It has been announced that London Tramlink are to receive an extra four Variotrams to help further increase capacity on the network. To be constructed by Stadler at their Berlin factory it is expected that the trams will be delivered to London to enter service during 2015. These new trams will join the six which entered service during 2012 to make a total Variotram fleet size of 10 and a grand total of 34 trams available for service including the original Bombardier built vehicles.
Speaking about the signing of the contract to provide these trams, Sharon Thompson, Director of London Tramlink, said: “We are happy to continue our cooperation with Stadler Pankow because this company convinced us with their delivery to the agreed timescales, the high quality product and a great deal of personal commitment of the employees on site in Croydon. We are continuing to expand our modern transport system with these additional vehicles.”
The first of the current fleet of Variotrams entered service in Croydon on Friday 30th March 2012 having been delivered at the start of January of the same year. The remaining five vehicles of the original order then gradually entered service during the first half of 2012 ahead of the introduction of the new line 4 service between Therapia Lane and Elmers End. They can normally be found operating on these route although can also be used on the Beckenham Junction-West Croydon service. Because of issues with their performance between central Croydon and New Addington they have very rarely been used on this service.
It is planned that further capacity enhancement works will see an increase in services on the Wimbledon line and it is presumed that this is what these four new Variotrams will be required for. No details of what services may be operated once this work is completed (which is due to include extra platform capacity at Wimbledon) have been released by Transport for London although it could be that line 4 is extended from terminating at Therapia Lane through to Wimbledon.
Although the Variotrams have been anything but the most reliable trams to operate in the UK the fact that a small order can easily be obtained from Stadler and the fact they already have a small fleet of the trams have meant that London Tramlink have seen this as the best option available to them to further increase the number of trams available for service.
Currently the newest Variotram to operate on London Tramlink, 2559, is seen at Reeves Corner on 7th September 2012 whilst operating a line 4 service to Elmers End. An extra four of these trams - likely to be numbered 2560-2563 - are due to be delivered in 2015. (Photo: Gareth Prior)
Whilst it is always good to see orders for new trams it does seem odd to buy more of a tram that has been so unreliable. Would it not be more worthwhile to wait a bit longer and get trams that work properly?
Small production runs are expensive, they had a vehicle with fixed price options, had already been adapted to their network and they had already done the neccesary infrastructure gauging modifications. They wernt ideal but it would be a lot cheaper to aquire more than to design, acquire and maintain a 3rd model.
I am sure that as similar trams are operating in Bergen attention is being given to improving reliability of the Variobahn in general. Neither TfL or the Bergen network will allow Stadler to sit back if they aren’t satisfied. The additional batch should give the opportunity to introduce improvements based on service experience.
I wonder if the Variotrams trams do not work so well on the New Addignton route becasue of the steep gradients?