Will the tram trains now be re-branded as Stadler Rail AG of Switzerland?
Vossloh have sold the rail vehicles business unit in Spain to them.
Why would a tram-train driver be paid the same as a tram driver? The tram-train driver will have to have the knowledge and skill sets of both a heavy rail driver and a tram driver, and be capable of making a safe transition between the two radically different operating environments on every journey.Regarding operating costs - tram drivers (and presumably tram-trains would be the same) are paid roughly half of what a heavy rail driver would get and works more hours (5 day weeks).
The Secretary of State for Transport gives notice under section 14(1)(b) and (2A) of the Transport and Works Act 1992 (the Act) that he has determined under section 13(1) of the Act to make with modifications the Network Rail (Tinsley Chord) Order.
The Order was applied for by Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, 1 Eversholt Street, London NW1 2DN. It will authorise, the construction and operation of a 170 metre length of track at Tinsley, South Yorkshire connecting the Sheffield Supertram system with Network Rails Sheffield to Rotherham railway.
Class 399 201 was delivered to Nunnery Depot in Sheffield at 2140 on 30/11/15...
Last time I read anything detailed about the Sheffield tram-train project, I got the impression that
1. The vehicles will be compatible with both 750V DC and 25kV AC.
2. The OHLE on the Network Rail section will have clearances compatible with 25kV AC.
3. The juice, at least for now, will be 750V DC throughout.
However the feature in the current issue of Rail magazine (no. 788, pp. 64-67) seems to say that the juice will be 25kV AC on the Network Rail section of the route, so the vehicles' dual voltage ability will be used as soon as the route is commissioned.
It was a bit pointless having a static rig for testing, no real advantage over taking it somewhere it could run under real wires which would give much more valuable dynamic testing results and lower costs.
But can it run anywhere under 25kV wires, considering I believe it needs check rails modifying on any switch and crossing work it passes over?
Given that :
- there are 7 new vehicles in total,
- 3 are required to operate the Tram Train service every 20 minutes,
- 1 will be a maintenance spare.
- and (importantly) 3 are to provide additional capacity on the tramway,
- all 7 are practically identical
then it seems likely that in fact the new vehicles will be able to operate the entire network, not merely Meadowhall - Cathedral - Shalesmoor. Presumably, the works were what was necessary to allow this.
It does seem that the steel pile-driven foundations for the catenary have started to appear in the Parkgate area.
As far as I'm aware the only trackwork modifications that have been necessary are those to SYSL infrastructure that have been carried out as part of recent rail replacement works. This allows a Tram-Train profiled vehicle to travel over the whole of the Meadowhall line, and as far as Shalesmoor in the city direction, including using Shalesmoor and Cathedral crossovers. It will use Cathedral in service regularly, however it will be able to go to Shalesmoor to cover for any unavailability of Cathedral crossover.
Does anyone have any inkling on what the timetable changes are going to be in summer once these 3 new trams come in? Will these 3 extra trams only be wheeled out as peak time extras or will be see a strengthening to the timetable all day? The Yellow route could easily have extra trams on in the evening when it goes down to 3tph, maybe the purple route running all day long Halfway-City-Meadowhall could happen?
They have now cancelled ALL Purple route trams up to 8pm at night (one early morning run excepted) until further notice, citing tram shortages. What has changed from last week?
Not sure, but when I went past the depot yesterday evening at about 1900, there were no spare trams in the yard whatsoever. Even with the full complement of 25 trams, they were always tight with the maintenance requirement so my guess is that they found themselves even more constrained than they previously expected.
They have now cancelled ALL Purple route trams up to 8pm at night (one early morning run excepted) until further notice, citing tram shortages. What has changed from last week?