Ourcity Tramlink

The Ourcity Tramlink (formerly Tramway Ourcity) opened on the 7th June 1996 by The Ourcity Streetway Company, consisting of one line between Malgate Road in the Central Zone and Walls End in South Shardham.

## Pre-Tramway History

The original plan was based upon the 1993 'Survey for Transport' conducted by OurGov, which showed results of residents of South Ourcity being unhappy with the current suburban rail system that came out of Malgate Road Railway Station. In 1994, a tram system was planned to take over the old alignment of the 'Malgate, Sydenham and Shardham' suburban line between Southgate Road Railway Station and West Hayes, calling at Borough, Denmark Hill, Sydenham Park, Forest Hill, Shardham and Ollerton Street. The line closed on the 1st October 1994, which saw the end of passenger traffic to the old Southgate Road Suburban Terminus for the last ever time. A brand new tram terminus consisting of three platforms was built at ground level nearby to the Southgate Road Suburban Terminus, and once completed, works began to convert the old railway alignment as far as Shardham into a modern tramway system. The original suburban railway was notorious for sharing most of its stations with other lines, connecting to various other suburban and interurban railway lines along the route. The only stations on the original railway route that did not connect with other railway lines were Ollerton Street and Malgate Road Terminus itself. It was decided that the tramway would not run as far as Ollerton Road or West Hayes, but instead terminate at Walls End in Southern Shardham. The tramway continues to connect with other national rail lines at all of the previous stops on the suburban line. The only two parts of the original 1996 route (now part of T1) that does not follow the alignment of the old suburban railway are at Borough Market, where the tramway runs along the main street, and through the Kingswood Estate at North Kingswood. All other stops along the original section are either converted from railway stations or simply added onto the track.

## 1996

Tramway Ourcity ran between Malgate Road tram stop in the city centre to South Shardham's Walls End tram stop. Between 1996 and 2003, Tramway Ourcity was owned and operated by the private company 'The Ourcity Streetway Company', yet branded and partially subsidised by the recently formed Centro. The Ourcity Bus Manufacturing Company (OBC) was initially approached to build the rolling stock for the system, and was eventually granted the contract in late 1995. OBC then went on to manufacture 16 OBC Link trams, a unibody articulated design which is formed of two main carriages. These vehicles were put into operation from day-one of operations.

## 1999

Between 1996 and 1999, an extension to the network was planned and built between Malgate Road and Riverside High Street, running via Rivergreen, Highbury North (Now known as Highbury Vale), New Street Station and Bull Street. This was in order to increase the usage of the tram network by extending it further into the city centre, as the 1996 period showed lower than expected passenger numbers. 12 more OBC Link trams were built in order to increase capacity for the new extention, these having slightly different seats due to the gap between construction. The system stayed branded as Tramway Ourcity and remained under the ownership and operation of The Ourcity Streetway Company

## 2003 & 2004

In 2003, Tramway Ourcity was purchased and transferred as a wholly owned subsidiary by government-owned Centro, to become part of the integrated network. It remained with the same name and branding throughout the year. In 2004, the long awaited extension of the original route as far as Watergate as well as Line B between Owens Mill, Rivergreen and Ourcity Tramlink New Logo 2.pngOurcity Tramlink New Logo 2.pngSouthwolds were completed and opened to the public. 26 new OBC Link trams were built in 2002 ready for project to be finished, and were stored at Shawford Yard until opening in 2004. Despite Tramway Ourcity still being branded with the Centro 'Green & Yellow' colour scheme and logo, the new line and extension were painted and decorated a shade of magenta, yet temporary-looking Tramway Ourcity logos were applied that didn't fit with the magenta colour scheme. Speculation at the time was that a new branding initiative for Tramway Ourcity, or possibly for Centro as a whole was planned, and was soon to be implemented.

## 2005 rebrand

In early 2005, Centro held a company wide press-conference at their headquarters. During this conference, it was announced that Centro would rebrand to Network Ourcity, having an overall colour scheme of light blue, with different colourways for individual services. It was announced that Tramway Ourcity would be renamed to Ourcity Tramlink and have its colour changed to Magenta. Also to be announced at this conference, was the approved extension to Line B from Southwolds to Thornton Heath via Streatham Lake and Royal Institute, due for completion in 2008. A further announcement was the proposal of a third line, beginning at New Street before branching off and looping round the Royal Victoria docks close to Oakley Wharf before heading back via Rivergreen. Along with this news, it was announced that the route structures would change accordingly, with Line A being renamed T1, plus recoloured to hot-magenta, and Line B being renamed T3, being coloured a light-pink hue. T2 was reserved for the proposed loop line.

## 2008

In 2008, the extension of Line 3 as far as Thornton Heath was completed, and was opened on the 1st of September. Due to a lack of budgets, Network Ourcity were unable to fund brand new trams for the extension, so OBC Link trams were cascaded to the route, and older T70 trams from Southminster were long-term leased to fill in for the OBC Link units. Along with this however, came the news of postponing the T2 route due to budget cuts. It was unconfirmed when construction would begin.

## 2013

In early 2012, The developers of the brand new Southdown Water housing complex funded an extension of T3 one-stop down from Thornton Heath in order to serve the brand new development. This extension was completed in August 2013. At the opening ceremony, Network Ourcity announced that T2 had been approved and was ready to begin construction for a predicted opening date of Q2 2016. They also announced that an order had been placed for 54 brand new trams from OBC, these being named "OBC Link Mark 2". These new units were due to enter service in 2015 to replace 80% of the OBC Link Mark 1 units, as well as to make the loaned T70 trams obsolete. These new trams were planned to be fitted with new passenger information systems as well as the future option for adding roof-batteries for operation on sections without overhead wires. Later that year, It was announced that a further 3 trams had been ordered to come with roof batteries pre-installed ready for the T2's opening in 2016, which had been announced as having no overhead wires.

## 2015

All 54 brand new OBC Link Mark 2 trams were delivered to Ourcity Tramlink by August 5th, and began a gradual introduction until September 19th, when the last one entered service. Only 12 OBC Link Mark 1s remained, all being 2003 variants. Preparations were made for the opening of T2, with the line nearing completion and the three additional OBC Link Mark 2 units being constructed. Between January 2nd and December 9th 2015, all tram stops apart from part of the original section between High Lane and Walls End were part of an upgrade programme, and either received a regular refurbishment, or in most cases, a full overhaul with a brand new design. The section between High Lane and Walls End remains in its 2005 state apart from the additions of new ticketing machines and departure boards.

## 2016

On the 24th July 2016, Tramlink T2 opened to the public between New Street and Royal Victoria via Highbury Vale and The Quay before continuing onto Lark Hill, Rivergreen and Highbury Vale before returning to New Street. During peak hours, the service was extended along the route of T1 as far as Owens Mill. The three battery-enabled Mark 2 units entered service with the line, and ran on battery power between Highbury Vale and Rivergreen via Royal Victoria, and overhead line between Rivergreen and Owens Mill via New Street. Beginning in 2016, 23 of the other 54 Link Mark 2 trams received battery capabilities. A brand new branch of T1 was also announced to Arena West from Malgate Road, calling only at Bankside.

## 2017

During the 2017 period, It was announced that Network Ourcity would rebrand to 'Transport for Ourcity' with the new Cross Diamonds logo and branding. Ourcity Tramlink received a brand new logo to fit in with the rest of the transport network, retaining the same colour. All stations apart from High Lane, The Great Dane, Shardham and Walls End received the new branding and signage, along with all 69 trams, including the Link Mark 1's. The Arena West branch was completed in November 2017. On December 5th 2017, The last OBC Link Mark 1 tram ran on line T3, with the only remaining 12 being run on T1 only. T3 began operation with only Link Mark 2s.

## 2020

    In January 2020, Oshein Tramlink created an order of an initial 28 Futura-T trams from Transfast Motion for use as the primary tram for Line T3. This would allow the whole OBC Link Mark 2 fleet to be utilised on T1 and T2. The Transfast Futura-T trams are also longer and have more doors than both Link Mark 1s and Mark 2s, meaning an individual capacity upgrade per service, as well as increasing overall capacity across the entire network due to more Mk2s being able to be utilised on T1. The Futura-Ts were constructed throughout 2021 and 2022, with the first example entering service on T3 during October 2022. Futura-Ts can sometimes be seen along T1 in order to boost capacity.

## 2023

During February and March 2023, Chester Gardens tram stop on T1 and T3 was closed to passengers for 36 days whilst major overhaul works took place. Trams ran non-stop through the station during service hours, as only platform upgrades were carried out during the daytime to minimise disruption. Major surfacing and track upgrades were completed during the night. The stop re-opened on the 21st of March 2023 with the brand new Vision23 stop design which includes; A large shelter with station information and line status boards, Upgraded lighting & signage and brand new 'Next Tram' platform departure boards. The new departure boards are of the high-density orange dot-matrix style, as the more typically 'modern' design of the LCD TV-Style boards installed from 2018 to 2022 was found to have large sun-glare issues and poor viewing angles for customers, so it was decided on all new stops and stop overhauls that a new dot-matrix style board would be introduced. The new Vision23 stop design is likely to be replicated on more tram stops when they are due for refurbishment or overhaul, although all individual versions are likely to have slight changes in layout and design elements in order to retain individuality.

During March 2023, a revised Tramlink logo was unveiled and will be rolled out to all trams. Only major stops will likely receive the new logo and signage immediately, whereas less key stops will receive it during their next overhaul.

## Rolling Stock

Ourcity Tramlink has 69 tram units in total, consisting of a mix of OBC Link Mark 1s (2003 variants) and OBC Link Mark 2s (Built 2015-2016). The current fleet details are as follows;

Historic Rolling Stock
 OBC Link Mark 1
 Southminster T70

## Proposals and Plans

Many plans and proposals for extensions, new lines and rolling stock orders have been made over the time that the tram system has been in operation. Some have made it to the acceptance stage yet eventually cancelled, and other are still being considered to this day, Notably a new tram line between Royal Institute and City Airport via a range of unconfirmed stops, although will go via Denmark Hill, Oakhill and New Deptford.

### **Cancelled Plans**

**•** T1 extension from Watergate to Putney - Went far in the planning stages, yet cancelled in 2014 due to a lack of demand.

**•** New line from Borough to Hayes, Converted rail line - Never seriously considered, cancelled in 2002 due to high demand for heavy rail

**•** Extend T1 from Arena West to link up with the other terminus at Watergate, Creating a loop line - Public enquiry in 2018, cancelled soon after

### **Plans Still Under Consideration**

**•** New T4 line from Royal Institute to City Airport via Denmark Hill, Oakhill and New Deptford - Proposed in 2019, still under consideration.

**Proposed Rolling Stock**