Back in 1988 Nottingham
City Council and Nottinghamshire
County Council came together with Nottingham Development Enterprise
, representing local businesses interest, to consider the city's future
transport needs. It was clear that if Nottingham's fabric and economy
were to be regenerated and the Nottingham of the future was to be a city
that remained a great place to live, work and visit then our transport
infrastructure had to be renewed.
 The
overriding principle of these considerations was that Nottingham needed
an integrated transport system and that high quality, reliable public
transport had to form the backbone of that system. Nottingham needed a
public transport system that could move large numbers of people without
contributing to the problems we needed to solve; road congestion and local
pollution. A number of options were considered before a light rail vehicle,
a tram, was decided upon as Nottingham's solution. Powered by electricity,
well-suited to integration with the city's traffic management systems,
clearly of a high quality and economically feasible to build and to run
Nottingham's tram would form the ideal backbone to the public transport
system of the Nottingham of the future.
During 1994, the two councils presented to Parliament
their plans for the first line of a tram system running from Hucknall,
in the former coalfields to the north of Nottingham, right through to
the heart of the city and with a spur line to Cinderhill and attract motorists
onto public transport with ample park and ride facilities all along its
route. Lengthy deliberations in committees of the House of Commons and
House of Lords and the submission of extensive evidence covering viability,
public acceptability and environmental impact ended with the granting,
subject to a number of Undertakings on the part of the two Councils, of
permission to build Nottingham's tram in the GNLRT Act 1994.
 Tram
systems are not cheap to build - but they are worth it. All utility services
must be moved from under the tram route before tracks can be laid and
overhead power lines installed. New bridges must be built and new road
layouts are needed. You need a fleet of trams and depot in which to house
and maintain them. All in all a £200 million investment.
The two Council's invited tenders to build their
tram system and selected Arrow
Light-Rail from a strong field as their chosen concession company
to design, build and operate Nottingham's tram. Arrow Light-Rail comprises
civil engineering firm Carillion
, rail vehicle builder Bombardier
(formerly ADtranz), experienced integrated public transport operator
Transdev and, importantly, Nottingham
City Transport the largest existing public transport provider in the
city.
Arrow's funding to build the tram is secured
via a Private Finance Initiative for which Government approved credit
in December 1998. Once this PFI funding was confirmed detailed negotiations
were embarked upon, in May 2000 contracts were signed and in June 2000
work to build a public transport system fit for the Nottingham of the
future began.
The NET Project Team, working for both councils
and based in Nottingham City Council's Lawrence House offices, acted as
client for the project ensuring that what Nottingham got from Arrow was
the best system possible and the impact of construction on the vibrant
life of the city minimised. The team is also managing the consideration
of future
route options aiming to start work on more lines by the time line
one is complete.
To contact the NET Project Team call the Tram
Hotline on 0115 915 6600, email us tram@nottinghamcity.gov.uk
or visit our other websites at www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk
and www.nottinghamtravelwise.org.uk
. We publish a range of written and taped materials. We look forward to
hearing from you.
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