10.05.16
Campaigners urge Sadiq Khan to develop London tram network
London’s tram network should be developed along its existing bus routes, campaigners have said as they called on the newly-elected mayor of London to make developing the capital’s tram network a priority.
TramForward, the campaigning arm of the Light Rail Transit Association (LRTA), said that improving the capital’s network would reduce air pollution, caused by tail-pipe emissions and the harmful particulates arising from the interaction between rubber-tyred vehicles and road surfaces, better than hybrid buses.
It congratulated Sadiq Khan on his election as London’s new mayor and urged him to look again at plans for the ‘Cross River Tram’, introduced in 2000, for King’s Cross and the London to Euston corridor.
Andrew Braddock, chair of the LRTA, said: 2With the city's continuing growth in population, it is essential that the busiest bus routes are upgraded so that greater capacity can be offered at an economic cost.
“As dozens of other cities around the world have found, light rail systems bring significant benefits in terms of reduced car dependence, economic regeneration, job creation and environmental improvement.”
LRTA added that extensions to London’s Tramlink would reduce congestion around areas such as Oxford Street and could be built for less than a tenth of the cost of the two Crossrail schemes.
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(Image c. Transport for London)