No Daytime Purple Trams Again wef 14 July

"Due to a reduced number of trams being available for service, we are making some temporary changes to the Purple route on weekdays and Saturdays from Friday 14 July until further notice.

Monday to Friday

The 05:35 Purple service from Sheffield Station to Herdings Park and 05:55 Herdings Park to Cathedral will operate as normal

Purple services will be replaced by a more frequent bus between Herdings Park and Gleadless Townend, starting at 06:22 from Herdings Park and 06:32 from Gleadless Townend, then every 20 minutes until the 19:32 bus from Gleadless Townend and the 19:42 bus from Herdings Park

Trams resume with the 19:37 Purple service from Cathedral and the 20:02 from Herdings Park

Saturdays

The Purple route will operate as normal until the 09:26 from Herdings Park to Cathedral

Purple services will be replaced by a more frequent bus between Herdings Park and Gleadless Townend, starting at 09:45 from Gleadless Townend and 09:55 from Herdings Park then every 20 minutes until the 18:45 bus from Gleadless Townend

Trams resume with the 18:54 Purple service from Cathedral and the 19:21 from Herdings Park"

The fleet really is starting to show its age - the sooner the driver training on the city link vehicles is completed the better.

Tram 114 is still out of service due to a car hitting the articulation. Tram 107 is out due to the incident at halfway and I understand that two trams failed today. 21 trams are required to operate the service, with a further 2 required for stepping up duties.

What frustrates me as a customer is the lack of information - please explain what is going on rather than hiding behind obtuse phrases such as ‘reduced tram availability’.

Surely it would be better to open and tarsnparent.

I agree about transparency Hook. When I complained on the last occasion when they pulled the purple route (at the start of this month) they just replied that it was as a result of the incident involving a car hitting a tram (presumably 114) & nothing to do with the tram into tram collision at Hillsborough because both of those trams were back in use within 24 hours. However they saw fit to make no reference whatsoever to 107 being out of service too, as a result of the earlier tram into tram collision at Halfway.

They also stated that RTCs were outwith their control - however, given the level of in-built safeguards which must surely be within the system, I've heard a lot of passengers airing worries that something must have gone very badly wrong with these safeguards to result in serious potentially procedural or operational or maintenance etc etc failures allowing trams to collide with each other at Halfway & a couple of weeks afterwards, again at Hillsborough? I've also heard passengers saying that, following these incidents (& the tragedy at Croydon) they no longer feel safe when travelling on Supertram.

Yes, the sooner the Citylinks are rolled out, the better. I remember a good few years ago now they publicised that each tram was undergoing a thorough mechanical & cosmetic overhaul to improve reliability, appearance & comfort - this was when the fleet was repainted in the current red, blue & orange livery. These trams have been running around for some considerable time since then - & for 23 years now in total; there seems to be a pressing need for a thorough overhaul of the fleet.

Isn't there a clause that can let Stagecoach walk away from their contract in 2018 (full contract should continue until 2024)? The lack of spending on the trams in the last 6-12 months is worrying and the morale of frontline staff is also showing and becoming apparent.

The trams are also noticeable quiet, to the extent at peak times there are seats still available on the Yellow line to Meadowhall, something not seen for many many years!

---------- Post added 13-07-2017 at 22:09 ----------

As for the Herdings Park branch - be easier just to catch the 1A/56 buses and have a direct route into town.

Michael_N;11694395] As for the Herdings Park branch - be easier just to catch the 1A/56 buses and have a direct route into town.

Thanks - good advice, except not a cost-effective option for me because I have a pre-paid monthly Stagecoach Tram-Only ticket...

There's no reason for people to feel worried on the trams in Sheffield then anywhere else. There has been a factor of human error with some incidents and unfortunately with a fleet with no spares more than one out of action is going to cause operational issues. It's not like bus companies that can get buses in from another depot or hire one, this can't be done with trams. The age of the units is probably causing issues in getting parts and so delaying repairs.

I agree about transparency Hook. When I complained on the last occasion when they pulled the purple route (at the start of this month) they just replied that it was as a result of the incident involving a car hitting a tram (presumably 114) & nothing to do with the tram into tram collision at Hillsborough because both of those trams were back in use within 24 hours. However they saw fit to make no reference whatsoever to 107 being out of service too, as a result of the earlier tram into tram collision at Halfway.

 

They also stated that RTCs were outwith their control - however, given the level of in-built safeguards which must surely be within the system, I've heard a lot of passengers airing worries that something must have gone very badly wrong with these safeguards to result in serious potentially procedural or operational or maintenance etc etc failures allowing trams to collide with each other at Halfway & a couple of weeks afterwards, again at Hillsborough? I've also heard passengers saying that, following these incidents (& the tragedy at Croydon) they no longer feel safe when travelling on Supertram.

 

Yes, the sooner the Citylinks are rolled out, the better. I remember a good few years ago now they publicised that each tram was undergoing a thorough mechanical & cosmetic overhaul to improve reliability, appearance & comfort - this was when the fleet was repainted in the current red, blue & orange livery. These trams have been running around for some considerable time since then - & for 23 years now in total; there seems to be a pressing need for a thorough overhaul of the fleet.

Replying on my phone - so apologies if this is a little disjointed.

I think the danger is that we jump to assumptions here. The incident at Halfway is being investigated internally. The RAIB don’t appear to be investigating (they would have published on their website if they were by now) and so although frustrating - it’s unlikely to be of serious concern. Especially, as you point out, in the background of Croydon. I don’t want to speculate on the cause but the trams functioned as they should - absorbing the impact of the collision and preventing any serious injuries. I haven’t seen anything in The Tsar so I assume that nobody was hospitalised or injured.

As for the Hillsborough ‘collison’ a little bit of understanding of how tramways work helps. It seems to me (& I’ve had this pretty much confirmed by friends who work for Stagecoach) that the drivers involved did exactly what they should.

The middlewood bound tram which departed Middlewood stopped (I believe because of an Ambulance) further forward than it normally would, but behind the signal. After the ambulance passed the signal had turned into a bar and so the tram couldn’t continue on its journey.

The Halfway bound tram then got a signal to move and went around the corner. The front of the tram cleared the front of the MID tram with plenty of room to spare. However because the tram doesn’t move in the same way as a car due to the fixed bogies - sometimes the articulate requires more space than the front of the tram. This is called the swept path - it is indicated around the system by yellow dots in the carriageway so that the drivers can see the area which needs to be clear for the tram to pass safely.

Bear in mind that most obstacles blocking the swept path will be on the near side - parked cars etc, and in that case the driver can open the door to check whether he will encroach onto the swept path. In this case however the danger was on the offside, where there is no door or window.

In addition it looks like there are no swept path markers painted in this particular danger zone. Indeed most of the yellow dots in hillsborough have faded away. This, I guess, is the responsibility of AMEY.

Anyway - in this case the driver obviously proceeded very slowly because they were aware of the danger and stopped as soon as the trams came into contact. There was very little damage, just a bent mirror arm and both trams were straight back into service.

Now my personal feeling as a customer is that the drivers did the safe thing. Perhaps the safest thing would have been for the Halfway tram not to move at all, but it probably wasn’t clear as he cane around the corner that the yellow tram was in the way. If you imagine how this junction is laid out then the view from Holme Lane probably isn’t very clear with the traffic lights etc in the way and the S bend in the road. So the driver went slowly & carefully. I’m not sure what else we could ask for.

Again it appears that the RAIB aren’t investigating as it would be on their website by now.

Yet again though, I’ve pieced this together from my tram geek knowledge, friends who work for Supertram and a few other sources. Surely if Stagecoach were more transparent and explained things to the customers and improved their communication we might complain less!

With regards to the trams and their maintenance/reliability I understand that one of the biggest problems is the lack of available parts. There was something on twitter recently about q company having to redesign an electrical part for the trams because the original part is no longer available. I imagine this is both expensive and time consuming.

There were several tram failures a few weeks ago due to the hot weather - this was due to air pressure problems. Again the age of the fleet doesn’t help here - they no longer have a spare compressor and are unable to obtain a new one as it is no longer available. This means increases failures and means that when one fails they can’t quickly replace it and get it back into service while they repair the faulty compressor.

Again - transparency please. SYPTE (and ultimately HSBC rail) own the fleet. There should be money made available to replace the fleet, and this would come from

Central government/SYPTE. I believe our tramway is the only one still using original vehicles of their age, Manchester etc have had all theirs replaced.

Tram 114 is damaged as a car hit it and did serious damage. Tram 107 was damaged in the Halfway incident and is currently being repaired. Another tram has a hole in the floor but will be fixed in a few days, tram 121 has a fault and then there is always another tram having routine maintenance which has to happen at scheduled intervals. So that leaves 20 trams to run a service that (at times) requires 23 (although mostly requires 21).

As someone said, spare trams aren't sat around to be loaned and borrowed from elsewhere. Any the new tram trains are waiting to be approved for customer use by the DfT.

SYPTE ultimately own the the trams (and they own the tracks, the tram stops, the overhead power lines etc., Stagecoach don't really own anything) and SYPTE are responsible for deciding if and when to fully overhaul or replace them. But increasingly there are issues obtaining spare parts as components become obsolete.

Supertram's website still gives no timescale for the resumption of a proper service on the Purple Route, just "until further notice".

However, according to Radio Sheffield this morning, the current daytime suspension of the Purple Route will continue until "about September"!

That will be when the new trams are commisioned

Supertram's website still gives no timescale for the resumption of a proper service on the Purple Route, just "until further notice".

 

However, according to Radio Sheffield this morning, the current daytime suspension of the Purple Route will continue until "about September"!

It's for two weeks initially - to be reviewed then.

Citylink vehicles expected to be used in service - as additional services, not part of the regular timetable - by 'late summer'.

I bet that two weeks goes on until early September then!