Light rail and trams

Crucial work to link Bolton station and interchange hits milestone

25 April 2017Considerable progress has now been made on the project to upgrade Bolton’s transport interchange and build a new ‘skylink’ bridge between the building and Bolton rail station. Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has confirme...

NR completes crucial Sheffield tram-train track connection

19 April 2017Network Rail has reached a landmark point on the delayed tram-train project in South Yorkshire as engineers installed the physical link between the tram and the heavy rail network over the Easter weekend. The critical piece of track sits at the s...

Testing on Sheffield tram-train pilot finally starts

05 April 2017Testing has finally begun on the UK’s first tram-train vehicles which are expected to be rolled out onto the network in 2018. The pilot scheme marks the first count of tram-trains in the UK and will provide a direct connection between Sheff...

Nexus takes back operation of Tyne and Wear Metro from DB Regio

04 April 2017Nexus has resumed responsibility for the operation of services on the Tyne and Wear Metro this week, taking back control from operator DB Regio, part of the Arriva Group, who had run services on behalf of Nexus since April 2010. Starting from Sat...

TfWM to take over running of Midland Metro next year

22 March 2017Day-to-day running of the Midland Metro tram service will be taken on entirely by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) from October 2018 when the current concession, which is held by National Express, ends. The move has been implemented to enable T...

£6m Newcastle Central Metro station refurbishment complete

13 March 2017The £6m project to revamp Newcastle Central Metro station has been completed, adding improvements to facilities for passengers at one of the north east’s major metro stations. Used by around 5.3 million people a year, the works have t...

Blackpool tram passenger numbers back on the rise after 2014 dip

01 March 2017Blackpool’s revamped tram network has seen record numbers of passengers travel on the services, as ticket sales show that five million journeys have been registered since April 2016 – the highest number since the tram re-opened in 2012...

Second City Crossing opens as Metrolink complete ‘big bang’ expansion

27 February 2017The new Second City Crossing tram line through Manchester city centre was opened yesterday, marking the completion of Metrolink’s “big bang” expansion. The line now links together 93 stops over 60 miles with the addition of the...

Delayed Sheffield tram-train completion date finally set

21 February 2017A completion date has finally been set for the long-awaited construction of South Yorkshire’s tram-train project, with work expected to be finished two-and-a-half years later than originally predicted. The project, which is expected to cost...

Jones announces £60k bursary for Doncaster high-speed rail college

21 February 2017Transport minister Andrew Jones has announced an additional £60,000 worth of DfT funding will be made available for bursary schemes for students who study at the National College for High Speed Rail (NCHSR). The announcement was made during...

RAIB: Croydon tram driver had ‘lost awareness’ before fatal derailment

20 February 2017The driver of the fatal Sandilands junction tram accident in Croydon, London, had “lost awareness” before the carriage he was controlling derailed, killing seven people, the latest interim report from the Rail Accident Investigation Bu...

Metrolink’s Second City Crossing set to open later this month

15 February 2017Metrolink’s new Second City Crossing tram line is due to open in Manchester later this month, TfGM announced to the public today, marking the completion of the £1.5bn “big bang” expansion programme. The first passenger ser...

Midland Metro tram shipped to Spain for battery fit-out ahead of OLE-free operation

23 January 2017The first of the Midland Metro light rail fleet has been shipped back to the Zaragoza factory in Spain, where it was made, to be fitted with batteries as part of trailblazing plans to introduce battery-powered tram in the UK – thus ruling ou...

DLR’s KeolisAmey set to run Manchester Metrolink

18 January 2017Greater Manchester’s Metrolink network is set to be run by a new joint venture partnership starting from this summer up until 2027. KeolisAmey, a partnership between transport operator Keolis and infrastructure specialist Amey – the s...

Enabling works begin on new Trafford Park Metrolink line

13 January 2017Work has now begun on the £350m Metrolink Trafford Park line, a planned route on Manchester’s light rail network which will offer new transport connections to the intu Trafford Centre. The new six stop line, branching off from the exi...