Long-suffering tram passengers were left furious, and stranded, on Wednesday night after services were suspended in the evening without any notification or warning, while Transport for London’s official online sites were claiming that there was a “Good” service in operation.
Early stopper: trams will not run after 8.30pm tonight and over the weekend
A senior TfL official has this morning issued an apology to those affected, together with a warning that tram services will be shutting down at 8.30pm again tonight, tomorrow and on Sunday. That information, however, was being contradicted by official information at some stops today, which said the service would be shutting down at 8pm.
Navid Golshan. TfL’s manager for London Trams, claimed that passengers were experiencing what he calls “minor delays”.
But one tram passenger who followed TfL’s online status updates on Wednesday, which had no notice of the early shutdown, was angry and seriously out-of-pocket. “I’d travelled into Croydon using public transport, as we’re encouraged to do,” they told iC, asking not to be identified.
“I did what TfL advised: I checked before travelling, and there was no mention of any early closure of the service. But when, at the end of the evening, it was time for me to get home, there were no trams. No explanation. No apology. I was forced to take a taxi to get home.”
Residents living in New Addington, Addington Village and along that branch line into Addiscombe have not had a full service on the trams since the end of March. There continues to be no trams going to or from the Elmers End stop.
False information: the official TfL page on Wednesday failed to mention the early shutdown of services
On Wednesday, the official service update page on TfL’s website stated: “London Tramlink: No service between Arena and Elmers end due to a shortage of Trams. Minor delays between New Addington and West Croydon. Good service on all other routes.” There was no mention at all of the evening shutdown.
The on-going engineering issues with rolling stock now seem likely to continue to cause disruption into next week, which will make it the 10th week in 2024 where TfL’s trams have not been able to offer a good service on all the network. That will mean there has not been a full service for 47% of this year.
Sources at TfL say that 20 of the fleet of 32 trams are in service today, with one “operational spare”. “Credit to the engineering teams who have been working hard to get these trams back into service, with more becoming available every day,” the source said.
Tram services are expected to run from 4am to 8.30pm over the weekend, with the Elmers End branch remaining closed.
“We anticipate we will have 24 trams available from next week, so we will start serving all routes with normal start and finish times,” a TfL spokesperson told Inside Croydon. TfL remains cautious when they will be able to offer such a service – it might not be as soon as Monday.
There is no further information into what has been causing the wheel damage that has affected so many of the trams, and which is still under investigation.
TfL’s Golshan said: “We apologise that customers are still experiencing minor delays on the London Trams network following several trams suffering damaged wheels due to debris in a section of track.
“Our maintenance teams have been working hard to get trams back into service as quickly as possible and we appreciate customers patience while we do this.
“Services are currently running on the whole of the London Trams network except for the Elmers End branch. Services are starting later and finishing earlier to ensure we can maintain a regular service when customers need it the most, but we expect a full network-wide service to return starting next week.
“We recommend anyone wanting to travel in the area continues to check before they travel, consider alternative routes, and to allow more time to complete their journeys.”
The tram fleet has 22 of the original Bombardier stock which have been trundling along the 17-mile network since it opened in 2000, plus 12 Variobahn trams which were purchased between 2012 and 2015.
TfL has started a tendering process to find replacements for the Bombardier trams, but because of covid and the transport agency’s financial crisis, it is at least a year or two behind schedule in conducting this multi-million-pound purchase.
TfL’s advice is for anyone wanting to travel in the area to check before they travel, consider alternative routes and to allow more time to complete their journeys.
Or, it seems, make sure they have the taxi fare to get home…
From May 2024: Two-thirds of tram fleet out of service due to wheel damage
From June 2023: 20% of Croydon’s tram fleet suffered damage to their wheels
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