Mayor Khan says he didn’t know Croydon trams needed to be replaced – Inside Croydon

Off the trail: The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, doesn’t seem to be forthcoming about TfL trams

Sadiq Khan, after eight years as Mayor of London, admitted he was unaware of the problem of aging and increasingly unreliable rolling stock on Croydon’s tram network, after London Assembly members recently highlighted the service’s ” abysmal’ and the lack of trams they had led to a ‘completely unacceptable’ lack of reliability for south London commuters.

According to Mayor Khan, who has overall responsibility for Transport for London, he had to be made aware of the crisis in the tram network by Croydon MP Sarah Jones.

As Inside Croydon was the first to report that there was no service available on part of the tram network for 10 weeks out of the first 21 weeks of 2024. At one point earlier this month, two-thirds of the network’s tram fleet was not available for service.

The new Addington and Elmers End branch lines were particularly badly affected by the lack of tram services.

After weeks of engineering work on the tracks, trams have been taken out of service due to wheels damaged by debris on the tracks in Croydon town centre. TfL ruled out intentional vandalism as the cause of the damage.

“My understanding when I looked into this is that the tram company has taken these trams out of service to repair the wheels, which have been damaged by debris,” said London’s Labor mayor – although it turns out that he is not it is an accurate account of events. The decision to take the damaged trams out of service was TfL’s, not Tram Operations Limited’s.

Defective: Croydon’s oldest Bombardier trams are becoming increasingly unsafe

“The good news is that those trams are running again and when I checked … I understood that there was a good service running in Croydon,” Mayor Khan said.

“I will be meeting with Sarah Jones again to discuss these issues because it is not good enough for the residents there. The tram is often, for many families, the only decent public transport they have.

“Many had to wait a long time to get a decent tram.”

TfL was working to ensure there was “proper maintenance to ensure trams are not taken out of service”, Mayor Khan said.

Most of the trams date back to 2000, when the network opened, and are in need of replacement – ​​a big problem for cash-strapped TfL.

However, Mayor Khan did not seem to be aware of this. “I’m not sure about the rolling stock issue,” he said, “but I’m happy to look at it.”

The mayor added: “We are talking to the company that runs the trams to make sure that problems like this don’t happen again.” It is the third year that there have been service disruptions due to extensive “essential” track engineering work and at least the second year that wheel failure has seen a large part of the tram fleet disabled.

Hina Bokhari, a LibDem Assembly member, wrote to Mayor Khan’s TfL commissioner, Andy Lord, describing the tram system as “a service in crisis that is failing passengers”.

Bokhari demanded that directors and senior staff responsible for running trams should not receive performance-related bonuses this year.

“Since early 2024, we have seen passengers on the New Addington and Elmers End branches effectively cut off with repeated line closures at extremely short notice,” Bokhari wrote.

Bokhari in his letter called for “increased transparency” about delays in replacing old rolling stock — the kind of thing politicians write or say when they have no idea what’s going on.

Trish Ashton, TfL’s director of rail and sponsored services, said: “We apologize to customers in south London affected by the issues we have encountered with the London tram network.

“We know that a reliable tram network is vital for those who live and work in south London and we continue to work hard to deliver this service.

“Customers have been affected by shortages due to damaged wheels, but safety is our number one priority. 1 and the decision to take the damaged trams out of service was absolutely necessary to keep customers safe.

“We have been working hard to restore a good service on London’s tram network as quickly as possible and we are now serving all destinations.

“We have started the procurement process to replace the existing tram fleet, but the replacement is conditional on securing adequate capital funding. We continue to work with the government to secure funding for this and a number of other important projects.”

A three-day engineer strike by members of the Unite union has put the spotlight on the vital work they do to keep the tram fleet operational. The strike was called because tram engineers are paid £10,000 a year less than their colleagues doing similar work on the tube network.

A new strike is planned for July 11-15.

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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