Officials at the South Yorkshire Mayor’s office are “still looking at what the Budget announcement means for Supertram”, after Chancellor Rachel Reeves allocated money to renew the network.
The 29km (18-mile) light rail system was mentioned alongside the West Midlands Metro and plans for a light rail between Leeds and Bradford, as part of “£1.3 billion of funding to improve connectivity in our city regions”.
Supertram was the second new light rail network to be built in the UK, following Manchester Metrolink. The latter revived existing heavy rail commuter routes, while Sheffield adopted a different approach of mainly on-street running with some segregated permanent way. Some of the route to the ‘Halfway’ terminus runs through Transport Secretary Louise Haigh’s constituency (Sheffield Heeley).
Opening in 1994, the network predominantly relies on…
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RAIL (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 1022