First look at Nottinghamai??i??s new tram line
Zwei lived in Nottingham in the mid 70’s and is where I first gained interest in urban transit.
While waiting for my then girl friend, who was attending night school, I chanced a free public lecture by a Professor of Transportation (forgot his name) and was so entertaining that I still smile at some of his one-liners, such as “a stopped bus gathers no passengers”. I still remember well the ridicule I received about a dinner conversation at said girl friends parents house about trams retuning to Notts.
Well history has now proven otherwise.
What I find interesting is that the new tram line travels in low density areas, but provides a high standard of transit to those who live South of the Trent. I would wish that our own TransLink would do the same courtesy to those who live south of the Fraser, by providing a stand alone light rail system that did connect Langley and Surrey (the Leewood Report would have Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Langley, and Surrey connect to Vancouver) to Vancouver and not treat transit customers as sardines packed and repacked until they compete their journey.
Nottinghamai??i??s long-awaited Phase 2 tram extension will open this summer, insisted Alstom during a media tour of the new system.
Driver training is now complete and the delivery team in Nottingham is about to begin full timetable tests.
The 17.5-kilometre Y-shaped extension to Clifton and Beeston will more thanAi??double the size of the existing network. For the new lines, Nottingham ordered 22 Citadis trams, which have been delivered and can be found transporting passengers around the city on Line 1.
Drivers have had to complete a full day of training on parts of the new line ahead of their opening later this year.
The NET Phase 2 route was due to open in December 2014 but delays associated with utilities have delayed the projectai??i??s completion by several months.
Nottingham’s LRT provider did something I wish more transit agencies did. Instead of numbering the individual LRV’s they named some of them. Robin Hood, Main Marion, Friar Tuck are some of them. They found that certain companies may have been favorable to pay for a LRV’s name for a yearly fee. I found out later that each LRV does have a number but I have to admit I like the naming possibilities for individual LRV’s. I choose to call this LRV “Carl” just because I can!
How about the Ed Broadbent or the Sir John A. Macdonald, bar car!