Nottingham Express Transit operators Tramlink Nottingham are planning to propose a new timetable to Nottingham City Council which would see a major rethink of when trams should be operating. The news was unveiled by Andrew Conroy at the most recent meeting of the Greater Nottingham Light Rail Transit Authority which also saw general updates on NET, including the all important punctuality figures.
Reviewing the needs of Nottingham against the current timetable, it is felt that at the moment the two don’t align. Its proposed that there would be more early morning trams and extra trams later at night to match the change in working hours and to assist the city’s night-time economy.
Currently the first time arrives at Clifton South at 0605 but this is considered too late for those living there who want to start early shifts in Nottingham and so the new timetable would cater for this. They also want to boost late night services to allow a safe and reliable way for people to get home after a night out.
Ahead of the meeting it was confirmed that the February-April 2024 three month period saw reliability of the tram service at 96% and punctuality at 94%. The previous three months had seen these two figures at 94.7% and 93.7% respectively which does mean both had seen an improvement although its still not reached the levels which would be hoped for.
Tram availability has continued to cause problems – including the long-term absence of 232 which as we’ve seen has now gone away to Derby for repairs – along with traffic congestion. A variety of roadworks (particularly tree works around Gregory Boulevard) have caused heavy traffic flow which cause tram delays. Despite these issues the report states that performance has remained positive and stable.
At the meeting Andrew Conroy, Chief Operating Officer at Tramlink Nottingham, responded to questions about the shortage of trams: “We have 37 trams and to run peak operation we need 32 and two spares. One is currently out for repairs after a derailment last year, and whenever we have collisions, suddenly passengers haven’t got a tram every seven and a half minutes. Fifteen minutes is not good enough. People will walk instead.”
A number of serious road traffic collisions during these three months are also mentioned in the report:
- 4th March – a 11 year old boy collided with a tram at Wilkinson Street as he was travelling on his bike on the way to school. All emergency services attended along with staff from NET and Alstom. NET has been in contact with the boy’s parents who updated the team that he is expected to make a full recovery from the injuries.
- 5th March – an intoxicated man crossed behind a moving tram at a road junction and was hit by a tram travelling in the opposite direction. He received hospital treatment as a precaution.
- 21st March – a vehicle drove into the swept path of a tram at a T junction in the Beeston area causing damage to both tram and other vehicle. Tram driver suffered whiplash injuries.
- 24th April – car collided with a tram on Radford Road exiting the supermarket. It was discovered the driver didn’t have a license and the vehicle was not insured. Delays were seen whilst the Police investigated and the tram was checked for damage before being moved.
In addition there was an incident at Moor Bridge on 6th February which saw a small fire on one of the motor bogies of 213. This was reported at the time and the report confirms that all members of the public were safely evacuated from the tram. Alstom technicians attended the tram to ensure it was safe before a recovery to the depot for repairs.
The report also ends on a positive note with details of community engagement work. This has seen the Pythian Club receive £12,000 funding with support from NET of SNCF funding for their outreach work whilst another £2,000 will be donated to Pythian Club to support You vs Tram. £500 is being donated to the NET Charity of the Year, Nottingham Central Women’s Aid. The latter two coming from the Crown Prosecution Service charity fund. And finally NET have donated £1,000 to the Brain Tumor Charity, Alzheimer’s UK, Our Dementia Choir, Star Strike FC and Phoenix FC.
UK systems seem quite diverse but is there any possibility of borrowing one or two trams from e.g. Blackpool where the service could be covered by 16 of the Flexity trams and the modified cars until Nottingham has its full complement? If all our systems were compatible (especially any new systems) with others, then an occcasional share could possibly avert a crisis!
Unfortunately No. Aside than the time it would take to train drivers and engineers for an unfamiliar vehicle, there is physical and technological infrastructure compatibility to consider.
I don’t know enough of signalling systems etc on the tech side, but just looking at the physical specification for each UK tram type:
Nottingham are 2.4m wide, all other UK LRTs are 2.65m so nothing else will go past their platforms and a Nottingham car elsewhere would leave a 4 inch gap to the platforms.
Manchester is a High Platform system (legacy of being converted mainline railways done on the cheap) so not interchangeable with anything else.
West Midlands’ Urbos 3-100 could feasibly run in Edinburgh, but not the other way round because the Edinburgh cars are too long for the platforms and don’t have traction batteries.
Croydon CR4000 need a larger curve radius so may not work elsewhere with tighter curves.
The only others that look possibly interchangeable are the Blackpool Flexity 2 and the Croydon Stadler Variobahn.