September is one of the months in the year that the Greater Nottingham Light Rail Transport Advisory Committee meet and when they do they take a look at a report from Tramlink Nottingham about how Nottingham Express Transit has been operating since the last meeting. The committee meet on 12th September and the latest report shows that there has been a fall in both reliability and punctuality but with several high profile issues affecting the network this is probably not the biggest surprise.
Covering two months from the start of June to the end of July the reliability of the network was given as 91.3% and the punctuality at 91.4%. When the last report was released in June these two figures were at 95.4% and 93.8%.
As was reported at the time there were severe issues affecting the operation of the system in this period. On 12th June 232 derailed at Bulwell and collided with an overhead support pole. The scene of the incident had to be preserved for the RAIB to undertake an investigate and its location also meant that the mobilisation of heavy lifting and specialist equipment was difficult. Once the tram was rerailed it was returned to depot and repairs completed on the line with assistance from a specialised team. 232 remains at Wilkinson Street where its condition is being assessed by Alstom and this is expected to take months.
This was compounded on 13th June by a Police incident in the city centre which meant trams were unable to run between Royal Centre. This incident saw three people murdered and another two severely injured. Permission was given to resume operations through the area from 2100 that night.
On 16th June a man was stabbed to death on a tram at Highbury Vale which led to trams being suspended during investigations and then when they resumed they were unable to stop at Highbury Vale.
Further disruption to services then came on 2nd July after a total loss of radio communications and AVLS (Automatic Vehicle Location System, the tram management application) functionality meant that all services had to be suspended. It was later identified that the problem was down to a fault with a network switch and not the AVLS system itself. The issue is being fully reviewed to improve resilience to any potential future incidents.
Then on 14th July there were no fewer than three incidents which combined to cause more disruption on NET. Firstly a car drove onto the tracks at Lenton Lane Bridge and became stranded. The vehicle was eventually moved from the tracks following attendance from the Fire Service, Police and recovery agents. There was then a medical emergency at the QMC with an unresponsive passenger on board a tram with an extended wait time for medical assistance. Finally, 216 failed at Compton Acres which meant trams had to be turned at Wilford Lane and Ruddington Lane.
With the tracksworks at The Forest now completed the report also notes that it will be necessary for some work to take place between Central College and Cator Lane later this year. This was the area which suffered severe flooding earlier in the year and the drainage systems have become contaminated and require replacement.