Passengers rage after trams stop early – Inside Croydon

Long-suffering tram passengers were left angry and stranded on Wednesday night after services were suspended in the evening without any notice or warning, while Transport for London’s official online sites claimed there was a ‘Good’ service running.

Early shutdown: trams will not run after 8.30pm tonight and over the weekend

A senior TfL official this morning issued an apology to those affected, along with a warning that tram services will stop again at 8.30pm tonight, tomorrow and Sunday. However, this information was contradicted by official information at some stops today which said the service would close at 8pm.

Navid Golshan. TfL’s London Trams manager claimed passengers were experiencing what he called “minor delays”.

But one tram passenger who watched TfL’s online status updates on Wednesday, who had no notice of the early stoppage, was upset and seriously out of pocket. “We traveled into Croydon using public transport as we are encouraged to do,” they said BCasking not to be identified.

“I did what TfL advised me to do: I checked before traveling and there was no mention of any early service closures. But when, at the end of the evening, it was time to get home, there were no trams. No explanation. No excuses. I was forced to take a taxi to get home.”

Residents living in New Addington, Addington Village and along that branch into Addiscombe have not had a full tram service since the end of March. There are still no trams to or from Elmers End station.

False information: the official TfL page on Wednesday did not mention the early stoppage of services

On Wednesday, the official service update page on TfL’s website said: “London Tramlink: No service between Arena and Elmers is ending due to lack of trams. Minor delays between New Addington and West Croydon. Good service on all other routes.” There was no mention of the evening stop at all.

Ongoing engineering issues with the rolling stock now look set to continue to cause disruption next week, making it the tenth week since 2024 that TfL trams have failed to provide a good service across the network. That will mean there was no full service for 47% of this year.

Sources at TfL say 20 of the fleet of 32 trams are running today, with one “operational spare”. “Credit to the engineering teams who have been working hard to get these trams back into service and more are becoming available every day,” the source said.

Tram services are expected to run between 4am and 8.30pm at the weekend, with the Elmers End branch remaining closed.

“We expect to have 24 trams available from next week, so we will start serving all routes with normal departure and arrival times,” a TfL spokesman said. Inside Croydon. TfL remains wary of when they will be able to offer such a service – it may not be as soon as Monday.

There is no further information on what caused the wheel damage that affected so many trams and is still under investigation.

TfL’s Golshan said: “We apologize that customers are still experiencing minor delays on the London tram network after several trams suffered wheel damage due to debris on a section of track.

“Our maintenance teams have been working hard to get trams back into service as quickly as possible and we appreciate customers’ patience while we do this.

“Services are currently running across the entire London tram network with the exception of the Elmers End branch. Services are starting later and finishing earlier to ensure we can maintain a regular service when customers need it most, but we expect a full network-wide service to return from next week.

“We advise anyone wishing to travel to the area to further check before travelling, consider alternative routes and allow extra time to complete their journey.”

The tram fleet has 22 of the original Bombardier stock which have run along the 17-mile network since its opening in 2000, plus 12 Variobahn trams which were purchased between 2012 and 2015.

TfL has started a tender process to find replacements for the Bombardier trams, but due to covid and the transport agency’s financial crisis, it is at least a year or two behind schedule on this multi-million pound purchase.

TfL’s advice is for anyone traveling in the area to check before they travel, consider alternative routes and allow more time to complete their journey.

Or apparently make sure they have the taxi fare to get home…

From May 2024: Two-thirds of the tram fleet is out of service due to wheel failure
From June 2023: 20% of Croydon’s tram fleet has suffered wheel damage

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