The weekend of 13th and 14th September saw the departure of not one but two of London Trams’ Bombardier built CR4000 trams for repairs. Both 2542 and 2548 have been out of service for some time and the work needed is severe enough to not be able to be completed in-house and so the work has been contracted out.
It has been well documented that London Trams have had tram availability issues in recent years, with frequent periods of a reduced service having to be operated. The system is not alone in losing trams to accident damage following RTCs but with it also being short of a tram following the tragic Sandilands accident any unavailability seem to impact the service more than in other places (with the possible exception of Nottingham of course).
Whilst there are plans for the replacement of the CR4000 trams in the future, the original trams still have some time to operate and so the expenditure of sending these two trams away for repairs is obviously cost effective.
It is understood that whilst the trams are away one good tram may be created to boost the operating fleet again.