Rail Focus: Railway news and features. Weekly videos covering everything from new and old rolling stock to existing railways and new railway construction projects.
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Totally agree that the timetable is very poor, especially the 25 minute gaps south of North Pier. With a fleet of 18 trams, I'd have thought a more frequent service (at least on the busiest parts of the network) should be possible
Given that the tramline had to wait while a hotel was built between the end of the line and Blackpool North railway station was constructed, I think that this plan was sub-optimal. If the hotel had instead been built raised further up in the air, there could have been two tram tracks going underneath that building to give you a tram stop that was fully integrated with the railway station, and the ability to extend the trams beyond the station itself. I think it would be fairly tough to get trams up the railway corridor, that Blackpool North uses, but, once you get to the end of Berry's Lane, there is a disused railway line branch, that heads up to Fleetwood. There are not houses on the entire route, but the disused line does pass two caravan parks. So if the Blackpool tram network was extended that way in the future, it would create a way for people to have a low carbon holiday in Blackpool and not need to rent a car. Sadly, building that hotel where it is, means it is a bookend that blocks further expansion. So any attempt to extend the tramline is going to involve buying a brand new hotel, to knock it down. That's poor planning, as it would have been great to extend the Blackpool tram network further east. Having said that, I would answer the "Worth £23 million?" question in your thumbnail with a "yes". More money should have been invested. This is going to end up like the Docklands Light Railway, where that was built too cheap and has been upgraded and upgraded since being built. We have a bit of a stupid risk-averse government, that isn't too keen on putting extra capacity into transport networks and getting something done was better than having the can kicked down the road for another decade or two. I think that local people now need to start complaining heavily about the 30 minute service interval and demanding that the trams run earlier in the day. The tram network is going to need to have more vehicles and more drivers. That will not happen overnight, so pressure needs to be created. Not having departure boards is also pretty shameful.
Will they be putting the infrastructure in place for future electrification? I understand of the new scotland tracks have the foundations in place require for electrification.
Just more proof that Blackpool Council are leaders in wasting money. 23 million for a 3 minute walk, and a service that's only any good to tourists if they are staying on the prom, why not grab a taxi for less money, a door to door service (and if you need it, help with your suitcase). Whoever gave this the go ahead should be ashamed of themselves. It's arguable whether there is any benefit to this extension, it definitely increases journey time, and offers a weakened timetable. A wasteful exercise, showing utter contempt for the residents of Blackpool. I hope you enjoyed the journey but I don't think I'll have any use for the trams again.
It does seem odd that they didn't to take the line under the hotel directly to the station. Seems a bit odd that the hotel and the line were built at the same time and no one thought of that.
This coincides with the 2023 extension of the Birmingham Tramway where both of the extensions are about the same length and I think that opened over three years late. I also feel like its wrong to run an infrequent tram service as I expect it to be 'turn up and go'.
Would be interesting to see the feasibility of operating this along longer routes such as the GWR Reading to Gatwick Service. If the section where there is either overhead or third rail power this could be a way to also recharge on these sections reducing dwell time at the route terminus.
The Victorians built railways quicker with picks and shovels using PRIVATE CAPITAL. Modern railway construction is paid for by the never ending finance of enslaved TAXPAYERS and, in this case, started at £36 Billion and now, with a large section now cancelled is at £150 Billion and rising. Construction began in 2017, SEVEN YEARS AGO and is still nowhere near finished.
Very interesting watch. Definitely not enough trams going to and from. Hopefully that improves. However, I do think you comment about walking 600m is a bit out. Probably about 10 minutes for the average person, likely longer with luggage and navigating busy streets. Still not 30 minutes though and I wonder if the times sync at all with train times. I'll be surprised if they do.
And to think, the 1960's town planners wanted the trams gone, because they thought they were old fashioned, those 1960' planners ruined rail transport for everyone, well done, Blackpool
They couldn't even get it looking nice for the opening? Vandalised signage and plastic orange maze gates everywhere. I hope they fix the shockingly infrequent timetable,
Not a bit of a white elephant, a total white elephant. Most people arriving at Blackpool North going to hotels with suitcases will continue to hop in a taxi. Total waste of money.
Chris, I used to lived in Fleetwood but still remember the original North Station Tram Service Even its a bad timetable .it is better than no service at all , back when that original was Taken away , we in Fleetwood felt cut off , it came after the Beeching Cuts in the 1960s
Interesting that the signage on way from tram stop to train station says "BLACKPOOL NORTH TRAIN STATION" -> I'd assumed most of the time it would be "Railway Station" in official parlance? Also not enough double-arrows to show the way :(
@Tobberz I imagine it's a stylistic choice as well as being for ease of understanding. As for the logo it would possibly be inappropriate given it's technically on a private building and not a railway building.
The new tram stop (once it’s rid of the red barriers) looks quite good - although I’m not sure why they didn’t go the extra few yards, and stick right outside the railway station… As both you and Jen say, the timetable is useless currently; hopefully that can be improved in time!
The Talbot Gateway does does look nice. I think moving the stop even a few meters more would've added millions to the cost through lost hotel space. It's really no longer than changing trains from one platform to another.
I hope that it becomes a success but it will be challenging with the poor timetable which I didn't knew it was that bad until watching Jen's video. It's one of those that it's too early to say and needs more time to give that verdict, Great video.
I hope it's a success too. I hadn't realised how bad the timetable was either until speaking with Jen. Hopefully they'll tweak it and make improvements as they understand the demand more.
You went when the town is asleep this service will be well used once the school holidays hit with people going to hotels and the pleasure beach. I think the time table will be improved given time.
"normal" passengers were trying to board, but were left confused because they ran the tram 5 minutes ahead of the Fleetwood service. I hope it's a success, but the timetable needs sorting out.
I believe the original plan was to run a more frequent Pleasure Beach-Little Bispham via North Station service but obviously someone lobbied for through services from North Station to both ends of the line, hence this rather lacklustre timetable, upon wihch the main prom service will be slaughtered at busy times! May suggestion would be to increase all three routes to 20 mins but have the T1 just run from Pleasure Beach to either Little Vispham or Cleveleys, as I would imagine there's very little demand really for a Starr Gate-Fleetwood through service, it's just that's run like that since around 1937!
You have a good point, cut T1 back to Little Bispham, increase frequency of T3 and T1, (not sure T2 is going to be overly popular?). The one saving grace initially will be the regular 3 specials on peak days which will aid capacity on the prom. The base timetable is just that though, a base, in which Blackpool can work out demand and then tweak going forward. Management in the tour suggested they will be looking constantly for how to improve the timetable to meet customers demands over the coming weeks/months, so perhaps don't expect the current timetable to remain as such for too long.
Possibly they were trying to please too many people by retaining the unbroken end to end Fleetwood to Starr Gate Promenade service in addition to having trams from Fleetwood to North Station and Starr Gate to North Station. In the end the frequencies as you and Jen have explained are somewhat extended. However, every new rail or tramway has to assess demand once it is up and running and then tweak accordingly with the trams, staff and budgets that they have available. Notably, the Baker Street and Waterloo tube railway in London (now the Bakerloo) started as a white elephant with very few people using even peak hour trains. I shall personally find the Blackpool North to Starr Gate service useful (the T2) but do envisage some occasions when the wait between the arriving train and departing tram will be annoyingly extended. Hopefully things can be reviewed and improved. In the meantime and on a positive note I am pleased to see this extension in service at last.
The missing piece of the puzzle is the "base timetable" is just that, additional specials will run to aid demand while the timetable beds in, and tweaks will be made as the demand is made clear. I expect earlier T3 during the week and Saturdays will be a must as 09:15 arrival isn't the best idea.
I think I was just surprised at the timetable. I'm sure the original plan was for the services to North to be in addition to existing Fleetwood - Starr Gate services. If they could turn the trams around at North Station more quickly then they could still run them as Fleetwood - Star Gate services. But there's currently a long dwell at North.
this morning most of the morning trams were cancelled anyway - "Unfortunately due to staffing levels we will not be able to operate the following tram service today - 0743 - 1014 1030 - 1138"
Chris, how would you feel about a potential Blackpool metro using the abandoned Fleetwood line, sharing track between there and North, then tunnelling to the South branch line down to Kirkham & Wesham? Under a better economic system, I would say it makes complete sense, but something tells me the plan would be hand-waved away with something along the lines of "We let you keep your trams, isn't that enough, peasants?" following its dismissal by those in charge of these things (£££).
Totally agree it’s a waste of money, we are broke , , the country cannot afford a pot to piss in , and this vanity project is costing billions, may be three times over budget , as usual , these govt Capitol projects always are ,a lot of individuals are making a killing out this 🤮🤮🤮🤮
Delays were down to following: 1. Covid - this prevented demolition of Wilkos until late 2020, taking about 4 months to demolish 2. Holiday Inn completion - The structure was complete in Spring 2022, however follow the Grenfell enquiry, the cladding failed new regs, had to be ripped out and re-fitted. This required use of cranes obstructing tramway until late 2023. 3. High St rebuild - the building of new undetpass had several issues with new foundations etc delaying things by about a year.
You’d think they would have had the tram reach the train station rather than have people walk through even if it’s mostly undercover. Someone who’s disabled may find that short walk really awkward… too late now though.
It would have added massive cost and a total redesign of the station and car park. The distance is less than 100m on a level surface, unlike almost any other rail/tram interchange in the uk
@@andycleaver9135Birmingham New Street tram stop is literally right outside the station... You don't even need to cross the road if you're coming from Wolverhampton direction
@@Rail_Focus From the tramstop to station gateline is about 100 metres and mostly undercover and completely step free. To have taken the tramway under High St would mean lowering tram tracks by about 6ft and there just isnt the space for that to have been done either side of underpass
