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Light Rail Progress can be contacted at: Light Rail Progress |
 The vigorous worldwide development of light rail transit (LRT) (typically called tramways in the United Kingdom) passed another milestone in early March with the opening of another brandnew British LRT tramway system, in Nottingham. The second principal city in the East Midlands (after Leicester), and the county town of Nottinghamshire, Nottingham is located on the River Trent, about 120 miles northwest of London and about 50 miles northeast of Birmingham. A medium-sized urban area, the city itself has a population of approximately 267,000, with a total of 640,000 people living in the Greater Nottingham conurbation (see map below).
On 8 March 2004, Nottingham's tramway system – called Nottingham Express Transit (NET) – was officially launched in an opening celebration by the British Transport Secretary Alistair Darling. The next day, 9 March, saw the start of public services, with fare-paying passengers boarding trams (streetcars) in the city for the first time in nearly 70 years. What has actually opened is NET Line 1, which runs from Nottingham city center northwards to the communities of Bulwell and Hucknall, with a short westward branch serving the suburb of Cinderhill and a park-and-ride site at Phoenix Park. It stretches 14 km (about 8.7 miles) from the city's railway station to Hucknall and Cinderhill, with 23 stations (see route map, below). Stations have been designed to allow the development of bus and minibus feeder services. Ridership for this first line is forecast at 11 million per year.
The LRT system has substantial in-street running. Line 1
stretches from a terminus opposite Nottingham Midland railway
station, and then runs via the City Centre and Hyson Green to join
the existing "heavy" railway alignment linking the city with
Hucknall, Mansfield, and Worksop, widely known as the "Robin Hood Line".
Traffic from the suburbs into central Nottingham is a major
problem, and the tramway project is targeted to help alleviate
congestion in affected corridors. it is hoped that the trams will
help remove two million car trips a year from the city's congested
road network. The tramway system is also seen as a key
component in efforts to regenerate the area, which has been
badly affected by the decline in the traditional mining industry. Besides extensive trackwork in public streets, one of the most significant civil works undertakings during construction involved the former Great Central Railway viaduct in the city center, which was demolished and replaced by a new structure for the tramway. The entire LRT project cost a total £200 million (approximately US $280 million), financed by a public-private arrangement with the British government providing £167 million over ten years. Thus the cost of Line 1 comes to about $14.3 million per km, or about $32.1 million per mile – well in the ballpark for major new LRT installations designed for both in-street operation and relatively fast suburban running. The line's developer and operator is a private-sector grouping, the
Arrow Consortium, in partnership with worldwide railway systems
engineer Bombardier, civil engineering contractor Carillion,
Transdev (a French company operating 60 tramway networks,
including five in France), and local bus operator Nottingham City
Transport. The consortium has been awarded a 27-year
concession to operate the NET system. In addition to the Hucknall terminus, major park-and-ride
interchanges have also been provided at four other strategic
locations: Phoenix Park, Moor Bridge (serving the large
conurbation of Bestwood), south of Hucknall, and Wilkinson
Street, close to the city's ring road. In the city center itself, much
of the tramway's route had previously been cleared of motor
vehicle traffic by a long-established pedestrianization program,
and the LRT line passes close to the Victoria and Broad Marsh
centers, the city's two large and popular shopping complexes.
The opening of the NET tramway has been greeted with exultation
by the Nottingham community. "A proud day for the city" headlined the Nottingham Evening Post,
noting that the start of operations "marked the completion of 16 years of planning."
The paper went on to describe the enthusiasm:
At the March 8th opening celebration, after travelling by tram to
the city's Old Market Square, Transport Minister Darling
proclaimed that "it's an excellent ride and I'm sure this tram will
bring a lot of benefits to Nottingham." Darling also assured
onlookers that "it'll take people out of their cars, it'll make it easier
to get about the city and it'll be good for the city and good for the reputation of the city."
On the first day of publicly available service, 9 March, almost universally exuberant crowds turned out to welcome the new tramway and ride the trains. in fact, loads were so heavy by mid-morning that some service was delayed, and there were instances of trams bunching as hordes of eager riders delayed departures.
From local politicians to ordinary transit users, everyone seemed excited and jubilant. Terry Butler, the local member for environment at the county council, enthused: "it's absolutely fantastic ... We are now a European city." One middle-aged couple told the Nottingham Evening Post reporter that both moved up to
Hucknall to take advantage of the new tram system. "We used to live in Carlton, but we moved up here because the tram is
so good to commute on" said one of the pair. John Townsend, a 37-year-old who said he runs a telecommunications company in Nottingham, had paid £2 for the first tramway ticket to be issued in Nottingham since 1936. "To be frank," he told the news reporter, "I didn't think anybody else would be mad enough to get up at six this morning." But, he added, "it's a historic occasion, and the first public tram service in Nottingham for something like 70 years, and I wanted to be part of it." Further extensions to Nottingham's new light rail transit system are already in development. in Phase 2, additional routes are planned to extend to Clifton (7.6 km south) and Chilwell (9.8 km west). These are shown in yellow and blue on the route map above. Financing for these lines may involve local parking charges and a congestion levy on motorists, followed by a central governmental Transport and Works Act Order. it is hoped that actual construction would start in 2005. Nottingham's new system underscores the flexibility and affordability of LRT, particularly for smaller and medium-sized conurbations. While other cities continue to agonize and debate alternatives, Nottingham, by embracing modern, proven, cost-effective tramway-type light rail transit technology, has made a decisive move to address its mobility challenges and urban development goals.
Light Rail Now! website Updated 2004/03/16 |
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Does the name sound familiar? Nottingham
is famous as the setting for the 'Robin Hood' legend and literary and film creations on that theme.
Just-opened Line 1 is shown in red. Future
routes are shown to Chilwell (blue) and Clifton (yellow).
While much of the system is routed in streets, NET's light rail transit trains are able to provide higher
speeds on exclusive segments of the route system.
Trams are electrically powered via a
conventional 750-VDC overhead contact system (OCS) . Initial rolling stock consists
of 15 Bombardier incentro tramcars (a design also selected for Nantes),
28 to 32 meters (92-106 ft) long by 2.4 meters (7.9 ft) wide. Maximum speed is 70 to 80 kph (43 to 50
mph). Passengers access each tram via five single sliding doors.
The trams have been built just 16 miles (26 km) away at
Bombardier's Derby plant. NET's trams are maintained at a
maintenance and storage facility at Wilkinson Street near the city center.
British Transport Minister Alistair Darling
(left) with a Nottingham local official at the March 8th opening celebration.
Crowds of well-wishers queue up in cold, cloudy weather to ride the tramway
on the first day of public service (9 March).
Crowds disembark from the first tram at Station St. on 9 March.