If you’re in the UK you may have noticed that its been a little bit on the warm side over the past days, with red and amber weather warnings in place at various times in certain areas. The weather has also caused issues for tram services which has included a complete service suspension in Sheffield as well as reduced services elsewhere.
Blackpool Tramway
No trams were able to run between North Pier and Cabin from late on Thursday 25th June owing to track damage caused by the heat. A split service continued to run from Starr Gate to North Pier, and from Cabin to Fisherman’s Walk. Normal services resumed shortly after 1300 on Friday 26th June after repairs were completed.
Services do remain suspended between Fisherman’s Walk and Fleetwood Ferry because of the unsafe building on Lord Street following a major fire. To aid passengers getting to the famous Market a free special shuttle bus service is being operated by Blackpool Transport in partnership with Wyre Council on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Nottingham Express Transit
A much reduced service was being operated on NET during Friday 26th June. In a statement NET said: “We have withdrawn several of our services due to excessive heat and are currently running a limited tram service, resulting in extended wait times. We must ensure your safety, and unfortunately, due to the extremely hot weather we’re experiencing, our trams are struggling to remain at a safe and cool temperature.
We’re withdrawing services that are not able to provide a cool enough environment for our customers. This will allow us time to try to cool our trams at our depot and allow our maintenance team access to fix any issues with the trams. “
An update on the NET website said that 13 out of 32 services were in operation early evening on Friday 26th June.
South Yorkshire Supertram
On Friday 26th June – day three of the very hot weather – it was announced that all Supertram services would be suspended from 1330 until temperatures cooled in the evening. With all trams having returned to depot, Supertram tickets were being accepted on both First and Stagecoach buses. Services resume from around 1900.
Service disruption has also not been limited to heat related either…
Blackpool Transport
The tweaked timetable introduced in May 2026 to increase journey times with speed restrictions in place because of issues with the bogies on the Flexity2 trams remains in place.
The original Improvement Notice issued by the ORR on 6th May 2026 and originally due expire on 19th June 2026 has now been extended until 13th August 2026. This is not uncommon for Improvement Notices to be extended (indeed there several on the ORR website which originally had deadlines of 31st December 2024 which have been extended on a couple of occasions and are now due to expire on 31st July 2026), and it should be remembered that an Improvement Notice is different to a Prohibition Notice.
West Midlands Metro
Wolverhampton St George’s has been closed since at least Friday 18th June because of a points problem. All trams – including those on the route via Millennium Point – are currently running to Wolverhampton Station.
Engineers are in the process of fixing the points but there is no date for the full return of services.