Transport for London has approached operators of light rail systems in Continental European cities in a bid to hire in extra trams to relieve overcrowding on the Croydon Tramlink network.
A spokesman for TfL confirmed that contact with a number of cities, including Cologne and Saarbrucken in Germany, Berne in Switzerland and Istanbul in Turkey, had been made with a view to leasing any spare units available. TfL believes that borrowing the trams could provide a short term solution to overcrowding by providing additional capacity on Tramlink within three years.
Discussions with TfL's counterparts across the Channel are continuing but if existing trams are not available within three years TfL is expected to focus on procuring new trams from rolling stock manufacturer Bombardier, which built the original Tramlink fleet. However, any new tram order is likely to have a long lead time and would be expensive for the small number of units required. Tramlink has 24 trams and is looking at leasing a maximum of four more to resolve overcrowding.
In parallel with the negotiations for extra trams, TfL is also consulting with engineers about double tracking existing single line sections of the Tramlink network. While no firm plans have been agreed, the agency believes that infrastructure enhancements coiled also be delivered within three years.
The TfL spokesman added: "We're looking at doubling track where possible as having stretches of single track militates against the sheer number of trams. The other big problem we have got is Wimbledon because there is just one bit of track there where the trams come in."
Despite Mayor Boris Johnson's decision to axe funding for major transport projects, including the Cross River Tram and Tramlink Crystal Palace extension (Transport Briefing 06/11/08), money for improvements to Tramlink was set aside when TfL took over the system from Tramtrack Croydon in June 2008 (Transport Briefing 01/07/08) and remains available.
In 2007-08 Tramlink recorded 27.2m passenger journeys, a 10.6% increase on the previous year.
