Tram moguls press ahead with Southwark route – defying TfL’s …
Privatley-backed tram moguls will push for a new Southwark route despite Transport for London’s (TfL) “significant concerns” about the scheme.
Light rail company Trampower wants to build a line running from London Bridge to Denmark Hill via ten other stations – despite TfL identifying “a number of safety issues”. [1]
The company claims the privately-financed Southwark Supertram could be built in just twelve months using innovative construction techniques – at minimal cost to the taxpayer.
Hitting back at TfL’s reservations, Trampower said TfL was “used to calling the shots” and was “testing the scheme to destruction”.
Stopping short of explicitly backing the scheme, Southwark Council has said transport improvements from London Bridge to Denmark Hill “would be a welcome addition”.
A CGI tram travelling through Elephant and Castle
Trampower founder Professor Lewis Lesley launched the Southwark Supertram proposal in 2012.
He and colleague Stewart Saunders, formerly Principal Transport Planning Officer in Croydon, had been in consultation with TfL since 2016 before talks broke off.
Trampower’s proposals are unusual in that, unlike most modern tram networks, notably the Croydon Tramlink, it would be wholly privately financed.
The route would go from London Bridge to Denmark Hill via Guys’ Hospital, Great Dover Street, Borough Road, Newington Causeway, Elephant and Castle, Wansey Street, Cadiz Street, Westmoreland Road, Bowyer Place and Camberwell Green.
Stewart Saunders, Transport and Policy Advisor at Southwark Supertram, said it would cost just £90m to build – and that TfL would likely spend £450m on an equivalent scheme.
He says that through novel construction techniques, there would be 90 per cent less disruption to utilities and transport than with other tram developments. A portion of Trampower’s LR55 track has been used on Sheffield’s tram since 1996 and required zero maintenance.
The Southwark Supertram route
Stewart explained that whereas conventional tram schemes mean digging up entire roads, Trampower would dig small grooves into the ground and “glue” the ground beam and rail on top.
But after years of discussions, a TfL spokesperson has now said: “While we are keen to see increased connectivity across London, our number one priority is safety and we have significant concerns about the Southwark Supertram scheme.
“A number of safety and operational issues that would impact walking and cycling in the area as well as other road users, including bus passengers, have been raised during consultation with the promoters and remain unresolved.”
TfL did not specify their safety concerns but Stewart said TfL had had reservations about cyclist and pedestrian safety. But he explained: “We think we’ve done as much [for pedestrian and cyclist safety] as any tramway that they (TfL) have been involved with”.
Trampower remains convinced of the scheme’s viability which, using regenerative power for brakes, would be “effectively green power and zero emissions at the point of use”.
Hitting back at TfL’s reservations, Stewart said: “It may well be looking for problems to stop the scheme. As an organisation, they’re used to calling the shots… they were testing the idea to destruction.
“They’ve been set up in a context where they decide what happens and what doesn’t happen. It’s very hard when you’re having to fit in with others’ demands and ideas.
“There’s a certain amount of politics playing into this – when we first contacted TfL they literally ignored us.”
Failure to obtain TfL’s backing could prove a serious stumbling block for Trampower’s scheme as it would make it difficult for it to obtain a Transport and Works Act order.
This is the normal route for authorising new rail or tram systems and gives the developer additional powers to build vital infrastructure like electricity substations.
Instead, Trampower has now said it will go down the local planning route and lodge an application with Southwark Council later this year.
TfL would be a statutory consultee in this process and a TfL spokesperson said, even if Southwark Council granted the scheme, Trampower would still need additional permissions to operate the network.
Trams could make a return to Southwark ‘by 2025’[2]
Southwark Council’s openness to the proposals does offer Trampower a glimmer of hope and reflects a long-held desire to improve transport links from London Bridge to Denmark Hill.
In 2021, it passed a motion committing to explore alternative transport infrastructure including tram lines.
Cllr Radha Burgess, then-deputy cabinet member for low traffic Southwark, said at the time: “We are proactively looking at tram systems, rapid bus routes and walking and cycling infrastructure. Our ambition is significant and political commitment solid.”
Then-Southwark Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Nick Johnson said “let’s make this happen, trams are cool, we all know this”.
Southwark once had a tram network with routes connecting Waterloo and Dulwich and Walworth and Surrey Quays which was ripped out in the 1950s.
References
- ^ Trampower (trampower.co.uk)
- ^ Trams could make a return to Southwark ‘by 2025’ (southwarknews.co.uk)