‘Complex’: a fault in the embedded track on a bend in the road near Lebanon Road tram stop has forced TfL to close the stop and cancel all services to Elners End
Even before Transport for London shuts down almost half the Croydon tram network at the weekend for a fortnight of “planned engineering works”, Inside Croydon readers have been reporting significant disruption to services.
According to long-suffering tram passengers, there has been overcrowding at peak times due to a shortage of trams on the route between Croydon and Wimbledon – not an area supposed to be affected by the maintenance works – and an all-round less reliable and less frequent service.
TfL has confirmed that they have been forced to close the Lebanon Road tram stop due to some faulty track nearby.
There have been no services to or from Elmers End all this week.
Services are not expected to return to normal until November 6.
Inside Croydon reported last week how Croydon’s trams have become the poor relation of London’s transport under Mayor Sadiq Khan, with under-investment since Boris Johnson was at City Hall causing an increasing number of breakdowns, to rolling stock and to the track network.
With the trams having been running between Beckenham Junction and Wimbledon via Croydon since 2000, much of the infrastructure is in need of renewal: there have been more than two-thirds more days of closures in 20226 than there were in 2025.
Sidelined: the faulty track near Lebanon Road needs specialist contractors to fix it
This week’s issues with the track at Lebanon Road – where the trams run alongside motor traffic on Addiscombe Road – appears to be a typical example of the maintenance issues confronting the under-resourced tram system. The track here is embedded in the road, and is on a bend in the road – TfL sources say that this is “complex” and requires specialist contractors to fix.
This morning a TfL spokesperson told Inside Croydon: “We have identified a track issue near Lebanon Road tram stop, which is currently closed, and services are suspended between Arena and Elmers End while specialist repairs are planned and delivered.
“We know this will have an impact on customers, including busier services and longer journeys, and we are working to restore services as quickly and safely as possible. We expect services to resume across the tram entire network on November 6 following the planned engineering closure over half term.
We are sorry to passengers affected by the current disruption and thank them for their patience while these essential repairs are completed.”
Read more: Passengers suffering as tram closures up by 68% in a year
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
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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