Tram-trains

[Water Rat]

Not pulling on my designer anorak ready to stand on the end of the platform to become a tram spotter just yet - the flask will go cold.

Following the study by Leeds City Council in to tram-tains based in Karlsruhre and other Geman cities the Department of Teansport and Network Rail have said it may be upto four years before they are running - Network Rail want to run a short service on a test track for a period of time to evaluate the system - the thought probably being just because it works well elsewhere does not mean it will work here!  The question is where will the DfT and Network Rail want to run the trial and who will give up a stretch of railway line?

Tram-trains have the advantage of being lighter than traditional trains and are therefore cheaper.  Plus the advantage of being able to transfer "seamlessly" from traditional rail to road based tramlines.

Is now the time to put a bid in to extend the rail head at Rose Hill to Market Street with a tram line?

[Dave]

Apparently they would not be Metrolink trams, because the lines would still be used by normal trains as well, and there are obscure technicalities to do with signalling and power supply which mean that Metrolink can't share track wth normal trains.  So they would be these new hybrid 'tram-trains', which already exist in Germany, it seems.  

Sadly the prospect of Network Rail building completely new track is remote, to say the least!

[Eric the Hamster]

...and the trams are more expensive, so another reason they would not be an asset for Marple.

Why use existing rail, instead of creating new routes? Although it may be cheaper for the provider, I cannot see the net benefit to the user.

[Marpleian]

One of the problems I can see with this is that you cannot take bicycles on the metrolink trams unless they are folded in in a bag.  Seeing as the Marple lines connect with the Fallowfield loop at Reddish North and Fairfield (Rose Hill line) and the Middlewood Way itself in Marple this would mean that people wishing to commute to work by bike would loose out.

[Dave]

I read somewhere the other day that GMPTE has recently bid for government funding to introduce 'tram-trains' on the Marple - Piccadilly line.  They would use the existing train line to Piccadilly via Bredbury, but on the approach to Piccadilly would dive down to the Metrolink station underneath Piccadilly, via a new line which is due to be constructed.

Sounds like a good plan to me.  There's something about it on this link, but if you don't want to wade through the whole document the relevant bit is below.  
http://216.239.59.104/search?....ex13SEM

'The review also recommended that an early upgrade to the Manchester – Marple services could be achieved through operation of hybrid electro-diesel railcars (tram-trains). This would also permit extension of the service into the Regional Centre using the Metrolink power supply. Since the SEMMMS recommendations for urban metro cannot otherwise be achieved without substantial infrastructure capacity enhancement in Manchester city centre, the tram-train option looked particularly promising. Therefore, because of the strong potential identified for tram-train on the lines to the city centre, and the need for substantial further work to identify an alignment for the cross-Stockport route, GMPTE gave priority to developing the case for operating "tram-trains" on the Manchester – Marple via Bredbury route. This line was selected in preference to the Glossop route because there is less interaction with heavy rail services. An initial appraisal by consultants concluded that tram-train on the Marple line would be both beneficial and feasible, with improved signalling facilitating shared running between tram-trains and heavy rail services. Further work will be undertaken to identify what measures would deliver the optimum public transport solution for the corridor.'