Passengers in South Yorkshire could be the first in the UK to use Continental-style tram-trains under plans announced by the Department for Transport (DfT) today. The government are currently backing this £25 million scheme.

A trial of the electric vehicles is planned on a new service linking the centres of Rotherham and Sheffield. This will have no inpact on the Bus Rapid Transit plans, as this new service is only a short term measure, lasting for only 3 years. Once a feasibility study has been completed, the project will take three years to complete and £25m to get up and running.

Five tram-trains will run on existing freight track from Rotherham and then join the Sheffield Supertram network. The new service would run from the current Arena / Don Valley Stadium Supertram station, where it would then transverse onto the Tinsley line, running directly into Rotherham Central and onwards to Parkgate, where a new station is to be built for both the tram-trains and conventional trains to call at. A route within Sheffield City Centre is yet to be decided at this stage.

This new scheme, which forms part of Phase 2 of the plans has for the time being replaced Phase 1, which would have seen the new tram-trains operating along the Penistone line between Sheffield and Huddersfield via Barnsley. This is now due to go ahead at an unscheduled date in the future, after it was decided that the electric tram-trains were more economically viable. It is expected this will occur post 2014, once the Sheffield to Rotherham trial has been completed.

Rail Minister Chris Mole announced the plans on a visit to Meadowhall in Sheffield, where tram-trains will connect to the city's Supertram network. He said: "Tram-train is a new concept for Britain, but it has already proved a valuable addition to rail fleets on the continent. Adapting tram-train to the UK requires some testing, but while that is under way, people in South Yorkshire will have the chance to experience this new type of vehicle for themselves, and I hope they will tell us what they think of it."

David Brown, director general of the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, said: "If we can overcome the technical challenges then tram-trains would bring huge benefits to the travelling public in South Yorkshire. They would widen the options available to those people travelling between Rotherham and Sheffield and the technology could eventually be used elsewhere in the UK too."

Train operator Northern Rail will buy the new vehicles for the Rotherham-Sheffield operation, while Network Rail is investigating what works would be necessary to safely accommodate the vehicles on the UK network.

Thanks,
Staff at South Yorkshire Transport