The London Trams (Croydon Trams)

A Trams sign

London's Tram network spans from Wimbledon in the west through Croydon to termini at Beckenham Junction, Elmers End, and New Addington. The system opened in 2000 with 38 stops and in the almost 22 years since then the only new addition has been Centrale. Currently services operate as three lines with the first running between Wimbledon and Beckenham Junction, the second between Wimbledon and Elmers End, and last running from New Addington through the Croydon loop and back to New Addington (with the destination from New Addington given as West Croydon).

Croydon

Around Croydon the Trams operate in a one way loop on (also next to which reduces conflicts) the local roads. Also to avoid conflicts, just west of Croydon the trams traverse a single track bridge over the mainline rail line to Sutton. This used to be the location of the junction when the line to Wimbledon was part of the national rail network. Another remnant of the service between Wimbledon and West Croydon is the lack of a platform 2 at West Croydon station which used to be the bay platform for this service.

Two CR4000 Trams at Therapia Lane

Why New Addington

Whilst most of the tram network reused old rail lines the section between Lloyd Park and New Addington was newly and specifically built for the Trams. This was done as, at the time, New Addington was the largest urban area in London which wasn’t served by any rail based form of transport.

The Actual Trams

Inside a CR4000 tram with an upated interior destination display
Inside a CR4000

The network is served by two separate types of tram, the older being the Bombardier CR4000, and the newer being the Croydon (Stadler) Variobahn which was built in two separate phases. The Bombardier CR4000s were built between 1998 and 2000 and numbered 2530–2553 continuing on from the highest numbered tram in London’s original tram network. The Variobahns continue with the sequential numbering with them being given numbers from 2554 to 2565. The first phase was built between 2011 and 2012 and the second phase built between 2014 and 2016.

The Wimbledon Problem

Wimbledon also has the Underground and South Western Railway services with both visible

In terms of fares the Croydon Trams are the same as buses which means you only need to tap in on the card readers. This is somewhat a problem at Wimbledon where the trams terminate inside the gate line with the Underground and National Rail lines which operate by touching in and out. It is such a problem TfL has produced a poster, put in some of the poster boards at Tram stops, trying to explain the situation. Whilst helpful the solution does mean that depending on what you're doing at Wimbledon you might to touch one of the three different types of Oyster validators and/or the gate line to be charged the correct fare.

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