Transport Minister Norman Baker today gave the green light to a £58 million Tram Train pilot scheme in South Yorkshire.
New vehicles will operate from 2015 on Sheffield’s Supertram network and on part of the national rail network, which will be adapted to ‘allow seamless travel from one to the other’.
Announcing the pilot, Norman Baker said:
“Tram Trains have already proved hugely popular on the Continent. Now we will be able to test whether they can bridge the gap between tram and train networks in this country.
“We will carefully monitor customer satisfaction, passenger demand levels, reliability and the operating and maintenance costs. If Tram Train proves itself in South Yorkshire, I don’t doubt that there will be others interested in introducing this technology elsewhere in the UK.”
The DfT said the pilot requires the electrification of a stretch of track between Sheffield and Rotherham and the construction of a 400 metre link between Supertram and Network Rail infrastructure.
Three services an hour will operate all day every day from Parkgate Retail Park in Rotherham, travelling through Rotherham Central Station and joining up to the existing Stagecoach Supertram network at Meadowhall, where the services will then continue onwards to Sheffield City Centre.
Vehicles for the Sheffield-Rotherham pilot will be supplied by the Spanish manufacturer Vossloh in a contract to be let by South Yorkshire PTE. They are expected to be operated by Stagecoach Supertram.
If the pilot is successful, it ‘opens the way for Tram Trains to be introduced in other parts of the country’, the Department for Transport said.
I fear that continental practice will be tweaked to such an extent that we will end up reinventing the tram wheel.
What impact will this have on any future MML electrification at 25kV?