UK Trams Comparison

[WestRiding]

Currently in Poland, and used the extensive trams in Wroclaw, Kraków and Warsaw. Something is very noticeable, and that is how fast they travel amongst traffic and around tight corners. Why are ours so pathetically slow, Sheffield for example? Foreign trams seem so fuss free.

 

[Busaholic]

Currently in Poland, and used the extensive trams in Wroclaw, Kraków and Warsaw. Something is very noticeable, and that is how fast they travel amongst traffic and around tight corners. Why are ours so pathetically slow, Sheffield for example? Foreign trams seem so fuss free.

I was watching a YouTube video last night showing emergency vehicles tearing round a Dutch city dispersing all the other traffic EXCEPT where it crossed a tram line and the tram came fast down the track with bells clanging and everything in its path came to a halt, police vans included. It's second nature in places that have always had non-segregated trams: just look at how Lisbon trams interact with the other traffic. It'll never happen here.

 

[D365]

Where is the Sheffield tram slow?

 

[WestRiding]

Where is the Sheffield tram slow?

Down West Street, through the City Centre, Past the station....

 

[Ken H]

trains and trams dawdle here. Trams in Brussels and trams and S-bahn in berlin get a move on. None of this dropping to walking page 3 carriage lengths before the stopping point.
Old movies of trams and trolleybuses in Yorkshire I see on Facebook they are getting a move on too.
Why are they all out of step with us?

 

[WestRiding]

trains and trams dawdle here. Trams in Brussels and trams and S-bahn in berlin get a move on. None of this dropping to walking page 3 carriage lengths before the stopping point.
Old movies of trams and trolleybuses in Yorkshire I see on Facebook they are getting a move on too.
Why are they all out of step with us?

Exactly.

 

[D365]

Down West Street, through the City Centre, Past the station....

I was under the impression that West Street speed limit is 20mph.

Park Square to Granville Road is quite speedy.

 

[TC60054]

I was under the impression that West Street speed limit is 20mph.

Park Square to Granville Road is quite speedy.

West Street is indeed 20mph for trams - the same as all other road traffic since the speed limit on the road was reduced from 30mph.

Park Square to Granville Road iirc is mainly 30mph running, although the alternate direction drops to 20 after the station...

 

[Doppelganger]

Currently in Poland, and used the extensive trams in Wroclaw, Kraków and Warsaw. Something is very noticeable, and that is how fast they travel amongst traffic and around tight corners. Why are ours so pathetically slow, Sheffield for example? Foreign trams seem so fuss free.

I live in Krakow and the tram speeds are mixed.

Around the Old Town there are many tight curves and trams navigate them very slowly as a fast approach would result in a derailment, as has happened on the junction of św Gertrudy and Dominikańska on more than one occasion. That said, when they get to the suburbs then trams can really get a shift on!

 

[D365]

West Street is indeed 20mph for trams - the same as all other road traffic since the speed limit on the road was reduced from 30mph.

Park Square to Granville Road iirc is mainly 30mph running, although the alternate direction drops to 20 after the station...

If any forum members have ever been on a West Street night out, they’ll see why the 20mph limit is necessary!

I’m guessing the reduced speed on approach to Park Square is due to the triangle?

 

[TheSeeker]

There’s something to the idea that people are used to fast moving trams in cities that never got rid of them. Here in Belgium trams have priority over other road users. Most of the tram crashes I’ve seen in Brussels involved a car with foreign number plates. Most famously a Volvo with UK plates assuming they had priority.

 

[Ken H]

There’s something to the idea that people are used to fast moving trams in cities that never got rid of them. Here in Belgium trams have priority over other road users. Most of the tram crashes I’ve seen in Brussels involved a car with foreign number plates. Most famously a Volvo with UK plates assuming they had priority.

Trams are big, heavy and hard. Any car driver playing chicken with a tram is asking for a Darwen Award