Croydon Tramlink

The Croydon Tramlink in (south) London, UK, is an interesting system which seems to be quite successful although it was initially controversial. It opened in 2000, just under 50 years after the last red trams run in London.

Most of the route mileage is on old railway ROW: the former Wimbledon to West Croydon, Elmers End to Addiscombe, and Woodside to Sanderstead lines, all of them former Southern Railway third-rail electrified branches which had pretty thin traffic. From Birkbeck to Beckenham Junction, a former double-track train line is now a single-track train line (still with passenger trains) and a parallel single-track tram line. The rest is new ROW, some of it within parks, but some on-street running both in the middle of Croydon, and on the way down to, and within, New Addington. Part of the right-of-way of the Wimbledon branch runs over the route of the Surrey Iron Railway, one of the oldest in the world, dating from about 1800 with horse haulage! There is a longish tunnel on the New Addington branch inherited from the Woodside-Sanderstead line.

The stops have "medium-high" platforms. At the street stops platforms have been built at the edge of the sidewalk with slopes at their ends for wheelchairs. The system is DDA compliant (the UK equivivalent of the Americans with Disabilities Act).

The cars are double-ended, single-articulated vehicles, with high floors over the outer (motor) trucks but a low floor through the rest of the vehicle including the articulation. The centre truck is unpowered and axle-less to allow this. There are four doors per side, all opening into the low floor section.

Payment: tickets from machines on the stations, but London Transport travelcards for the proper zones are also valid. Honour system with roving inspectors.

Transfers: Travelcards allow transfers between the proper zones. Ordinary tickets allow transfers to and from special connecting bus routes in the New Addington area. (New Addington was previously the largest residential community in greater London without any form of rail access.) At Wimbledon, Birkbeck and Elmers End stations, the trams use former train platforms within the rail stations. At Beckenham Junction, Mitcham Junction and East Croydon, the tram stops are right outside the train stations. At West Croydon the tram stop is a little further away from the train station but close to the bus station. At Addington Village, a new interchange station was built to serve the trams and the connecting bus routes.

Because Croydon is in South London, which is not well served by the Underground, there is only one Tramlink to Underground interchange. This is at Wimbledon, where different surface platforms are served by Underground, main line, and Tramlink lines.