Nottingham Express Transit


 * This article is about trams from 2004 onwards. For trams 1877–1938, see Nottingham Corporation Tramways.

Nottingham Express Transit (or in short NET) is a light-rail tramway in the Nottingham area in England. The first line opened to the public on 9 March 2004, having cost £200 million to construct. The scheme took 16 years from conception to implementation. It is operated by Transdev.

Line 1
The route of the current line starts at Nottingham station to the south of the city centre, and extends north, passing the Lace Market, Nottingham Trent University, Forest Recreation Ground, and terminating at Hucknall.

This line is 14 km long, of which 4 km is on-street. A little north of the city centre is a section about 1 km long where northbound and southbound trams follow different streets and the lines cross at each end of this section to run 'wrong side'. From Wilkinson Street north (for about 8 km), the tramline runs alongside an existing railway, the Robin Hood Line. At Highbury Vale, about halfway along the line, a branch turns west to end 1 km later at Phoenix Park, while the main line runs north to Hucknall. There are park-and-ride facilities at several stations. The tram also has a connection with East Midlands Trains at Station Street (for Nottingham railway station), Bulwell and Hucknall and also with Arriva Cross Country at Station Street. All the construction works on Line 1 were carried out by Carillion.

Tickets are sold on board by conductors. As of 4 April 2005, trams run every five minutes during peak times, and six minutes during the weekday daytime.

The system is arguably the only 'new' tram system built in the UK to have been an instant success. Whilst others around the UK are now starting to carry the number of passengers that it was hoped for, Nottingham's system has exceeded the most optimistic predictions, carrying 9.7 million people in 2005. This assists the case for the construction of new lines. As of 2006 it is also the only light railway in the British Isles to operate 100% low floor trams.

An all-day tram ticket costs £2.40. A CityRider (all trams and NCT buses) day ticket costs £2.70. A Kangaroo (all trams, buses and trains within the City) day ticket costs £3. An adult tram single ticket costs £1.40, but £2.30 before 09.30 Monday - Friday, in a push for the few that buy them in the morning peak to buy all-day tickets instead.

Due to truancy, NET has had to eliminate the child all-day ticket. It now costs £1.00 for a child single.

Weekly tickets and swipecards in conjunction with NCT are also available, as are PayPoint tickets.

Prospective future lines
NET Phase Two is the collective term for the project to build extensions to Line One of Nottingham Express Transit (NET) NET Phase 2

The extension consists of two new lines from the city centre terminus at Station Street. A bridge will be constructed across the top of Nottingham Station. NET Phase 2: stations

Line 2
The Clifton route will go to the south of the City. It will serve the densely populated residential areas, including the Meadows, Wilford / Ruddington Lane area and the Clifton Estate, terminating at a new park and ride site serving the A453. It will cross the River Trent on the Wilford Toll Bridge which will be widened to allow pedestrians and cyclists to continue to use it, and then use part of the Great Central Railway formation though Wilford.

The route is 7.6km, of which 63% is segregated. The journey time from the Old Market Square to the terminus will be 23.5 minutes.

Current outline designs show 13 tram stops, attracting approximately 3.9 million passenger journeys a year.

Line 3
The Chilwell and Beeston route will go to the south west of the city. It will serve the northern edge of the Meadows residential area, the ng2 development site, Queen's Medical Centre, the University of Nottingham, Beeston town centre and Chilwell, terminating at a new park and ride site at the junction of the A52 road and Toton Lane, about one mile from junction 25 of the M1 motorway.

The route is 9.8km, of which 59% is segregated. The journey time from the Old Market Square to the terminus will be 30 minutes.

Current outline designs show 15 tram stops, attracting approximately 5.1 million passenger journeys a year.

Project progress
Programme Entry approval was given on 25 October 2006 with the Government agreeing to provide up to £437m in Private Finance Initiative (PFI) credits. The local councils will also provide up to £141m in PFI credits. The two local councils (Nottinghamshire County and Nottingham City Councils) voted on 22 February 2007 and 3 March 2007 respectively to table an application for a Transport & Works Act Order.

The various documents which make up the City and County Councils’ application for the order are available to view at a number of venues from 26 April 2007 to 7 June 2007 when it will be submitted to the Secretary of State for Transport for consideration. It is expected that a Public Inquiry will be held, which is likely to take place approximately six months after the application has been submitted. The whole process, leading to a decision by the Secretary of State, is expected to take up to 18 months from the date of application.

Work on these lines is expected to begin in 2010, in two phases, with trams running from 2013. The tram scheme aims to reduce the number of car journeys into Nottingham by four million per annum.

Line 1
There are still concerns from local councilors and residents about Line 3. 

Tram fleet
The system has 15 Incentro trams, similar to those used in Nantes, which were built by Bombardier Transportation (formerly ADtranz) in Derby. The Flexity Outlook Eurotram was also considered, but was rejected as its large single-leaf doors did not comply with British door-alarm regulations.

The trams run on 750 volts DC and have a top speed of 80 km/h (50 mph). They are 100% low-floor vehicles articulated in five sections, and are 33m long and 2.4m wide.

From a very early stage, the trams have been named after local people. Vinyl transfers carrying the names are mounted on diagonally opposite corners of the tram exterior. Upon introduction they were also on the front (in direction of travel) right-hand side on the top of tram windows, in the same style as advertisements.

Previous Nottingham tramway systems

 * For the horse and steam tramways from 1877 to 1902 see Nottingham and District Tramways Company Limited
 * For the electric tramways from 1897 to 1936 see Nottingham Corporation Tramways

Safety
In October 2007, a 23 year-old Hucknall man became the first person to be killed by the current tram system. 

Names

 * 201 - Torvill and Dean. Voted for by listeners of the local commercial radio station 96 Trent FM, Britain's best known ice skaters were born in Nottingham and won an Olympic Gold Medal in the 1984 Olympics.
 * 202 - DH Lawrence. A Nottinghamshire novelist, born in Eastwood, famous for "Lady Chatterley's Lover"
 * 203 - William "Bendigo" Thompson. Voted for by viewers of East Midlands Today. A bare-knuckle fighter.
 * 204 - Erica Beardsmore. Hyson Green-based supporter of Nottingham In Bloom
 * 205 - Lord Byron. Voted for by viewers of East Midlands Today. Nottinghamshire poet.
 * 206 - Angela Alcock. Voted for by readers of the Nottingham Evening Post. A local Oxfam donations collector who has raised countless funds for charity.
 * 207 - Mavis Worthington. Voted for by readers of the Nottingham Evening Post. A Homestart volunteer.
 * 208 - Dinah Minton. Founder of the Headway charity.
 * 209 - Sid Standard (renamed from "Sydney Standard" due to public demand). Nominated by Nottingham Evening Post readers. He ran a bike shop in Beeston for 27 years and was President of the Beeston Road Club. It is believed that he rode more than 500,000 miles on his bike in his lifetime.
 * 210 - Sir Jesse Boot. Voted for by listeners of BBC Radio Nottingham. Former owner of Boots the Chemist.
 * 211 - Robin Hood. Voted for by viewers of East Midlands Today. Famous local legend.
 * 212 - William Booth. Founder of the Salvation Army.
 * 213 - Mary Potter. Voted for by listeners of BBC Radio Nottingham. Foundress of the Little Company of Mary Sisters.
 * 214 - Dennis McCarthy MBE. Former presenter of BBC Radio Nottingham.
 * 215 - Brian Clough. Voted for by listeners of Trent FM. Local football manager, until his death in 2004 won the European Cup twice with Nottingham Forest.