Nottingham’s light rail system – a real P-3 project!

The Nottingham (city pop. 275,000) light rail project should be of interest, because it was and is a true example of a P-3 (Public/Private/Partnership), where the operating consortium, Transdev, not only went to the international banks for financing, but assumed all risk. Today, Nottingham’s NET light rail systems, operates at a profit, even after paying its debt servicing charges. The cost to build Nottingham’s light rail system was CAD $25.6 million per kiliometre and the annual ridership now exceeds 10 million passengers a year. So successful is Nottingham’s new light rail system, that a second line from Clifton to Chilwell has just been approved at the end of July, with construction starting in 2011 and completion by 2014.

Nottingham Municipality has realized that a modern LRT lineAi??Ai??would alleviateAi??Ai??the increasingAi??Ai??car congestion in the city center and to contribute to a new economical development of this area, characterized by a massive industrial closure and conversion.
The north-south Line 1 route (about 14 km), opened in 2004,Ai??Ai??links Nottingham city center to Hucknall and Bulwell suburbs, with an intermediate branch to Cinderhill and Phoenix Park. Hucknall-Wilkinson Park section runs in segregated lane alongside the so-called “Robin Hood Railway” railway line, while Cinderhill-Phoenix Park branch is set on an disused freight line. The central section (from Wilkinson Park to Station Street) runs on street, serving the very central Old Market Square, and important commercial and leisure attractions (Royal Center, Lace Market).

Tech. stuff.

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