We have now reached the third (and final) major phase of improvement works on the Soutth Yorkshire Supertram network this summer with work now moving on to Middlewood Road. This is a long phase – starting off on Monday 12th August and continuing until Sunday 1st September – and once again demonstrates the major investment being made by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) since they took control of the network in March.
As is expected with improvement works it does mean that there is a change in the service being operated and this time it’s the Yellow route which is impacted (after the Blue and Purple routes saw changes earlier in the work). Middlewood Road is closed to trams which means there is no service beyond Hillsborough towards Middlewood with all trams instead diverted left onto Holme Lane and up to Malin Bridge (the usual Blue route terminus). This does mean that this short section currently has up to ten trams an hour instead of its usual five.
The revised services running ae:
- Blue – Halfway to Malin Bridge
- Yellow – Meadowhall to Malin Bridge
- Purple – Cathedral to Herdings Park
- Tram-Train – Cathedral to Rotherham Parkgate
There are also replacement buses running to Middlewood to allow passengers to complete their journeys.
Work has started at Middlewood terminus itself. Looking through the barriers here we see the old track being removed in preparation for its replacement.
Another shot as the track comes up.
One final photo as the contractors start their work at Middlewood. (All Photographs by Stuart Cooke, 13th August 2024)