The Bombardier CR4000 is a 76%

low floor Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

model of the

Bombardier Flexity Swift The Bombardier Flexity Swift is a series of urban and inter-urban tram, light rail and light metro vehicles manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. It is part of the Bombardier Flexity family of rail vehicles, and like the others, Flexity S ...

series of

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

operated by

Tramlink London Trams, previously Tramlink and Croydon Tramlink, is a light rail tram system serving Croydon and surrounding areas in South London, England. It began operation in 2000, the first tram system in the London region since 1952. It is manage ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. They are based on and very similar in appearance to the K4000 built for use on the low-platform routes of the

Cologne Stadtbahn The Cologne Stadtbahn is a light rail system in the German city of Cologne, including several surrounding cities of the Cologne Bonn Region ( Bergisch Gladbach, Bonn, Bornheim, Brühl, Frechen, Hürth, Leverkusen-Schlebusch, Wesseling). T ...

network. Built between 1998 and 2000, the trams entered service in the spring of 2000.

History

24 trams were ordered from Bombardier Transportation and built at its factory in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria between 1998 and 2000. The first tram, 2530, was delivered to

Therapia Lane depot Therapia Lane depot is a tram depot, situated in the London Borough of Sutton between Therapia Lane and Beddington Lane. Built on the site of former railway sidings, all tram maintenance, repairs and control functions are based in a purpose- ...

on 13 September 1998, with testing beginning soon afterwards. Although service was due to begin in November 1999, delays in the construction of the line meant that the first tram entered passenger service on 10 May 2000. The trams are numbered 2530 through to 2553, following on from the highest numbered tram in the original London Transport numbering system, 2529, which was scrapped in 1952. All entered service in a red and white livery except for 2550, which was painted in

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.bogie). Between the outer door and each car end is a higher-floor section, accessed up a step and situated over the car's two power bogies. The low-floor section is above rail-level, sloping down to in the doorways, a height that matches the platforms at tram stops, and each car has two

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...

positions. The trams are long and wide, with 70 seats and a total capacity of just over 200 passengers. They operate from an overhead power supply at , and have a maximum speed of . Each tram has an integral traction braking controller with

deadman's handle A dead man's switch (see alternative names) is a switch that is designed to be activated or deactivated if the human operator becomes incapacitated, such as through death, loss of consciousness, or being bodily removed from control. Originally a ...

. While stationary, the tram is immobilized until the driver's hand is on the controller: if the driver's hand is removed from the controller while moving, an alarm sounds immediately and the driver's hand must return to the controller to disarm it. If a three-second countdown passes and it is not disarmed, the

track brake A magnetic track brake (Mg brake) is a brake for rail vehicles. It consists of brake magnets, pole shoes, a suspension, a power transmission and, in the case of mainline railroads, a track rod. When current flows through the magnet coil, the ma ...

s are applied.

Upgrades and refurbishment

The trams have undergone a series of upgrades since their introduction. In 2006, the bus-like destination blinds were replaced with LED destination blinds, and the on-board announcements were also updated, featuring the voice of

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

presenter and tram-enthusiast Nicholas Owen. All 24 trams were refurbished between 2008 and 2009, which involved a deep clean of the interior, installation of new seat

moquette Moquette, derived from the French word for carpet, is a type of woven pile fabric in which cut or uncut threads form a short dense cut or loop pile. As well as giving it a distinctive velvet-like feel, the pile construction is particularly durabl ...

and a new lime green, blue and white external livery. The trams underwent a second refurbishment from 2015–2016. This included a full interior repaint, including the repainting of all handrails, new flooring, new seat moquette, new safety signage and the removal of the stop request buttons. Externally, new LED headlights were fitted. 2553 was the first unit to be completed, having been out of service since 2014 following a serious road traffic accident. Following repairs and refurbishment, it re-entered service in May 2015.

Naming

2535 was officially named ''Stephen Parascandolo 1980 - 2007'' in a special ceremony at Beckenham Junction on 20 October 2007, in honour of Stephen Parascandolo, a well known local tram enthusiast and webmaster of the "Unofficial Croydon Tramlink website" who died at the age of 26 in a car accident in Hitchin. The ceremony was attended by his parents, fellow enthusiasts and officials from Tramlink.

Accidents and incidents

On 9 November 2016, unit 2551 derailed and overturned on a sharp bend approaching Sandilands Junction, before

Sandilands tram stop Sandilands tram stop is a light rail stop in the London Borough of Croydon in the southern suburbs of London. It serves the residential area along Addiscombe Road to the east of the centre of the town of Croydon. Services Sandilands is served ...

. There were seven fatalities, with 58 other people injured, sixteen of them sustaining serious injuries. Although the speed limit approaching the junction was 20 km/h (12 mph), the tram had been travelling at an estimated speed of 73 kilometres per hour (46 mph). The

Rail Accident Investigation Branch The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) is a British government agency that independently investigates rail accidents in the United Kingdom and the Channel Tunnel in order to find a cause, not to lay blame. Created in 2005, it is required by ...

(RAIB) are investigating the type of glass installed in the CR4000 vehicles. During the derailment, the right hand side of the tram was heavily damaged, breaking or dislodging several bodyside and door windows, and causing multiple people to be ejected or partially ejected from the tram. Of the seven fatalities, six were ejected through the windows. The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) declined to comment on whether the derailed tram was fitted with laminated safety glass, claiming that it was unable to do so because of the RAIB's investigation. Bombardier did not respond to requests for information on the type of glass that could have been the cause of fatalities in this derailment. As of July 2019, 2551 has not yet returned to service.

References

External links

* * * * {{Transport in London Train-related introductions in 2000 Tramlink Transport in the London Borough of Croydon 750 V DC multiple units Electric multiple units of Great Britain Bombardier Transportation multiple units Tram vehicles of the United Kingdom