Nottingham's new tram lines opened

Two new tram lines to Chilwell and Clifton opened in Nottingham on August 25, after months of delay (RAIL 780).
The £570 million extension of the Nottingham Express Transit (NET) route is part of the city’s investment in its transport infrastructure. The expanded network has an extra 28 tram stops, with 22 new trams added to the original fleet of 15, and has the capacity to carry 20 million passengers a year.

NET Line One has carried nearly 100 million passengers since it opened in 2004. The extended network now comes within 800 metres of nearly 30% of the Greater Nottingham population. The city also has the only UK hospital directly on a tram route.

The new tram lines are projected to take three million journeys off the city’s roads annually, reducing CO2 emissions by 4,000 tonnes a year.
“While not without its challenges, it has been a hugely significant project for the city, involving the completion of a number of major new structures,” said Steve Lowe, chief executive of Tramlink Nottingham.

“Opening the network is, of course, only the start. We are equally committed to delivering frequent and reliable services day in, day out across the whole of the new network.”