Forty years ago the United Kingdom started following North America and France in reintroducing tramways. However so far only six systems have been constructed. We believe there is room for further expansion of both existing systems and new ones.

One of the major barriers to growth of the sector has been finance; all proposals need to need to go through a rigorous appraisal to evaluate the benefits that will accrue from investment in such a scheme before Government funding is granted.

Transport investment competes with other spending on health, education and social services as well as more international expenditure such as defence. Its benefits can be under recognised, certainly in the provinces, but the need for efficient public transport systems in the growing urban areas of the world in the 21st century onwards is crucial to attending to the problems of global warming. These transport systems will need to be attractive to car users to create a modal shift.

In these metropolitan areas the transport systems will be multi-modal and even in the United Kingdom we already have places that use suburban rail, tram and bus.

To its detractors the tram is seen as 19th century technology, out of date and something that should be confined to museums if not history. In fact the electric tram arrived at the same tine as the internal combustion engine. In the United Kingdom engineers such as Thomas Parker built themselves electric cars powered by battery to enable them to get to their offices where they planned and built electric tramways. Regenerative braking, used in modern cars, was developed for and used over one hundred years ago on tramways.

So we argue that the tram has a place to play in these future transport systems. But we would also point you in the direction of places like Dijon, a city of 160,000 people in the city but with a further 90,000 in surrounding areas. An examination of the local transport website, https://www.divia.fr/agence-diviamobilites, shows co-ordination between bus, tram, carparking, cycle hire and even car-sharing projects. Such systems are not unique and we are going to have to complete with such places. According to the Campaign for Better Transport Dijon has a tramway ridership of 24,000,000 passengers per annum giving an average of 96 rides per person.

So we have produced this short document. We have restricted ourselves to basic details many of which do relate to other fixed transport systems. We have done this on purpose and realise its limitations but hope that readers will pursue the subject further. We hope you find it useful as an introduction to what a well-planned tramway should be.

UKTram Routmap for Sponsorsof New Tramways and Light Rail

Mike Ballinger
Area Officer, Light Rail Transit Association, West Midlands.
WestMidlands@LRTA.org
August 2025

How to install an efficient tramway

If we ask politicians why they do not consider trams we often get the reply “I like trams but they are expensive. Buses are cheaper”. But we are not calling for a full-scale replacement of buses by trams as happened in reverse 70 – one hundred years ago.

A tramway does cost more to install than a bus operation and the cities who have successfully done so are aware of this but have done so to serve corridors that have been identified as having high traffic levels following detailed studies and evaluations to justify the project.

A well-planned tramway should be able to attract some motorists out of their cars thus increasing the income of the system and reduce operating costs of the associated bus system.

So a tramway project needs proper planning and evaluation to ensure that alternative modes are compared and the investment justified. The Centre of Excellence of UKTram has produced a document which outlines the roadmap for developing a potential scheme and this can be found at:

Route Map for Sponsors of New Tramways and Light Railways

But planning a tramway should be part of a larger project to develop an attractive, efficient and sustainable transport system integrating all modes and developments designed to benefit the whole area.

So What Steps Need To Be Taken?

Planning

The starting point for planning is to define the intended outcome of the project. Having done that it is necessary to identify potential corridors by producing an origin and destination model. Current figures are comparatively easy to find from various data sources but account must be made of future proposed developments and their effect on journeys.

Having done this then the choice of routes and alignments need to be identified (see below) and once agreed detailed planning should take place.

Route geography

Historically tram routes were radial, i.e. run from suburbs to town or city centres, the concept being to get people from home to work or the shops, As systems expanded they gave wider opportunities for people to work, shop, attend educational and training establishments and recreational areas and this is still true.

Interurban routes were also built and again we find such lines being built in the more modern era, for example Birmingham to Wolverhampton. Such routes should have peak traffic in both directions at the same time.

In major cities with well-developed radial metro and commuter railways tramways often provide links between suburban stations on these lines. For example Paris uses tramways to feed and link metro and RER services. Post WWll Copenhagen was developed along various electric suburban railways that now make up the S-tog system. A new tramway links five of these from the north to the south-west of the city and two major hospitals will be served at Herlev and Glostrup. A special panning co-ordinating committee has been set up between the various local authorities to encourage development along the route.

Tramways can also act a city centre distributary system, moving people from main railway stations to other points in the urban area.

Identifying potential traffic generators

Residential areas are obviously major traffic generators. In Europe stops every 450 metres are common based on the premise that people will be willing to walk 225 metres. Generally such housing zones have a higher population density than UK examples. It is important to ensure easy access for cyclists and pedestrians as well has providing provision for park and ride.

City centres still attract the public but specific places should be served. As part of an integrated transport system railway and bus stations should obviously be a target. Educational establishments should also be served: obviously much of the “clientele” at such establishments cannot drive for several reasons. Utrecht in the Nederlands has recently replaced two heavily used bus routes linking their university with the main railway station with an extension of the “snelltram” built 40 years ago. Commercial development around
the University site has created a business park and increased weekday/term time ridership to 28,000 to 35,000 passengers per day (15,000 at weekends).

Odense in central Denmark the recently built tramway serves the South Denmark University which was set up in 1966 to train doctors, there being a national shortage at that time. South of the university is the new University Hospital which has its own two stops. It employs 10,000 people and served 109,000 in patients and 752,000 outpatients in 2024.

Students are catered for north of the university. At Cortex Park lies a £2.3M 145,200 square metre development comprising of 70% business and 30% residential buildings, the latter designed specifically for students and researchers. But these further educational facilities do not have to be so large. At Dudley on the new West Midland Metro will serve the University of Worcester Health Innovation Campus.

Airports are also places that tramways can and do serve. However large establishments are better served directly by heavy rail whilst trams provide transport for employees at the airport and economic zone found around such establishments. Zurich gives a good example of this. There are tram tracks from the city centre to the airport but no through service. That is catered for very ably by SBB, the state railways system.

Alignment choice

Light rail technology enables operation to take place on various alignments;

• Shared street with other vehicles
• Through pedestrian areas
• Segregated, both laterally and vertically
• Shared with other rail services

Where there is operation shared with other vehicular traffic some conflict will occur but this can be mitigated in various ways. Most towns and cities now have orbital roads that take through traffic away from the urban centres and some places couple these to traffic cells. Vehicles are not allowed to travel directly from one cell to another but have to exit via the ring road. Tram routes can be laid along the roads that segregate these cells and thus do not suffer from crossing traffic.

Urban traffic control systems are used by most major urban areas today and these can be programmed to ensure public transport vehicles are able to maintain their schedule.

Trams can and do operate safely in pedestrian area at reduced speeds. The actual track shows where the vehicle will go and development has taken place recently of systems that identify potential obstructions to the tram and apply brakes thus reducing the risk of accidents. Different coloured paving can give a visual warning of the swept path of the vehicles and tactile paving can provide similar advice to those with sight impairment.

Operation on segregated tracks increases the speed and efficiency of the system where they are available. Central reservations are common on many systems; side reservations are more susceptible to problems with access to side roads and buildings.

The surfaces of these reservations vary, and simple slightly raised paving can be used by emergency vehicles in an emergency. Access to stops are provided using light controlled crossings so that they can be reached safely by passengers.

To provide the best experience for both user and operator totally segregated tracks need to be integrated with local developments. Simple crossing points for active travel routes can be provided but it is mportant to ensure that the tram driver has and unrestricted view of the crossing and it may be ecessary to install visual and audible warming systems. Landscaping can be used to create underpasses or overpasses which enable comparatively high speeds but the choice of higher speed options should be weighed against any disadvantage that may occur to users as regards access.

In the 1960’s and 1970’s the idea of underground operation was popular but the cost of such infrastructure and the development of traffic management methods meant that this is not as popular as it was. However some systems have built tunnel sections, i.e. Nice, and at other places short subway sections have been installed, with or without stations. At other locations elevated sections have been built but these are generally avoided because of visual intrusion.

Where a tramway is incorporated in a new development it is possible to include a totally segregated right-of-way that can be designed to provide the best access for intending passengers and at the same time causing the least intrusion.

Every tramway installed in England since 1985 has used for part of a route a section of former railway. In several cases this was a conversion directly from an operating passenger railway to a tramway, as in Manchester and Croydon, but in other cases the lines were freight lines or lines that had closed. In such cases the fact that there was no passenger service probably means that the potential ridership is low but development that has taken place since or the ability to divert the tramway off the railway alignment to give better access may mean there is a good case for the project. Building such lines is often a lot cheaper
than a highway-based alignment but it is necessary to compare both the cost and the projected outcome to evaluate the best choice.

Over the last 40 years there has been much interest in the idea of the operation of tramtrain systems whereby trams share tracks with services normally operated on the national rail network. However few of the proposals have matured into actual operations. The idea was conceived in the Karlsruhe area and other examples in Germany exist at Saarbrucken, Kassel and Chemnitz with an odd little system at Nordhausen that runs over a narrow-gauge provincial railway.

Tramtrain examples can also be found at;

• Cadiz
• Mulhouse
• Sheffield

Tramtrain is being introduced in the Welsh Capital to enhance the operation and connectivity of some of the Valley lines.

So-called tramtrain projects using ex-railway alignments not shared with any other traffic exist at a few places e.g., Nantes-Chateaubriant. Two other systems that might warrant a mention are Aarhus and Alicante-Denia where ex-railway lines are linked to more recently built urban lines. They use different rolling stock for urban and longer distance services.

Finally it is worth mentioning Den Haag and Cleveland (Ohio). Both cities have tram operations that operate over fully segregated metro systems for part of their journey, in the former case that belonging to Rotterdam.

When planning a tramtrain system it is important to look at what current services are using the railway section. In the first instance there may not be any surplus capacity on the line unless some services can be diverted elsewhere. Otherwise tram services may be held up by slow railway operations, e.g., freight trains, or impede fast passenger trains. Such problems are not insurmountable but need dealing with.

Encouraging a modal shift from private car to tram

To encourage private motorists to use a tramway system proactive actions should be taken. For example;

• The system must be reliable. Any problems or cancellations must be communicated to potential riders as soon as possible.
• The system must be attractive to use, both on and off vehicle. Trams should be cleaned regularly.
• Paying for fares should be easy, e.g. contactless. A range of ticketing should be provided including through journeys with other modes.
• It should be possible to buy tickets on an app which would also provide other information on the system.
• The system must give a positive financial benefit to a rider.
• The journey should give positive time savings at least during peak hours.
• Accessing the system should be as simple as possible.

Actions can be taken to discourage car usage, e.g.

• Instituting road pricing and congestion charges.
• Limit parking.
• Adjust traffic signals on competing routes to slow traffic.

Whilst Manchester is aiming at a ratio of 50/50 Active travel + public transport to car or other Vienna and Graz are aiming for a ratio of 80/20

Integration

Tramways work best as part of an integrated transport system, being used to move large numbers along a corridor that are fed by buses, cars and active travel modes. Special hubs should be developed to make interchanging modes as simple as possible and park and ride/kiss and ride facilities provided.

Services should be designed to link with each other so that passengers do not have to wait long for connected services.

Through ticketing between modes is also an important feature of the entire system.

Also creating an image is part of the integration of the system and can keep system in the public eye.

Other benefits of tramways

There are several other benefits that a well-planned tramway will generate and these include;

Environmental

Despite the gradual electrification of road vehicles they still produce particulate matter (PMs) consisting of a variety of chemical compounds and other materials which may be poisonous from the tyres and braking systems. These materials can enter the blood stream and cause problems to the body’s various organs. With steel wheel on steel rail trams produce less PMs.

Encouraging development

Installing a tramway can encourage development but it requires proactive input from the planning authority to make this happen in a useful way. Firstly it requires the retaining of a suitable alignment through or by the development with suitable provision for easily accessible stops. To feed these stops safe active travel routes should be provided as well as park and ride or hopefully kiss and ride facilities. Infrastructure to enable feeder bus services must be provided.

Secondly close to stops there should be high density development to encourage traffic. This type of urban planning is known as Transit Oriented Development and involves concentring commercial, residential and recreational development close to high quality public transport stops. Active Travel routes encourage local movement and connection to the transit system.

Helping economic productivity

As the tramway aids the mobility of people in each area then it will enable employers to have a greater pool of employees to choose from; conversely it should give potential employees wider access to training and employment opportunities.

The actual investment in building a system will obviously inject money into the local economy and should create job opportunities in the construction phase.

Conclusion

Where integrated transport systems including tramways have been installed applying some or all the above principles they have been highly successful, carrying more passengers than comparable UK operations. They provide an extremely useful service to their local community and deliver several benefits to the local area including encouraging motorists out of their cars. Such benefits can inspire businesses to locate there and invest.

Appendix l

Vehicle capital costs.

In 2023 Graz (Austria) ordered fifteen trams at a cost of €62M which works out at £54M, or £3.6M each. These should last for 30 years so the cost in simple terms would be £120,000 per annum. They have a capacity of two hundred passengers.

Southern Vectis ordered nine double deck battery buses in 2025 which would cost about £4.5m each. These should last 12 years. They have a maximum capacity of ninety-six so two would just about carry the same capacity of a Graz tram but at a cost of £9m.

Fifteen trams would cost £54m and 30 buses at £4.5M would cost £135m but at least two series would be needed to last as long as the tram fleet, probably more although the tram fleet would need a mid-life refit.

It may be that the cost of battery buses will fall as production methods improve.

Appendix ll

Further sources of information

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