Tramlink

Tramlink roundel

Tramlink is a light rail/tram system serving Croydon and surrounding areas in Surrey, with a connection to Beckenham in Kent (map). It began operation in May 2000 as Croydon Tramlink, becoming the first tram system in London since 1959. It is owned by London Trams, an arm of Transport for London (TfL).

The network consists of 39 stops along 17 miles of track, on a mixture of street track shared with other traffic, dedicated track in public roads, and off-street track consisting of new rights-of-way, former railway lines, and one section of alignment (not track) shared with a third rail electrified Network Rail line.

The network has four lines that coincide in central Croydon, with eastbound termini at Beckenham Junction, Elmers End and New Addington, and a westbound terminus at Wimbledon, where there is an interchange for London Underground. The Tramlink is the third-busiest light rail network in the UK behind the Tyne and Wear Metro and the Docklands Light Railway.

History

Construction

Tram on trial in George Street, Croydon in October 1999. The cars were painted in London Transport red and white livery.

In 1990 Croydon Council with the London Regional Transport (LRT) put the project to Parliament and the Croydon Tramlink Act 1994 resulted, which gave LRT the power to build and run Tramlink.

In 1996 Tramtrack Croydon Limited (TCL) won a 99-year Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract to design, build, operate and maintain Tramlink. TCL was a partnership comprising FirstGroup, Bombardier Transportation (the builders of the system's trams), Sir Robert McAlpine and Amey (who built the system), and Royal Bank of Scotland and 3i (who arranged the finances). TCL kept the revenue generated by Tramlink and LRT had to pay compensation to TCL for any changes to the fares and ticketing policy introduced later.

TCL subcontracted operations to CentreWest Buses.

One of the factors leading to its creation was that the London Borough of Croydon has no London Underground service.

Former lines reused

Gauntlet track near Mitcham

There are four routes: Route 1 – Elmers End to Croydon; Route 2 – Beckenham Junction to Croydon; Route 3 – New Addington to Wimbledon; and Route 4 – Therapia Lane to Elmers End. Route 2 runs parallel to the Crystal Palace to Beckenham Junction line of the Southern network between Birkbeck and Beckenham Junction – the National Rail track had been singled some years earlier.

From Elmers End to Woodside, route 1 and route 4 (and route 2 from Arena) follow the former British Rail branch line to Addiscombe, then diverge to reach Addiscombe tram stop, 500 yards east of the demolished Addiscombe railway station. At Woodside the old station buildings stand disused, and the original platforms have been replaced by accessible low platforms.

From Woodside to near Sandilands (routes 1, 2 and 4) and from near Sandilands almost to Lloyd Park (route 3), Tramlink follows the former Woodside and South Croydon Railway, including the Park Hill (or Sandilands) tunnels.

The section of Route 3 between Wimbledon and West Croydon mostly follows the single-track British Rail route, closed on 31 May 1997 so that it could be converted for Tramlink. Within this section, from near Phipps Bridge to near Reeves Corner, route 3 follows the Surrey Iron Railway, giving Tramlink a claim to one of the world's oldest railway alignments – the Tramway Path (51°23’50"N, 0°10’15"W) beside Mitcham tram stop had its name long before Tramlink. A partial obstruction near this point (reinforcement to a retaining wall below a car park) has necessitated the use of gauntlet track.

A Victorian footbridge beside Waddon New Road was dismantled to make way for the flyover over the West Croydon to Sutton railway line. The footbridge has been re-erected at Corfe Castle station on the Swanage Railway (although some evidence suggests that this was a similar footbridge removed from the site of Merton Park Railway Station).

Buyout by Transport for London

In March 2008, TfL announced that it had reached agreement to buy TCL for £98m. The purchase was finalised on 28 June 2008. The background to this purchase relates to the requirement that TfL (who took over from London Regional Transport in 2000) compensates TCL for the consequences of any changes to the fares and ticketing policy introduced since 1996. In 2007 that payment was £4m, with an annual increase in rate.

In October 2008 TfL introduced a new livery, using the blue, white and green of the routes on TfL maps, to distinguish the trams from buses operating in the area. The red colour of the cars were repainted green, and the brand name was changed from Croydon Tramlink to simply Tramlink. These refurbishments were completed in early 2009.

Current system

Stops

Tram 2530 leaving Croydon on an Elmers End service in 2004

The tram stops have low platforms, 14" above rail level. They are unstaffed and have automated ticket machines. In general, access between the platforms involves crossing the tracks by pedestrian level crossing. There are 39 stops, most being 105 ft long. They are virtually level with the doors and are all wider than 6 ft 6 in. This allows wheelchairs, prams, pushchairs and the elderly to board the tram easily with no steps. In street sections, the stop is integrated with the pavement.

Tramlink uses some former main-line stations on the Wimbledon–West Croydon and Elmers End–Coombe Road stretches of line. The railway platforms have been demolished and rebuilt to Tramlink specifications, except at Elmers End and Wimbledon where the track level was raised to meet the higher main-line platforms to enable cross-platform interchange.

Thirty-eight stops opened in the phased introduction of tram services in May 2000. Centrale tram stop in Tamworth Road opened on 10 December 2005, increasing journey times slightly. As turnround times were already quite tight this raised the issue of buying an extra tram to maintain punctuality. Partly for this reason but also to take into account the planned restructuring of services (subsequently introduced in July 2006), TfL issued tenders for a new tram. However, nothing resulted from this.

All stops have disabled access, raised paving, CCTV, a Passenger Help Point, a Passenger Information Display (PID), litter bins, a ticket machine, a noticeboard and lamp-posts, and most also have seats and a shelter.

The PIDs display the destinations and expected arrival times of the next two trams. They can also display any message the controllers want to display, such as information on delays or even instructions to vandals to stop placing objects on the track.

Routes

Tram 2545 in original livery at Beckenham Junction in 2001.

Tram 2536 in the second livery at Morden Road, heading towards Wimbledon in 2006.

A tram leaving Croydon towards Wimbledon, going past Reeves Corner in 2009.

Tram 2558 at East Croydon on route 1 in 2013.

Tramlink is shown on the "London Connections" map but not on the tube map. The original routes were Line 1 Wimbledon to Elmers End, Line 2 Croydon to Beckenham Junction, and Line 3 Croydon to New Addington. On 23 July 2006 the network was restructured, with route 1 from Elmers End to Croydon, route 2 from Beckenham Junction to Croydon and route 3 from New Addington to Wimbledon. In June 2012 route 4 from Therapia Lane to Elmers End was introduced. Monday 4th April 2016, route 4 was extended from Therapia Lane to Wimbledon.

Route 1 (lime) Route 1 Terminus: Elmers End Arena Woodside Blackhorse Lane Addiscombe Sandilands Lebanon Road East Croydon Trains to Gatwick and Luton George Street Church Street Centrale West Croydon Wellesley Road Then to East Croydon and back as Route 2 to Beckenham Junction

Route 2 (lime) Route 2 Terminus: Beckenham Junction Beckenham Road Avenue Road Birkbeck Harrington Road Arena Woodside Blackhorse Lane Addiscombe Sandilands Lebanon Road East Croydon Trains to Gatwick and Luton George Street Church Street Centrale West Croydon Wellesley Road Then to East Croydon and back as Route 1 to Elmers End

Route 3 (green) Route 3 Terminus: New Addington King Henry's Drive Fieldway Addington Village Gravel Hill Coombe Lane Lloyd Park Sandilands Lebanon Road East Croydon Trains to Gatwick and Luton George Street Church Street Wandle Park Waddon Marsh (for Purley Way retail parks) Ampere Way (for Valley Park retail park) Therapia Lane Beddington Lane Mitcham Junction Mitcham Belgrave Walk Phipps Bridge Morden Road Merton Park Dundonald Road Wimbledon Then back to Wandle Park Reeves Corner Centrale West Croydon Wellesley Road Then to East Croydon and back to New Addington

Route 4 (bottle green) Route 4 Terminus: Elmers End Arena Woodside Blackhorse Lane Addiscombe Sandilands Lebanon Road East Croydon Trains to Gatwick and Luton George Street Church Street Wandle Park Waddon Marsh (for Purley Way retail parks) Ampere Way (for Valley Park retail park) Therapia Lane Beddington Lane Mitcham Junction Mitcham Belgrave Walk Phipps Bridge Morden Road Merton Park Dundonald Road Wimbledon Then back to Wandle Park Reeves Corner Centrale West Croydon Wellesley Road Then to East Croydon and back to Elmers End

Rolling stock

Tramlink is operated with 30 vehicles. The original fleet comprised 24 articulated low-floor Flexity Swift CR4000 trams built by Bombardier Transportation in Vienna numbered beginning at 2530, continuing from the highest-numbered tram 2529 on London's former tram network, which closed in 1952. In 2006, the CR4000 fleet was refurbished, with the bus-like destination blinds being replaced by an electronic dot system. In 2009 the fleet was repainted into a new green livery.

In January 2011, Tramtrack Croydon opened a tender for the supply of ten new or second-hand trams from the end of summer 2011. The trams will be used between Therapia Lane and Elmers End. On 18 August 2011, TfL announced that Stadler Rail had won a £16 million contract to supply six Variobahn trams similar to those used by Bybanen in Bergen, Norway. They entered service in 2012. In August 2013, TfL ordered an additional four Variotrams for delivery in 2015, for use on the Wimbledon to Croydon link, this will bring the total Variotram fleet up to ten.

Class	Image	Top speed	Number	Built	Notes
CR4000		50 mph	24	1998–2000
Variobahn		50 mph	6	2011–2012
			4	2014–2016

diagram of a Tramlink Flexity Swift tram

Further reading

• Walter, Mike (25 March – 7 April 1998). Next stop Croydon.... EMAP Apex Publications. OCLC 49953699. 
• First Croydon tram arrives at brand new depot. EMAP Apex Publications. 7–20 October 1998. OCLC 49953699. 
• Dunn, Pip (21 October – 3 November 1998). This is the modern world!. EMAP Apex Publications. OCLC 49953699. 

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Tramlink)

• "Trams". Transport for London. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/modes/trams/. Retrieved 5 March 2015. 
• Current network map