UNDER THE FLYOVER VIDEO EXCLUSIVE
In our latest podcast, TfL’s Mark Davis urges pedestrians and motorists to exercise due care when crossing tramway, where there’s ‘one near-miss a week’. PLUS: We reveal how a tram has been driven the wrong way round the Croydon town centre loop to prepare for this summer’s engineering works
Inside Croydon can reveal how the operators of the London Trams network have been conducting test runs on the town centre circuit with trams running “the wrong way” – anti-clockwise between Reeves Corner, Church Street and George Street to East Croydon in preparation for a three-week closure in August to carry out track replacement works.
Mark Davis, Transport for London’s general manager of the tram network, revealed the test runs during an Under The Flyover podcast for this website.
The trams, which have operated since 2000, last year provided 20million passenger journeys across its network between Wimbledon and Beckenham Junction, through Mitcham and Croydon. But the infrastructure requires constant updates and upgrades, with the next major, planned works coming next month.
From Thursday August 6 to Sunday August 30, a half-mile stretch of the network, between Tamworth Road (Centrale) and along Wellesley Road will be closed as the track is replaced.
This will cause disruption to services through Croydon town centre, while trams will continue to run from Wimbledon to Reeves Corner, and between East Croydon and Beckenham Junction and New Addington.
“The good news, of course, is that as we renew the infrastructure in those particular areas, which will hopefully lead to fewer emergency positions where we have to carry out repairs to broken rails and things like that,” Davis said.
“Yes, there is going to be some disruption during the summer, for which I wholeheartedly apologise, but what it will mean is that once completed the tramway will become more reliable because the assets are a lot newer.”
In the podcast interview, Davis explains that the reverse direction trial was necessary to confirm that it will be possible for trams to be brought in from one part of the network to the depot at Therapia Lane for servicing and safety checks during the engineering works.
Davis calls it “a real step forward from what we’ve been able to do previously”, and enables the network to continue to operate to New Addington and Beckenham without needing replacement buses.
It is thought that this is the first time in a decade that trams have been run round the Croydon loop in the opposite direction to the usual clockwise service.
In the interview, Davis also talked about the concern among transport managers over the increasing number of pedestrians, while absorbed by their mobile phones or tablets while walking through Croydon town centre, and who fail to check for on-coming trams in places such as George Street, Church Street or outside East Croydon Station.
Davis says that the trams have been affected by around one road traffic incident per month, mostly due to cars which jump red lights and cross the tracks as a tram is on-coming.
And he says that there’s reported one near-miss a day with pedestrians crossing the tracks.
“Our drivers are acutely aware of where people are stepping out into the paths of trams around the town centre,” he said.
Davis urges the public to exercise due care and attention when on Croydon’s streets, and the sections of the tram network which is integrated into local roads, especially along Church Street and George Street.
Davis is our latest guest to be interviewed Under The Flyover, our podcast strand free for paying subscribers to Inside Croydon.
- To hear TfL Mark Davis’s interview in full, and catch-up with the news about tram fare rises and the purchasing of new rolling stock, click here – you will need to sign up as an Inside Croydon paying subscriber, when you will be able to access our full podcast archive, as well as qualify for special money-off offers, prize competitions and more
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Re “trams running “the wrong way” – anti-clockwise between Reeves Corner, Church Street and George Street to East Croydon” – this was predicted 4 years ago https://insidecroydon.com/2022/04/01/about-turn-trams-town-centre-loop-set-to-go-in-reverse/
Our April Fools have an uncanny knack.
Remember beavers on the Wandle?
What I read from this article, and ask am I wrong that the most obvious shutdown has been dramatically downplayed.
That West Croydon Tram/Bus Station stop is closed throughout the duration, with no alternative replacement bus from Reeves Corner to East Croydon stop?