Transport for London confirmed this week that it is to replace the oldest trams in its fleet on the Croydon to Beckenham and Wimbledon network, with procurement to begin in 2024 in what could cost at least £50million.
End of the line: after 23 years’ hard work, the original Bombardier trams are due for replacement
The Croydon tram network opened in 2000, and the original fleet of 24 Bomardier-built trams have already passed their expected service period, with increasingly frequent withdrawals of vehicles for urgent repairs and upgrades.
Of the original 24 Bombardier CR4000 trams that came into service 23 years ago, two are not in operation. This includes 2551, the tram involved in the Sandilands derailment in 2016 when seven passengers died.
In June, Inside Croydon reported how one-fifth of the London trams’ operational fleet had to be removed from service for emergency repairs to the vehicles’ wheels.
That same month, a report to the TfL board said: “The majority of our trams fleet is reaching the end of its initial design life and, as a result, is experiencing declining reliability, with one of the lowest states of good repair categorisations across our fleets.”
With the Tory Government continuing to deliberately under-fund London and its transport infrastructure, the £250million announced by the Department for Transport on Monday being half what was requested by TfL, paying for the new trams will stretch budgets in other areas. Extensions of the tram network, such as into Sutton, have been shelved, permanently.
A City Hall meeting this week heard from TfL commissioner Andy Lord who said, “Our intention this year is that we will start procurement for the new tram fleet. The vast majority of our trams are coming up to 25 years old. We hope to start the procurement process for that imminently.”
In an update, TfL added, “We will continue to make the case to central Government for further capital investment for large-scale projects which are unaffordable from our operating revenue alone.” Officials confirmed this includes the replacement of the 24 Bombardier CR4000 trams.
“Difficult decisions” would have to be made, Lord said.
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Electric vehicles running on rails should have a practical life of 30 — 40 years. Has TfL carried out an appraisal of the alternative option of giving the existing trams an extra-heavy overhaul and upgrade — actions which could extend their lives and avoid spending so much money on new trams? If the appraisal has been carried out can we be advised of the results?
TfL should have built up reserves ever since the trams entered service. The annual depreciation charges should have been reflected in the fares charged to passengers. It is too easy to say we want new toys but the Government won’t give us the money.
The exact same German ones ( in Cologne ) wore out 3 years ago and have already been replaced.
After 25 years they really do become more expensive to maintain than the long term cost of replacement.
And by comparison, the replacement Piccadilly line trains are about to cost £1.5 BILLION. £50m isn’t that much for a system carrying 25 million people in a typical year. The entire West Coast Mainline carries a similar number of people.
Thanks for your calm, informed input, John.
Happy Christmas!
You are right 50m is not much and works out to 10p per passenger journey over the 25 years not including maintenance costs etc.
However the LUL numbers are actually a bit better and work out to 7.2p per journey per year. a tiny bit more at 9p durinfg pandemic and running at 7.8p this year.
The cost of the trains are quite high but so are the number of passengers and passenger journeys – They were at 1.3bn+ and are about 1.05bn currently.
There are a lot of other costs to Trains as there are for trams – but capital cost per passanger journey for both is actually quite low despite the eyewatering sums of capital investment for infrastrucure.
This is why sensible future planning and ringfenced funding for transport systems is critical for their future and also so that they are both affordable and effective ay helping to grow and sustain the economy.
Its the political ideology wrangles of Private or Public ownership that impact of longer term delivery.
So where I favour bringing railways back into public control I would believe that the business management and running should be distanced from political ministers who are too oftem swayed by short termism goals
Why only 20 years? This is very wastfull, trains used to last 50 years, build them properly, less waste, less cost.
Trams/Light rail vehicles must be light to allow them to stop quickly in case of an emergency, in contrast with trains which are more robust than light rail vehicles, which makes them more durable and long-lasting. Trains do generally last 40-50 years.
Fair point, I wonder how recycleable they are. It should be a consideration.
Many on the Continent are much older than 20 years. Look at Lisbon.
Do our modern ones suffer from built in obsolescence? Look at the rattly generic buses we have now compared to the London Transport designed ones.
Trams are different from trains. But it was known that the shelf life was about 25 years when they were bought. Yes that should be better – but it is not – not yet.
£700M in 2017 – Zero in 2018 and ever since. £4.2bn not including rises in inflation. That is what has been lost from TfLs Transport funding due to Mr Johnsons ”gift” prior to returning as an MP (call it what you will) when he left power as Mayor.
That is a big chunk of change. How much can you reduce fares for paasengers? In fact that cut to funding has become a de facto tax to those using public transport.
How much Osbournes plan in 2017 to cut also the funding to National rail had to do with that is also a good question.
Having the Rail debt (circa £38.5bn in 2016) back on the Governments books was a bit of an issue also so the £700m loss from TfL to the wish to borrow by Mr Hendy about £700m for National Rail was seemingly a case of robbing Paul to pay Peter at that time.
But hey thats budgeting Conservative style.
What it is not, is a sound platform to run any business let alone one with huge capital infrasctucture costs. Be it TfL National Rail or Tram
So knowing that new trams are required about now, knowing that Overground and Underground also have some capital maintenance issues there was a good case to revise Mr Johnsons return of subsidy and perhaps minimise that with just a few hundred million reduction instead.
Most definitely during the lockdowns and 3 years of pandemic, with non essential travel severely curtailed it would have made more sense to really think hard about funding and transport utilisation.
Not Osbourne, Hammond, Javid, Sunak Kwarteng or Hunt. A whole six pack and not one sou for a tram.
Three times our debt sucked back into the exchequer still not a sou. That is not a fau;lt of transport or its procurement. That is a fault of Public administration by Government
This is the reality of modern conservatism. They used to be the party of prudence. But what exactly are they doing with our moneynow and what have they been doing since Cameron and Clegg? Failure after failure.
Exactly how much is being paid in interest for the debts accrued nationally under the Conservatives?
There actions and decision have had a major impact on public services.
They forget that when Public services fail to do what it says on the tin, then the economy as a whole tanks accordingly.
Private industry growth relies on effective public administration. Not Administration that has the air of sleaze and dark habits and obscure processes. not politic’s not hype not propaganda, not costly court defences of the indefensible.
Just open, honest and effective administration.
Some political parties need to sort themselves out before ever having power again.
They need to rebuild trust.
Were Labour any better, perhaps not so much in Croydon, but neither were the Conservatives. Both were culpable and failed.
Both need to do a lot better next year. One thing for sure, those trams will keep running even if with gum and laggy bands. People in public service need better politicians.
Here again the Sandilands tram overturn is being labelled as a “derailment”. It wasn’t a derailment. It was an overturn. If the tram had really derailed when it hit the curve, it wouldn’t have overturned, and there would have been no deaths, no life-changing injuries, no inquest and no Central Criminal Court trial. What’s in a word? The focus of the investigation and the remedial action, that’s what. The need was not to prevent trams derailing, it was to prevent them overturning. That can potentially be done, as on railways, by making them derail upright instead. That can potentially be done by modifying the curve. And why hasn’t a lateral “speed joggle” been installed in advance of the curve, the tramway equivalent of a road hump? I’ve been bringing these matters to the attention of “the authorities” almost since the accident happened, so far without any effect whatever.