhall South. The rail line from Meadowhall South to Rotherham Central Station and Rotherham Parkgate will be electrified and new platforms will be built at Meadowhall South and Rotherham Parkgate with those at Rotherham Central extended. There will also be consideration given to other stations in the future.

The first two years of the project will be used as a pilot to Tram-Train operation in the UK so that the rail industry can understand and assess the technical issues in such operations. If the pilot is successful it is hoped it will open the way for other Tram-Trains to run in other parts of the country.

Seven of the Vossloh vehicles will be provided as part of the project funding with four of these required for the service to Rotherham. The other three will provide some much needed extra capacity on Supertram during peak periods.

Cllr Mick Jameson, Chair of the South Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority, said: “Today’s signing is further welcome investment by Government in the transport infrastructure of South Yorkshire. The project will provide important enhanced local connectivity and demonstrate the potential, both locally and nationally, of this new technology to deliver value for money services. We are excited to be a project partner in this ground breaking project”

Margaret Kay, Managing Director of Stagecoach Supertram, added: “Tram-Train offers us the potential to deliver greener, smarter public transport services to even more people. We have a strong track record of providing high quality, good value services to the people of Sheffield day in, day out and we look forward to being able to expand our tram network even further through this ground-breaking project.”

This entry was posted in South Yorkshire Supertram. Bookmark the permalink.

5 Responses to Tram-train contracts signed

  1. Clifford Stead says:

    I assume the Tyne and Wear Metro cars that have shared heavy rail lines to Sunderland since 2002 don`t count as tram-trains!!!! What a long drawn out farce this has been, this could only happen in Britain! Glad to see finally this scheme going ahead.

  2. John says:

    The T&W metro is not trams. It is just lighter rail cars. Trams, or trollycars, run on streets. Manchester’s Metrolink is tram-trains. they run on old lines and stations and around streets even onto platforms on Victoria Station.

    • Dan Clarke says:

      And the the Tyne and Wear metro can often be delayed on the shared Metro/Heavy Rail section. I regularly use the Metro down that section of line and it quite often gets delayed by 66s crossing the mailine with a coal train from Tyne Dock! And then heavy rail also gets delayed, The other day there was not only a Metro service waiting for the coal train but ther was a Northern Rail class 156 stuck behind the Metro (Like it always is!). It’s no quicker getting the mainline train to Newcastle from Sunderland than it is the metro, the mainline train leaves just 2 minutes after the metro therfore only ends up sitting behind it half the way. I was trying to catch the Metro infront at Newcastle because after Pelaw the Heavy Rail service can overtake the Metro, but the Metro was just pulling away as I got to Newcastl Central metro station. So the Metro I ended up on was the same one I would of got on if I had waited at Sunderland for it. Just goes to show that Light and Heavy rail sharing tracks doesn’t always work out best for the mainline companys!

  3. Geoff says:

    I hope they don’t run ‘on to’ the platforms – ‘between’ them would be better! No-one, as far as I know, has ever been able to state exactly what the dividing lines are between ‘trams’, ‘light rail vehicles’, ‘metros’, ‘Stadtbahnen’, etc. Many systems that most of us would regard as ‘tramways’ are definitely not exclusively street-running, John.

    • freel07 says:

      If I remember correctly under the ROGS definition if any section of a system is on street the system is classified as a tramway. Hence under ROGS Metrolink became a tramway rather than a light railway.

Comments are closed.