Contract signed for new Croydon trams

[London Euston]

http://upmain.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/ ... don-trams/

[siquelme]

I am the only one who thinks this is a disgrace? Surely the contract should of been awarded to a UK business? I mean the government should of stepped in and paid the difference between what the germans were offering and a uk based one... surely the ecomony would of benfited and the government would get its money back through employee tax and saving on benift payments they owuld of had to pay out... or am i on cloud coocoo land?

[Bufferstop]

Did any UK based company bid? I would have thought that the only company operating in the UK likely to bid would be Bombardier and they would have been built abroad. As it mentions modifications to tram stops and depot I assume these are off the shelf designs which will be quicker and cheaper to build.
John W
aka Bufferstop

[hiffano]

umm, how many UK train or tram makers are there?
remember, its all german these days!

[fratton]

well probably none as the government didnt give bombardier up north a contract and they virtually shut down last month casting their skilled workers into the pool of hundreds of out of work people in their area,,,,

[hiffano]

bombardier the canadian company

but yes I know what you mean.

[D605Eagle]

[Sarcasm mode] Yeah brilliant news! More money thrown away to Jonny F. Of cause theres no way we could make them is there! We wouldn't have a clue, We've never built any trams,trains or anything like that. [/Sarcasm mode]

[b308]

When was the last time any trams were built over here? Remember the Europeans never got rid of their trams and so have been constantly updating their systems over the 50 years or more, we didn't have any so they are well used to building the things*... Unless of corse we want to make some of our own to a new design which may (or more likely not) work...

(* and no, I don't count either Blackpool or Seaton as true tram systems in the sense we are talking here - inner city mass transport)

What i really don't understand is our fixation to the damn things, they are inflexible in use, expensive to build and maintain... If we are to use Electricity as the form of propulsion with overhead wires why on earth don't we use Trolleybuses?

[Bufferstop]

They'd have been a damn sight cheaper than the Cambridgeshire guided busway, which like other similar schemes use old rail routes out in the countryside but dumps its vehicles back on the congested city centre roads. Even the bus manufacturers have scaled back their promotion. As a pedestrian I would rather share my walking spaces with fixed track, speed limited trams than buses. Their ability to switch running modes to suit the situation is what people and planners like.

[b308]

I agree re the busways, but still can't get my head round the continual introduction of trams... They are far to expensive for what they are, a bus with its own pathway (but not guided) would be much more efficient both in use of money and flexibility... Or, as i said earlier, use a Trolleybus if you want electric propulsion...

[Bushey Troughs]

umm, how many UK train or tram makers are there?
remember, its all german these days!

The Citadis trams on the Dublin LUAS system were made in France, by the Alstom company in La Rochelle.

[Bufferstop]

When it comes to shifting people a two car articulated tram seems to beat buses, even articulated ones hands down. About five years ago I'd been on an ELR Burn's Night special with my wife and we were returning to our Manchester Hotel. We didn't know about the Green Day gig at the MEN Arena until we pulled in to Victoria. The tram was about a quarter full, the wide island platform was so full that there was a line of police with linked arms stopping them spilling onto the line. Swallowed the lot and shifted them up to Piccadilly Gardens. It would have taken half a dozen buses at least to shift them all. That was on top of completing the journey stopping all stops in just about the same time as you can drive the bus route non stop. I can see why all the continental countries use them. Darned sight cheaper than the Tube and almost as good.
John W
aka Bufferstop.