CW YES! JANUARY 2003 NEWSLETTER
The January 2003 newsletter of CW YES! has been distributed. We draw attention to the NOP opinion poll findings, the relatively poor attendance for lobbying letters to the Transport Secretary, the dereliction of the embankment and its mediocre wildlife, and the experience of trams in other cities and at the other end of Nottingham raising property values alongside.
Click here to see the full leaflet.
WE WANT A TRAM! SAY BRIDGFORD ELDERLY
In the West Bridgford Neighbourhood News of 07/01/03 the headline article was on trams. The warden and many of the 106 residents of an OAP flats complex at Epperstone Court near the town centre were keen to be served by a tram route, closer than the existing bus stop on Bridgford Road. The trams will provide better mobility for the elderly. The Nottingham tram system will be the first in the UK to have easy low floor access at platform height for all tramcars in service, 12 years before we can eliminate step-entry for all our buses. All tramcars will have spaces for wheelchairs, walking aids and shopping trolleys. The Beeston-Chilwell route will serve QMC, the strongest institutional tram supporter in town. The residents, in their own words, think a tram would be a “real service for us?and a “fantastic boon? preventing them from being stuck indoors vegetating.
Click here for a full report.
CW YES! AND BACIT JOINT NEWSLETTERS
CW YES! has teamed up with BACIT in Beeston and Chilwell for joint production of newsletters, about twice monthly, to EVERY councillor with the City, County, Broxtowe and Rushcliffe councils. We shall produce newsletters lobbying all candidates in the forthcoming elections as well. There are changes in ward boundaries for the City. The tram will be one of many issues in debate ?but we are not optimistic that voting turnouts will be high. There are many other local issues in question, so we shall soon see the relative importance of the tram.
CW YES! FEBRUARY 2003 NEWSLETTER
The February 2003 newsletter of CW YES! has been distributed. We point out a few CW benefits - trams faster than buses, the future Broad Marsh centre trebled in size and served by cross-city trams, and the pointless objection to CW since a past generation in Wilford lived next to steam locomotion.
Click here to see the full leaflet.
TRAM SYMPATHY IN BRIDGFORD
Jeff Teece, one of the Rushcliffe Borough councillors for Edwalton, is pro-tram, and we thank him for his support for a tram in West Bridgford. Rushcliffe Council is sympathetic in principle to a tram route for the town centre, and towards CW, provided there are safeguards for the local environment and the amenity of adjacent residents.
TRAM FINANCES
Some problems have been reported with the Private Finance Initiative in Croydon and Birmingham. But the Croydon losses after interest charges work out to be less than 10% per passenger, on top of a fare structure likely too low and flat-rate. The Croydon tram traffic is 30% up on the forecasting 5 years ago ?and still rising. As for Birmingham, it is an isolated one-off line, and citizens there are clamouring for extensions. That’s coming up with 3 more routes in the next 6 years, through the city centre and out to the airport. The PFI structure and capital financing of the Nottingham extensions is not the same.
NOT IN MY BACK YARD
Know what NIMBYs are? Of course you do, Not In My Back Yard, a phenomenon largely restricted to people who live next to someone else’s open land (like Wilford embankment). The people enjoy a free private amenity without any legal entitlement. Astonishing as it may seem, the embankment is not the private property of the people who just happen to live there. For more information click here for the BACIT website and see 02 February for appropriate links.
CONGESTION CHARGING
Congestion charging began in central London yesterday, with a ? toll entry per car. Traffic went down 25%, and the revenue will finance public transport. It is half-term holiday for schools, and it will take a while before effective monitoring can take place. In Nottingham the Workplace Parking Levy is expected to be introduced in 2005 to reduce urban car use and finance public transport improvements, especially future tram routes. It starts at ?50 per head, but the first 10 car spaces are exempted. The WPL is aimed at car commuters, but not parking for shopping or entertainment. For more information click here for the BACIT website and see 17 February for appropriate links.
STATISTICS
Statistics on accident rates for different modes of transport are available on a number of websites. For more information click here for the BACIT website and see 14 February for appropriate links.
NET UPDATES ON THE PROPOSED TRAMLINES
The NET has published Tram Update newsletters for the areas covered by the CW tram. The Line 3 brochure went out last month, and that for Line 2 this month. For a view of the CW brochure click here . For a view of the Beeston-Chilwell brochure click here .
TESTING...TESTING
Trial running started Sunday 02 March on Line One from the Wilkinson Street Depot to Highbury Vale. HM Railway Inspectorate were on hand. Stephen Dee of Shepshed and David Hardy of Basford were interviewed by the Nottingham Evening Post. For more information click here and see the trams section 03 March article: "Here we go for a track record".
ENT NEWSLETTER
ENT have published a 4-page newsletter in response to the NET trams update last month. ENT repeat their previous arguments ?to the point of contradiction. Up to now they have professed not to oppose trams in principle, but they are critical of both capital and PFI financing arrangements, saying Line One should be monitored for commercial performance before contemplating building any future routes. Yet they continue to advocate CQD, scrapped by the councils a year ago, even though this route would cost ?6 million (30%) more to build.
ABANDONED RAILWAY ROUTES
In today's Evening Post there is a one-page article recalling the Beeching Plan Mark 1, published exactly 40 years ago. The Chair of the steam preservation Heritage Centre based at Ruddington is quoted, endorsing reuse of the Great Central trackbed for the Nottingham-Clifton tram.
The Post journalist says remnants of the old rail network are influencing the shape of Nottingham's tram network.
Even the Post Opinion column - "Rail:Time to back track" says this:
"...the old Great Central route from Nottingham to Clifton could soon be supporting a tram line."For more information click here and see "Rail backtracks to a golden age" under "Environment".
LOCAL ELECTION RESULTS
For information on the local election results relevant to the catchment area of the CW route click here
TRAM DERAILMENT
There was a derailment at 4:55 pm today during testing of the trams. Tramcar 213, entering Highbury Vale tram stop, jacknifed with the front part of the tramcar correctly taking one track at points, but the rear staying on the original track, and the middle section dragged off-track. None of the tree-man tram crew were physicaly hurt or mentally shocked. The exact cause has yet to be investigated, but it occurred at low speed.
HEATED DEBATE
A heated debate has erupted in the letters column of the Nottingham Evening Post in the last few days about tram routes to Clifton. Two of the leading CW opponents with Environment Not Trams have been claiming that the CQD route is a better option than CW, and that Wilford embankment has high wildlife quality that would be ruined by the tram, to which the wildlife bodies strongly agree.
The Chair of CW YES! and other writers have responded that the CQD option was scrapped by the City and County Councils over a year ago, that CQD is inferior commercially, pointing out differentials of traffic and cost-benefit analysis. A challenge has been made to ENT to produce documentary evidence of the wildlife bodies denouncing CW unequivically, or seek fresh responses from them.
Mr. Bates, Executive Director of NET, has responded to the recent flurry of Evening Post letters on the Clifton trams.
For more information click hereMORE HOUSING ON WILFORD LANE?
A planning application for fresh housing at the Chateau, Wilford Lane, has been submitted to Rushcliffe Borough Council, and can be viewed on their website. Covering 4.9 ha (about 12 acres)it is proposed to demolish the Chateau pub/restuarant and erect about 150 dwellings, with access from the Lane by converting the existing traffic light-controlled T junction with Compton Acres Road into a crossroads. The applicants claim the housing would increase road traffic by only 3%, that flood risk is less than 1%, and that as many of the existing 74 trees in 17 groups will be saved and supplemented. So far, no policy for housing on the site has been adopted by the Borough Council. If permission is given, extra traffic will be generated for the CW tram route, and the housbuilder can be obliged to make financial contributions to the Councils in respect of the tram and/or required highway alterations.
BE QUIET, WILL YOU, I CAN'T HEAR THE TRAMS!!
The Nottingham University Institute of Hearing Research vainly tries to prove trams are "noisy". All the researchers have ended up doing is to show existing road traffic noise on Wilford Lane is louder than the CW trams will be. Any idea of proving the CW trams will be noisier than steam trains on the former Great Central main line is beyond comprehension. OAP homes exist immediately adjacent tram track in Sheffield and Croydon.
Helen Smith lives immediately adjacent Line One track at Cinderhill. In a letter to the Evening Post, published today, she said:
"Now that they've started testing the new trams at the bottom of our garden I can confirm that they are very quiet. The track is about thirty feet from our house and when sitting in the living room I can barely hear a thing as one passes. The traffic on the road is much louder."
NEW ENT WEBSITE
Environment not Trams have launched a fresh website click here.
A review has been prepared by CW YES! click here.
TRAM TRIAL RUNNING TO HUCKNALL
Tramcar number 210 made the first powered run to Hucknall to-day at 30 minutes past noon. It completed several runs first at low speed, then at higher speed on both lines between Highbury Vale and Bulwell. As with Davis Lane, Basford, there is a level crossing at St. Albans Road between Bulwell and Hucknall which is shared with National Rail. The absence of a Sunday service on the Robin Hood Line enables easier tram testing. Trams were also running to Phoenix Park, nos. 203 and 215 being tested. Trams are expected to start running through Hyson Green after finalising the delta track ;ayout at the Wilkinson Street depot. Span wires are now being installed throughout the city centre.
LINE ONE OPENING DELAYED
Up to now, the opening date for Line One has been scheduled for 11th November this year. We now hear that this has been postponed for a few weeks, until the start of the new year. For an explanation of the reasons why, see the NET website click here and see under tram news for 10th July.The Arrow consortium set up to operate the tramline could lose up to ? miilion in government grant for two months payments, whilst Carillion reckoned on a loss of its own trade to the tune of ?0 millions.
With regard to the tram derailment at Highbury Vale at the end of May, the investigation team set up by the manufacturers has now reported, though the findings are not yet public. We are advised that tramcar 213 was travelling at low speed, and the points jammed.
True to fashion, ENT have played this up, together with an imprudent remark made by a school governor at Farnborough School, Clifton, critical of trams taking an acute-angled bend there. Trams won't be running at high speed at entry to tram stops in Cinderhill or Wilford or at the bend next to Farnborough School. Trial running has recommemced on the Phoenix Park branch.
LINE ONE ON-STREET TRAIL RUNNING STARTS
The first tram running on the streets took place on Sunday morning 20th July, shortly after 05:00. Tramcar number 214 ran from Wilkinson St south along Radford Rd to the Forest, and returned on the residential arm of the route via Noel Street. The tram did not appear noisy, but the back-up road vehicles were louder.
This first-time event was supposed to be secret, but CW YES! got wind of it nonetheless.
INTER-REGION, THE AIRPORT, AND A PUBLIC TRANSPORT BOOM!
Transport consultants have reported on the West to East Midlands (W2EM) Study. Better public transport to the East Midlands Airport is strongly advocated, with extra buses from the big cities. See the More tramlines - looking ahead chapter click here for comment on rail or tram links.
An upbeat article in the Evening Post of today's date says public transport use in the Greater Nottingham area by next year will be 90 million journeys, up 25% compared to year 2000. The major reasons include:
It is stated Line One tram traffic is expected to be 8 to 11 million journeys pa, with some bus services alongside cut back. This will not be draconian, however - along Vernon Road Basford, a reduction in frequency from every 5 minutes to every 7 minutes. One-third of the new feeder buses to Bulwell or Hucknall will run through to the city centre.
THIRD ROUND PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS
The Evening Post announces that Farnborough Road to the Barton Green terminus is the first tranche of the detailed CW tram scheme to go for public participation, for a month after the middle of August. The Councils considered that the park-and-ride site at Barton Green was the best of 5 site options for lowest cost (?m with the least earthworks required), proximity to housing, and easy access from the A453 and road to Gotham, enabling bus interchange. 1,000 spaces are to be provided, more than the 800 indicated above in the CW YES! website.
True to fashion, the ENT response was full of contradictions. Tramlines were castigated for being "White elephants". Does this include CQD? The park-and-ride site is on Green Belt land, and some environmental bodies have been critical of this. So why do ENT on their new website make the challenge of promoting an immediate bus-based facility for a car park instead of a tramline? As for a rail-based parkway at Ratcliffe-on-Soar, this is no sustitute for Clifton and the tram click here for the Rail Parkway and the A453 section of the CW YES! website.
DAYTIME ON-STREET TRAM RUNNING
On-street test running with Line One trams have previously been conducted overnight, or at dawn. But on Monday 11 August the first of many daytime test runs began. The trail running can now run day or night, and the trams will be gradually building up to line speed. The daytime run around the Hyson Green loop was delayed by almost two hours, finally departing just after 1pm, to avoid a brief thunderstorm.
FINANCES OF TRAM ROUTE PLANNING
The planning of the two proposed routes has involved more research to answer public enquiries than originally anticipated, and many details, and the cost of providing them, have been brought forward.
click here for the Evening Post articlesSECOND TRAM DERAILMENT
Another minor derailment has occured, this time at Wilkinson street tram stop.
click here for the Evening Post articlesCINDERHILL TRAM NOISE
A Cinderhill resident, Mr. Nichols, whose home backs on to the Line One tram track between the old railway cutting and the River Leen bridge, has a tram noise grievance. He recently employed Dr. Coles, the Nottingham University noise expert, and Lloyd Wildish, Chair of the Beeston tram opposition group BCT, to take tram noise readings at his home.
This was reported in the Nottingham Evening Post today, on the front page and on a 2-page spread inside
Dr. Coles claims the actual noise of trams in testing is twice the NET forecast. NET will investigate. Curiously, a photograph shows Mr. Wildish on top of a ladder next to the sound-reducing wall at the bottom of Mr. Nichols' garden, holding the microphone above the wall. Is this a distortion for the readings? click here for the Evening Post articles
CHILWELL CONSULTATIONS
The detailed scheme for Chilwell section of the proposed Beeston-Chilwell tram route, from Broxtowe College to the Bardills island terminus at Stapleford, is now available for public consultation. click here for the Evening Post articles
CW CONSULTATIONS - CLIFTON SECTION
The Clifton section of the CW route is now the subject of public consultation. The consultation period finishes on 24 October.
For the views of the CW YES! group, click here
TRAM PLANS STALLED IN OTHER CITIES?
It appears tram expansion plans in other British cities may be stalled. click here for the article in the Times newspaper.
LINE ONE OPENING DELAYED AGAIN
For the scond time this year the opening date for Line One has been put back for a number of reasons. The opening date is now expected to be sometime in April 2004. click here for the article in the Evening Post newspaper.
DAY OUTING IN SHEFFIELD
BACIT organised a trip to Sheffield to see the trams, and the emphasis was on inviting disabled people, either bound in wheelchairs or visually impaired. Some disbled customers of the Sheffiled Supertram joined the party in that city, and staff of the tram operator, starting and finishing at Nunnery Depot, gave a guided tour around the Hillsborough shopping area and part of the city centre. click here for the article in the Evening Post newspaper.
CW CONSULTATIONS - WILFORD AND COMPTON ACRES SECTION
The central section of the CW route is now the subject of public consultation. The consultation period finishes on 21 November.
For the views of the CW YES! group, click here
CW CONSULTATIONS - MEADOWS SECTION
The Meadows section of the CW route is now the subject of public consultation. The consultation period finishes on 28 November.
For the views of the CW YES! group, click here
TRAM NOISE IN NOEL STREET
Tram noise from Line One trial running is bad for residents at the southern end of Noel Street, at a diamond crossing, where the northbound and southbound tram tracks cross each other. click here for the article in the Evening Post newspaper.
TRAMCAR NAMING
NET want to name the tramcars, currently numbered 201 to 215. click here for the article in the Evening Post newspaper.