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Categories: Croydon | Electric railways | Light rail | Trams in London | Tram transport in the United Kingdom
Tramlink
Tramlink (until recently known as Croydon Tramlink) is a public transport system in south London, operated by FirstGroup on behalf of Transport for London. Interchange is possible with National Rail and the London Underground at certain points. The system, centred on Croydon, began operation in May 2000.
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Cars
Tramlink is operated by a fleet of 24 articulated low floor trams built by Bombardier Transportation in Vienna. The cars are described by their manufacturer as class CR-4000, and are based on the very similar class K-4000 built for use on Köln's low platform routes; Bombardier now refers to the vehicle family as Flexity Swift.
The CR-4000 cars are six axle, single articulated, double ended cars with four doors on each side. The low floor stretches between both the outer doors, through the articulation (which rests on an unpowered bogie/truck). Between the outer door and each car end is higher floor section, accessed up a step and situated over the car's two power bogies. The low floor section is 400 mm above rail-level, sloping down to 350 mm in the doorways, a height which matches the platforms at tram stops, and each car has two wheelchair positions.
Each car is 30.1 m long and 2.65 m wide and has 70 seats and a total capacity of just over 200 passengers. They operate off an overhead power supply at 750 volts dc, and have a maximum speed of 80 km/h (50 mph).
Routes
Tramlink consists of a varied mixture of street track shared with other vehicle, dedicated track within the street and off-street track. The off-street track includes new right of way, former railway lines and one section which shares right of way (but not tracks) with an operational third-rail electrified Network Rail line.
The following routes are described in detail from east to west.
Route 1
(yellow)- Terminus: Elmers End
- Arena
- Woodside
- Blackhorse Lane
- Addiscombe
- Sandilands
- Lebanon Road
- East Croydon
- George Street
- Church Street
- Wandle Park
- Waddon Marsh for Purley Way retail parks
- Ampere Way for Ikea and Valley Park
- Therapia Lane
- Beddington Lane
- Mitcham Junction
- Mitcham
- Belgrave Walk
- Phipps Bridge
- Morden Road
- Merton Park
- Dundonald Road
- Terminus: Wimbledon
Then back to Wandle Park
- Reeves Corner
- West Croydon
- Wellesley Road
Then to East Croydon and back to Elmers End
Route 2
(red)- Terminus: Beckenham Junction (train & bus interchange)
- Beckenham Road (bus interchange)
- Avenue Road
- Birkbeck
- Harrington Road
- Arena
- Woodside
- Blackhorse Lane
- Addiscombe
- Sandilands
- Lebanon Road
- East Croydon
- George Street
- Church Street
- West Croydon
- Wellesley Road
Then to East Croydon and back to Beckenham Junction
On Sundays, route 2 services are extended to Wimbledon via route 1 to give shorter headways on the Wimbledon line.
Route 3
(green)- Terminus: New Addington
- King Henry's Drive
- Field Way
- Addington Village
- Gravel Hill for Addington Palace
- Coombe Lane
- Lloyd Park
- Sandilands
- Lebanon Road
- East Croydon
- George Street
- Church Street
- West Croydon
- Wellesley Road
Then to East Croydon and back to New Addington
Former lines re-used
From Elmers End to Woodside, Tramlink Routes 1 and 2 follow the former British Rail branch line from Elmers End, to a now demolished Addiscombe station (500 metres from the present Tram stop of the same name). At Woodside, the old station buildings are still visible, but disused, and the original platforms have been demolished to make way for accessible low platforms, in common with the rest of the system (except Elmers End, and Wimbledon, which continue to use their old respective branch line platforms). From Woodside to Sandilands (Routes 1 & 2) and from Sandilands almost to Lloyd Park (Route 3), Tramlink follows the route of the former Woodside and South Croydon Railway. This includes the Park Hill (or Sandilands) tunnels.
From near Phipps Bridge to near Reeves Corner, the route follows that of the former Surrey Iron Railway. This gives Tramlink a certain claim to be one of the world's oldest tramways! beside Mitcham tram stop had its name long before Tramlink.
A Victorian footbridge beside Waddon New Road had to be demolished to make way for the flyover which takes Tramlink over the West Croydon to Sutton railway line. The footbridge has been re-erected at Corfe Castle on the Swanage Railway.
Projected extensions
- from Harrington Road and Birkbeck
- from Church Street and Wellesey Road
- from Reeves Corner and West Croydon
- from Wimbledon (follows Thameslink to Sutton)
- Wimbledon Chase
- South Merton
- Morden South
- St Helier
- Sutton Common
- West Sutton
- Sutton
- Mitcham (intersection with current stop)
- Tooting (connection with Thameslink)
- Tooting Broadway (connection with Northern Line)
External links
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