LIGHT RAIL ROUND-UP

TRANSPORT for London has announced the preferred option to expand the

Tramlink network in South London is from Colliers Wood Underground station to Sutton railway station.

The route runs roughly north-south and crosses the existing Croydon-Wimbledon route via an interchange at Belgrave Walk. Sutton is one of only six London boroughs that does not have a Tube link, but much of the estimated £425 million cost is still to be found.

February storms led to flooding in South Yorkshire that again stopped the Sheffield-Rotherham tram-train service. Services were suspended on February 17, following rising water levels in the area, and they only recommenced once divers had been able to inspect a rail bridge over the River Don on February 19. In themeantime both tram and tram-train services from Sheffield had to turn back at Tinsley.

The Tyne& Wear Metro has renewed two sets of 40-year-old points at a key junction called Prudhoe Street crossover under Newcastle between Haymarket and Monument stations. The junction is said to see 450 train movements per day, making it essential to the smooth operation of Metro trains through Newcastle. The work was part of a rolling programme to replace all electro-hydraulic points on the Metro with more efficient electrically-driven point motors. So far 20 out of 32 have been replaced.

Manchester Metrolink has introduced an ‘earlybird’ offer for passengers travelling before 07.00 and paying by contactless cards to try to smooth out demand in the morning peak. So long as no other journeys are started between 07.00 and 09.30 that day, the maximum fare will be capped at an off-peak one-day travelcard, which at £4.90 is £2.20 less than the peak fare cap.