In this week’s news from the light rail sector – Timetable changes in Blackpool, late night trams for ‘spooktacular’ event in Edinburgh, delays to engineering works in Manchester and Halloween competition from Luas.
Light rail colleagues are being invited to an event aimed at helping HR professionals to understand how to best support, attract and retain the future talent their businesses need.
Organised by Youth Employment UK, the event in Birmingham on November 9 will include panel discussions led by employers who have developed advanced employment strategies that are removing barriers to work for young people.
A series of interactive sessions will also focus on the five principles of Good Youth Employment, offering key insights and practical tips to support the attraction, engagement and retention of future talent.
The invitation to the sector follows a presentation by Youth Employment UK at the recent UKTram Light Rail Summit in Manchester, and members of the organisation are entitled to a £75 discount on the usual £175 delegate fees. Further information, can be found here, and members should reference UKTram when making the booking to ensure the discount is applied.
In other light rail news:
Edinburgh Trams
Additional late-night trams and a free shuttle bus are being laid on to help festival-goers enjoy what promises to be a ‘spooktacular’ music event in Edinburgh this weekend.
Trams already run from every seven minutes throughout the day, but on Saturday, October 29, music fans can take advantage of additional services, running until around 12:45 am, to get home from the Terminal V Halloween festival.
A free shuttle bus will link the tram stop at Ingliston Park & Ride with the Royal Highland Centre and more details can be found here.
Blackpool Transport
It’s that time of the year when the operator sees a shift in passenger numbers over the course of the day.
With winter fast approaching, Blackpool Trams sees fewer customers, especially in the evenings. As a result it is making slight timetable changes, with trams running to a 15-minute frequency in the evenings. There will be no changes to daytime services.
The move will also free up much-needed resources that will help the operator to deliver a reliable tram network going into the Christmas and New Year periods, as reported here.
Manchester Metrolink
Temporary changes have been introduced to some Metrolink services after planned engineering works in Manchester city centre were delayed.
Work to replace a damaged rail in Piccadilly Gardens was set to start next week but has been delayed until the end of November due to issues with Metrolink’s rail supplier.
To ensure the continued safe running of services across the network, several precautionary route changes were introduced this week.
Passengers on all lines will still be able to get into the city centre and there are alternative travel options for those wanting to make cross-city journeys on affected routes, including alternative tram services, bus replacement or walking routes.
Customers are being advised to plan ahead and allow extra time when making connecting journeys, and full details of the changes can be found here.
Luas
To celebrate the Halloween and October Mid-Term break, Luas is giving away ten €50 digital One4All vouchers for customers to treat themselves to something spooktacular.
For your chance to win simply click here and complete and submit the Entry Form to us by 11.59pm on Bk Hol Mon 31st Oct.
The winners will be chosen at random and contacted by phone following the competition closing on Tuesday, November 1. For the full story, click here.
Tyne & Wear Metro
A specially stylised comic book has been published to celebrate the work of frontline staff on the Tyne and Wear Metro.
Local artist Mike Duckett drew the 40-page comic – titled ‘Some people call us ‘checkies’ – for the everyday superheroes who undertake customer service and revenue protection roles on the Metro network.
Nexus, the public body which owns and manages Metro, said the finished artwork was a fresh and contemporary way of celebrating the efforts of its workforce, and it has distributed copies to the thousand staff that it employs.
Duckett, an illustrator from Bardon Mill in Northumberland, has used the medium of comic book art to feature the frontline staff as they look after customers, challenge ticketless travel, and provide a reassuring presence on stations and trains. The full story can be found here.
LRSSB
Comprehensive guidance on monitoring Light Rail networks and the importance of effective control rooms, CCTV and communications has been published by the Light Rail Safety and Standards Board.
The new Network Supervision and Management Guidance is available to download from the LRSSB website here.
The guidance provides high-level, impartial principles for the safe and efficient fulfilling of Light Rail operations after the successful conclusion of any works to implement or modify a network.
It covers the supervision and management of project operations and network assets, systems, technologies and/or supporting processes to plan for and implement project operations and you can read more here.
To be included in the next round-up, or the Members News section of the UKTram website, send your press releases to info@uktram.org.