Nottingham Citadis trams to start on street testing

The testing of the first of the new Nottingham Express Transit Citadis trams is set to be stepped up a notch this week with the first city centre test runs due to take place. The first of the trams has already commenced testing north of Wilkinson Street with trips starting late last month but this will be the first time that it has made it onto the street sections south of the depot.

It is expected that 216 will be used on these tests which will take place overnight once all of the service trams have returned to the depot. This is all part of the intensive commissioning and testing process that these trams will have to go through before they are cleared to enter service. The current plan is for the first Citadis tram to carry passengers next spring.

Paul Robinson, NET General Manager, said: “Before the new trams can carry fare-paying customers they need to undergo rigorous testing, and I’m pleased to say the first stage of this programme has run very smoothly. All testing is being carried out overnight when other services are not running, and involve driving the trams at different speeds along the route they will eventually operate on.”

Three of the Citadis trams have now been delivered to Wilkinson Street with the third example – 218 – confirmed as having arrived on Tuesday 29th October. It is now planned that around one tram a month will arrive in the UK although presumably this schedule will be stepped up in late 2014 to ensure enough trams have been delivered in time for the opening of the phase two extensions to Chilwell and Clifton.