In the summer many of us have the chance to travel and see different things. I was in Ireland, and one of the things which impressed me in Dublin was their very efficient tram system. I have always been an enthusiast for trams and often wish we had more of them here.
Even modestly sized cities and towns on the continent have trams. Because they run on their own tracks they do not get stuck in congestion. When I have been to London for example it is often a waste of time boarding a bus in Oxford Street because it will simply get stuck. It is quicker to walk. Trams, however, only have to stop for boarding points and crossings.
A modern tram, which will have several units, can carry up to 500 people, compared with 50 to 60 on a bus. (We are not talking here about the small streetcars immortalised in the “Trolley Song”) They do need infrastructure, but building on the surface is much easier than building an underground system. Building dedicated tramways also gives an opportunity to build separate cycle and pedestrian ways.
Light railway sytems
Urban light railway systems such as the Tyneside Metro or the London Underground can carry more people faster. They can also bring in people from the outskirts into a big city. The London Underground is a very large network by international standards, and building it out north and east of London was an important tool for development both before and after the Second World War. The Tyneside Metro was mainly built on existing railway lines and had the problem that because it was purpose built for Tyneside spares have to be specially made which causes a delay with repairs. This should not be a problem with the new trains which will be bought off the shelf.
Tram jam
I am not pretending everything about trams is wonderful. They originally had problems and that is one reason why the old ones were replaced. I can remember the large trams that ran in London, particularly south of the River Thames which had fewer Underground networks. My father used to take me on a ride through the Kingsway Tram Tunnel. But one thing sticks in my mind is a tram jam.
We lived north of London and were lucky enough to own a car. In the summer my father took us to the south coast. There was no M25 in those days, and you drove through the middle of London, over Tower Bridge and down the Old Kent Road. That is where we saw the tram jam. One tram had broken down, so we saw a queue which stretched right down to New Cross, and even up some side roads. That showed the disadvantages of the big heavy trams that they had in London then. Modern trams are lighter, and the usual method of dealing with one that breaks down is for another one to tow it to the depot, thus keeping the network as free as possible.
Modern, environmentally and people friendly transport
Several big cities in Great Britain do not have urban transit systems. Tyneside, Glasgow and London have underground systems. Birmingham, Edinburgh and Manchester have trams. Other big cities such as Leeds, Bristol and Bradford do not. It is very difficult, for example, to get into the middle of Leeds from either railway or bus stations. If we want large cities to thrive, we need transport systems which do not pollute, and are not dangerous for pedestrians, as buses can be in crowded places. We also need to cater for pedestrians and cyclists. Recent statistics from the London Cycling Campaign show that cyclists are outnumbering cars in some parts of London, and the trend is beginning to happen in other cities as well. Continental cities such as Amsterdam separate pedestrians, cyclists and trams well.
A modern, environmentally and people friendly transport system in large centres of population would separate pedestrians, cyclists, cars and passenger transport, whether it is trams or buses. That is what we should be aspiring to in the future. Those cities lucky enough to have underground systems should cherish them, but building new ones is very expensive and would also be very disruptive. An urban tram system would be much more economic and environmentally friendly.
Well, why don’t we build more tram systems? It took Edinburgh six years to build its tram line, with continual cost overruns. Compare that to Nice. You may remember the terrorist atrocity in Nice in 2016 when a terrorist drove a van into a crowd, killing 87 people and injuring 434. The city suffered a sort of nervous breakdown. People left. The city decided to fight back and become a much more environmentally-friendly place and somewhere people would want to live. Two new tram lines were built in four years, together with cycleways and walkways. More trees were planted. The population has doubled since 2018. Nice became a very attractive place.
Trams are part of reconstructing and improving our cities as Manchester has found. Why can other countries do these things, but we find it impossible to deliver a major project like HS2? We celebrate the two hundredth anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway this year. The best way to commemorate it would be to successfully build some more urban rail systems fit for the modern age.
