'Significant cost' of reduced timetable for tram network

TEMPORARY MEASURE IS THE RESULT OF COLLISIONS

- By OLIVER PRIDMORE

A NOTTINGHAM tram boss says “reputational damage” is one of the costs of having to make a major timetable change after several vehicles were damaged in crashes.

Cars running through red lights and hitting trams have meant that four vehicles are currently undergoing major repairs, leaving NET with a fleet too small to run its usual services.

The tram operator announced a four-week timetable change from last Wednesday, which sees fewer services running at peak times.

Sarah Turner, managing director of NET, says there is no figure yet on the financial hit the operator could face after repairs to the affected trams have finished.

She said: "There are different ways of measuring the costs and they are significant. We've got the reputational damage for the network, we've got disruption to passengers. All this comes at a cost for us."

NET confirmed that four incidents have taken place over the past six weeks in which cars ran a red light and crashed into a tram. Making the situation worse have been incidents of low-level vandalism, which have most commonly involved tram windows being smashed.

Although repairs to rectify the vandalism have been minor, it has meant more trams temporarily being taken out of service, increasing the knock-on effect in terms of service cancellations. NET says a new scheme it recently launched with Nottinghamshire’s police and crime commissioner should help tackle incidents of vandalism.