It would appear that after good news that planned engineering works are going to end early it has to be tempered by some bad news as it has been confirmed that trams will be unable to run on South Yorkshire Supertram\u2019s Blue route between Gleadless Townend and Halfway for an undetermined period. The reason for the disruption is that an old well has been discovered under the tracks at Birley Lane.<\/p>\n
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The issue was first noted on Sunday 23rd<\/sup> August with confirmation the following day that it was a well that was the problem. It is thought the well will be connected to when the area was used for coal mining. When Supertram was original constructed in the 1990s it appears that the tracks were just laid over the top. According to a post from Mayor of South Yorkshire, Oliver Coppard, the well isn\u2019t documented in any records that they have today.<\/p>\n In his post Mr Coppard said: \u201cYesterday morning, my team spotted an issue with the tram track in the area. They then suspended tram services whilst safety checks were undertaken and have now uncovered what appears to be an old well beneath the line, which likely dates back to when the area was used for coal mining.<\/p>\n \u201cIt looks like when this section of the Supertram network was built back in the early 1990s, the track was laid directly over it.<\/p>\n \u201cAs you\u2019d expect, the most important thing now is making the area safe and fixing it properly. Unfortunately, that won’t be a quick repair, but the safety of passengers and staff has to come first. We\u2019re now also checking historic records for other potential wells in the area.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m sorry for the disruption. I know how much people rely on the tram network every day. The tram team will share updates as the work progresses, explain what we’re finding and how long repairs are likely to take. Thanks for bearing with us.\u201d<\/p>\n As a result of this issue Blue route trams will be running from Sheffield Station to Herdings Park with a replacement bus service then operating from Gleadless Townend through to Halfway.<\/p>\n You will notice in that paragraph above that the Blue route trams are being diverted to Herdings Park \u2013 the usual Purple route terminus. That means a couple of things \u2013 one Herdings Park is getting a tram every 15 minutes (a quadrupling of its usual service) and also that the Purple route has been suspended. The fact the Purple route won\u2019t be running shouldn\u2019t be a huge issue as Herdings Park is being well served by trams.<\/p>\n The South Yorkshire Supertram website says that the track issue needs specialist engineering assessment which will take place on \u201cMonday 25th<\/sup> August\u201d. As 25th<\/sup> August is Tuesday we presume it will be on that day and hasn\u2019t already taken place. Following that a program of repairs will need to be undertaken.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It would appear that after good news that planned engineering works are going to end early it has to be tempered by some bad news as it has been confirmed that trams will be unable to run on South Yorkshire … Continue reading