TWAO application submitted for tram-train trial

The formal application for a Transport and Works Act Order in relation to the tram-train trial between Sheffield and Rotherham was submitted by Network Rail on March 13.

Comments on the application can be submitted to the Department for Transport until April 28. As of April 7, Network Rail had “received no objections for the scheme”.

The trial would entail Britain’s first tram-trains operating between central Sheffield (Cathedral stop) and a new terminus at Rotherham Parkgate. It involves construction of the 400 metre-long ‘Tinsley Chord’ linking the present Sheffield Supertram route immediately north of the Meadowhall South stop and the freight-only Network Rail line heading towards Rotherham Central.

The first 160m of this chord, as it passes under the M1 motorway Tinsley Viaduct, will be on land owned by Highways England (formerly the Highways Agency), rather than Network Rail.