The impact of third-party actions on effective and reliable tramway operations has been highlighted at a recent meeting of the UKTram Operations Group.

Representatives from networks in Dublin, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, Docklands and Birmingham took part in the hybrid meeting – hosted by Tram Operations Limited in Croydon – and several reported that incidents beyond their control were a major contribution to disruption.

Steve Duckering, UKTram Operations Manager, explained: “In recent months operators have experienced an unusual amount of service interruption caused by other road users and non-tram related incidents.

“Members agreed that best practice on degraded services will be a future focus of the Group and they also discussed the development a ‘hazard perception’ tool that is more focused to persons on and around the tramway, including track workers and customer-facing employees.

The meeting also included a tour of Croydon’s, control centre, training simulator and workshop while representatives from Blackpool Transport and Costain joined in debates through Teams.

“As a result, the group enjoyed very engaging discussions taking place within the group on future workstreams that will be of benefit to the sector,” Steve added.