While billions of pounds have been spent on Tube extensions or earmarked for the Docklands Light Railway, Croydon’s trams have become the poor relations of the capital’s transport infrastructure. And the strain is beginning to show. By STEVEN DOWNES
Planned closures of the Croydon tram network are up by more than two-thirds this year compared to 2025, according to official figures from Transport for London, as the light-rail system goes into this weekend with no services to New Addington, ahead of a further disruption when the eastern half of the network will be closed for two weeks.
TfL’s poor relation: the tram network has had much less investment than other capital transport schemes
All the works being carried out are undoubtedly necessary to maintain the system and keep it safe for its passengers.
Yet the increasing frequency and duration of the closures to sections of the tramway serve to highlight the increasing fragility of its infrastructure after its first quarter-century.
The frequency that New Addington’s residents are being cut off from Croydon and the other destinations on the tram network has prompted the area’s MP, Natasha Irons, to send a letter of complaint to TfL’s tram management.
But as is being suggested increasingly by frustrated passengers, Irons and another Croydon MP, Sarah Jones, really need to take the matter up with their Labour party colleague who controls the purse strings, London Mayor Lord Khan.
As with the trams’ ageing rolling stock – with the first fleet of trams already past its expected service life – the track closures stem from more than a decade of underinvestment in the system. This started when Boris Johnson was the Mayor of London who thrice promised to build a tram extension to Crystal Palace, and broke his promise three times.
On the buses: no one has seen Sadiq Khan on a Croydon tram in 10 years as Mayor of London
The decade since, under Labour Mayor Sadiq, now Lord, Khan has not been much better for what is supposed to be the London Trams network.
Khan, the son of a bus driver (in case you hadn’t heard), is said by insiders at City Hall to actually dislike the trams. Indeed, Inside Croydon can find no record of Khan paying a visit to any part of the tram network or being photographed on a tram since becoming London Mayor in 2016.
So as other parts of the capital’s transport system, such as the Tube and the Docklands Light Railway, receive billions in investment for rolling stock and route extensions, south London’s trams have become the poor relations of TfL.
The Northern line Tube extension to Battersea Power Station cost £1.1billion. A proposed DLR extension of extremely dubious merit, from Gallions Reach to Beckton Riverside and across the river to Thamesmead, is reckoned to cost £1.7billion, with construction expected to start in 2027 or 2028.
Property boost: developers at Battersea Power Station welcomed the building of the Northern line from Kennington
Between 2023 and 2026, TfL has spent £40million on tram network engineering and upgrades. Or about 2.35% of a Docklands toy train set extension which planning experts say isn’t even necessary.
And TfL’s tram managers don’t yet know how much they will have to spend over the next couple of years. “We’re currently reviewing our business plan, so we aren’t able to provide detailed information on funding allocated to specific works at this time,” a TfL spokesperson told Inside Croydon this week, reinforcing the impression that Croydon’s trams are at the back of a queue when it comes to funding allocations.
For further comparison, when Ken Livingstone, as London Mayor, carried out a feasibility study for the tram extension to Crystal Palace (almost 20 years ago), it was reckoned to cost a relatively modest £200million.
A tram link through Sutton to the Royal Marsden Cancer Hub was estimated to cost £600million but was dropped in 2023 as a “weak business case”, despite being less than one-third of the cost of a DLR extension that few really need.
Croydon Tramlink, as it was first known, began service in May 2000, providing an east-west speedy link, avoiding south London’s traffic-clogged roads between Wimbledon in the west and Beckenham Junction in the east. The 17 miles of tracks serve 39 stops in the boroughs of Merton, Sutton and Bromley, converging on the central loop through Croydon town centre, and East and West Croydon railway stations.
The tram network has yet to recover its pre-pandemic passenger levels of 27.2million per year, with numbers falling since 2022-2023’s 20.9million, to 17.2million in 2024-2025 and 19.6million in 2025-2026. Those latter two figures were, in large part, due to service disruption for a variety of causes.
Passenger figures for 2026-2027 could be worse hit, as there have already been 54 days of some form of closure to the network in this calendar year. That’s more than five times as many planned track closure days as in 2022. And it is 68% more than tram passengers had to endure in 2025.
The £40million spend between 2023 and 2026 delivered 11 projects across the network. “These included embedded track renewals in central Croydon, ballasted track renewals, road crossing renewals and the replacement of key junction and crossover assets,” TfL says.
“These projects were not repairs. They formed part of TfL’s proactive, long-term asset renewal programme, which is based on regular inspections and condition monitoring and is designed to replace infrastructure before defects develop that could affect reliability or require corrective repairs.
Memorial: the memorial to those who died in the tram crash has been restored
“Infrastructure assets have a finite lifespan and require periodic renewal to maintain safety, reliability and performance. The asset management approach is designed to identify and replace assets before they deteriorate, helping to keep the network operating safely and reliably.”
Next month will see the 10th anniversary of the Sandilands tram crash, when seven people were killed and dozens more suffered life-changing injuries.
So it is no surprise that TfL says, “Safety is TfL’s top priority.”
They say: “London Trams operates under a comprehensive inspection, maintenance and assurance regime, with infrastructure regularly monitored to ensure it remains safe for operation. The renewal programme is an important part of that approach, helping replace assets before they reach the end of their operational life.”
And now we reach the nub of the matter. Things are not going to get better.
“Given the size and age of the network, and the varying rates at which different types of track wear over time, there is unlikely to be a point at which major renewal works are no longer required.
“As with any railway, ongoing investment in infrastructure is needed to maintain a safe and reliable service, and TfL expects to continue carrying out work during quieter times where possible, such as school holiday periods, to minimise disruption to customers.”
Long wait: there will be no trams to New Addington this weekend, nor between Oct 24 and Nov 6
We are about to experience one of those works. “Essential track renewal works” are set to begin on Saturday October 24 and run for a fortnight through to Friday November 6. Through that period, there will be no service between East Croydon, New Addington, Elmers End and Beckenham Junction.
Having focused on dealing with the network’s embedded track – those sections where the tramway runs along the road – TfL’s attention is now turning to more sections of ballasted track.
The works later this month include renewing the Kent Gate Way road crossing east of Gravel Hill, replacing approximately 1,000 metres of track and ballast between Arena and Elmers End, and carrying out improvement works at Sandilands tunnel.
“TfL will also undertake a range of smaller-scale asset renewals across the closure area, helping to improve reliability and reduce future disruption.”
The works are to be conducted 24 hours a day, to “minimise disruption”.
Mark Davis, TfL’s general manager for London Trams, said: “We’re carrying out most of these works during the October half-term period when demand is lower, to minimise disruption as much as possible. The programme includes renewing track, ballast and other key infrastructure across the network, helping to keep the tramway safe, reliable and fit for the future.
“We know these works will affect some journeys, and we’d like to thank customers for their patience. Replacement buses will be in place, and we encourage customers to plan ahead using the TfL Go app or our online journey planner before travelling.”
Read more: Mayor Khan says he didn’t know Croydon trams need replacing
Read more: Half tram network shut down for another two weeks’ works
Read more: MP Irons wades in to row over New Addington tram closures
Read more: TfL report confirms decade delay over Croydon’s new trams
Read more: What might have been: how Croydon Trams should have grown
Inside Croydon recently interviewed TfL’s man in the hot seat, Mark Davis, about the state of infrastructure on the 25-year-old tram network. Our Under The Flyover interview is premium content free to paying subscribers to this website- Click here and pay to hear our exclusive interview on Spotify
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There has been lots of talk in the past about extensions to the tram network (light rail), mainly ones to Crystal Palace and Sutton, but those are already catered by existing (heavy) rail services. My own favourite extension would be to extend the New Addington branch down to the valley and then up to Biggin Hill as not even the ingenious Victorians ever got a railway up to Biggin Hill.
As Sadiq Khan comes from/lives in Tooting, perhaps a tram extension to Tooting would get more support from him/his family (if he personally doesn’t like trams)? Although longer-term Croydon residents will remember the 4 years of chaos as the tram network was being built (1996 to 2000), so years of similar disruption might not win Sadiq round ?!
Whatever happened to wotsisname, that bloke who was elected Assembly Member for Croydon (if he can be bothered) and Sutton? It’ll come to me in a minute. Hang on. Neil Garratt, that’s ittu.
He says he’s Chair of the Budget and Performance Committee, and that he leads “the Assembly’s scrutiny of how the Mayor spends London’s money — across TfL, the Metropolitan Police (via MOPAC), the London Fire Brigade, and the wider GLA family.”
Instead of making himself useful on things that matter, he spends his time slagging off Sadiq Khan. There’s a rumour Neil actually turned up in Croydon last week, but that was just for a photo opp with Pompous Prevaricating Perry. Piss-poor and Garratt were brown-nosing some bloke who fancies making a fool of himself by following in the footsteps of Zac Goldsmith, Shaun Bailey and Susan Hall as yet another failed Tory Mayor of London candidate
I think there are a lot of questions that need to be asked about the amount of work that seemingly has to be done and how long it takes to do the work. Croydon has a small system, so it would be advisable, I think, to look at those tram systems that are much larger and find out how they manage repairs and maintenance. Cities such as Amsterdam, Cologne, Zurich and many others have a wealth of experience which, I’m sure, they would be prepared to share. I don’t think any of these cities sees the level of long-term closures that Croydon has to contend with. It might also be illuminating to compare Croydon with the other British systems. How do, say, Sheffield and Nottingham manage with closures? How many do they have? How long do they last?
Amsterdam also closes down sections of its tram network for improvement work.
The road on the hotel I’m staying at the moment at was closed for over a year whilst the track was replaced. They replaced all the utilities as well so it took longer than just a track replacement would.
There are other sections of the system closed for extended periods at the moment.
I was in Manchester in August. Parts of their network were closed down for 2-3 weeks for track replacement works. This has been on ongoing programme of works across the network. When I was there in June another section was closed for an extensive period.
People can’t have it both ways complain when trams can’t run because of a broken track and complain when proper preventative works also take place to make the system more reliable