Non-motoring > Tram line been open two days and already a crash Miscellaneous
Thread Author: RattleandSmoke Replies: 17
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New Tue 21 Sep 10 19:00 
 Tram line been open two days and already a crash - RattleandSmoke
www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=866944&page=237

Its not on any news site yet but I always follow this forum when ever any new Metrolink system is in place because it always ends up in comical errors.

Basically the computerised points system had not been finished so they opened the stop with staff having to operate the points by hand. Human error may have written of a brand new £2 million tram.

How did they ever do things in the days before computers I wonder?

I suspect the media will have a field day when they got hold of this.

This also highlights just how news is changing and new public journalism gets news to people much quicker than traditional media can.
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New Tue 21 Sep 10 19:10 
 Tram line been open two days and already a crash - Iffy
...I suspect the media will have a field day when they got hold of this....

Rattle,

A tram jumping a point at walking pace is hardly Hatfield, Clapham or Paddington.

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New Tue 21 Sep 10 19:15 
 Tram line been open two days and already a crash - Bagpuss
>> Human error may have written of a brand new £2 million tram.

2 million quid for a tram? Can it fly as well?
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New Tue 21 Sep 10 19:18 
 Tram line been open two days and already a crash - Old Navy
Must be cheapo ones compared to the ones Edinburgh may eventually get.
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New Tue 21 Sep 10 19:57 
 Tram line been open two days and already a crash - RattleandSmoke
They are cheap and basic ones, they have ordered nearly 70 of them and they decided that trams don't need luxeries like aircon as they run over ground and most people are only on them for 5 to 15 minutes.

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New Tue 21 Sep 10 20:17 
 Tram line been open two days and already a crash - spamcan61
>> They are cheap and basic ones, they have ordered nearly 70 of them and they
>> decided that trams don't need luxeries like aircon as they run over ground and most
>> people are only on them for 5 to 15 minutes.
>>
Same situation, and rationale, in Stockholm; bit of a mobile sauna on a busy tram when the outside temperature was in the high twenties in July.
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New Tue 21 Sep 10 20:31 
 Tram line been open two days and already a crash - RattleandSmoke
The last few summers in Manchester we have been lucky if the mercury hit 25c. In fact September seems warmer than July these days.

The logic is sound though, buy the most basic which offer a decent level of space and comfort and then spend the rest on providing a good reliable level of service with a lot of staff.

They would have been a scandal if they have specified things like leather seats.
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New Tue 21 Sep 10 20:41 
 Tram line been open two days and already a crash - spamcan61
>> The last few summers in Manchester we have been lucky if the mercury hit 25c.
>> In fact September seems warmer than July these days.
>>
I couldn't find data for the two cities from the same source, but it does indeed seem that Stockholm has higher average temperatures in July than Manchester (19C versus 22C)
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New Wed 22 Sep 10 07:48 
 Tram line been open two days and already a crash - Tooslow
Basic yes, but hardly cheap at £2m a pop.

John
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New Tue 21 Sep 10 19:18 
 Tram line been open two days and already a crash - Bromptonaut
Roughly the equivalent of a car in the ditch.

Move one everyone; there's nothing to see.
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New Tue 21 Sep 10 19:56 
 Tram line been open two days and already a crash - RattleandSmoke
Well its a potential £2 million the tax payer has lost although it will probably be repaired. I suspect there would have been some injuries too as it was carrying passangers at the time.

Its usualy headlines in the MEN if a tram is down for a couple of hours so they will have a field day.
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New Tue 21 Sep 10 20:31 
 Tram line been open two days and already a crash - Bromptonaut
>> Its usualy headlines in the MEN if a tram is down for a couple of
>> hours so they will have a field day.

Is this the Manchester equivalent of the 'Stannad' weekly headline about a tube strike?
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New Tue 21 Sep 10 20:33 
 Tram line been open two days and already a crash - RattleandSmoke
tinyurl.com/29pdfyt

I suspect the Daily Mail will get hold of this too. (tinyurl beat them to it!)

"London BBC workers who move up North will have to put up with tram crashes on a daily basis".

I can see the headlines now.

Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 21 Sep 10 at 20:36
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New Tue 21 Sep 10 21:33 
 Tram line been open two days and already a crash - Skoda
Manchester looks more european than i remember, well from the architecture in that first pic mainly.

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New Tue 21 Sep 10 21:38 
 Tram line been open two days and already a crash - RattleandSmoke
Its actually Salford Quays. A new development called Mediacity where the BBC are moving a lot of London departments to. University of Salfords Art department is also moving there too.

Its only 2.5 miles away from where I live in south Manchester but I haven't actually seen it all properly yet.

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New Tue 21 Sep 10 21:56 
 Tram line been open two days and already a crash - Stuartli
>>How did they ever do things in the days before computers I wonder?>>

Well they managed fine in Liverpool, Glasgow etc many decades ago. as well as Blackpool still..:-)
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New Tue 21 Sep 10 22:02 
 Tram line been open two days and already a crash - RattleandSmoke
Manchester had a tram system too :). It was quite extensive.

The blackpool tram system is very simple and there isn't really anything to go wrong.

When its all completed it will be by far the biggest light rail network outside of London. Its been a massive engineering job and many parts of Manchester are big dug up as many of the tracks will run on roads. If this sort of thing happened on a road the entire road would be shut causing gridlock.

My local extension opens some time early next year, it goes down a disued raliway line so it will be interesting to see how that runs.

I am a big fan of the system as it is by far the cheapest and quickest way I can get into town.
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New Wed 22 Sep 10 06:38 
 Tram line been open two days and already a crash - L'escargot
>> >>How did they ever do things in the days before computers I wonder?>>
>>
>> Well they managed fine in Liverpool, Glasgow etc many decades ago.

And Sheffield, up to about 1960. They were real trams. The locals preferred them to the buses and trolley buses.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Wed 22 Sep 10 at 06:39
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