Anyone who ever happens to look at the social media accounts of Nottingham Express Transit will see regular mention of service cancellations with not many days going by where there aren’t at least some services removed from the timetable. In the latest operational report from the tram operator they go more into the causes of these cancellations with tram and staff shortages both contributing.
Nottingham Express Transit have a fleet of 37 trams (15 Bombardier Incentro and 22 Alstom Citadis) which should be ample to operate the service but both long-term and short-term absentees impact this, and when combined with driver shortages it has led to significant challenges in operating the service as advertised.
This has led to a 92.51% reliability figure and 91.21% punctuality figure for the period between December 2025 and May 2026. The months of February and March were particularly challenging for the network.
One of the main causes is that there have been a significant number of road traffic collisions with 33 recorded in the six months under review in the latest report. This included the major collision involving 228 and a bus at the Inham Road crossing, with that tram requiring significant repairs and likely to remain out of service for several months still.
To try and combat the regular collisions, Nottingham Trams Limited (NTL) are working alongside local authorities and Nottinghamshire Police to target high risk locations and where possible design the risk out or mitigate it. They have also launched a new phase of the Road Traffic Awareness media campaign.
NTL have also started a process of managing performance to secure improved tram availability. This should improve things but there do still remain issues, including two trams off-site for repairs (including 228 and one other) whilst the rest of the year will see one tram a week removed from service to complete overspeed modifications.
The overspeed modifications are necessary as part of the recommendations following the Sandilands accident on London Trams. The system is now fully operational on the Citadis trams with attention now turned towards the Incentro fleet. The work should be concluded by the end of 2026.
Driver availability has also been an issue with both high levels of sickness absence and attrition causing problems. Management of absence has now been strengthened through weekly reviews to ensure staff are supported to return to work safely at the earliest appropriate opportunity. The driver recruitment plan has also been accelerated to counteract vacancies which have come about because of attrition.