Nottingham Express Transit

A tram in downtown Nottingham.

Nottingham Express Transit (NET) is a light rail tram system serving the Nottingham area in England. It opened to the public on 9 March 2004, at a cost of £200 million. The scheme took 16 years from conception to implementation.

The route of the first 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 eventually arriving at Hucknall.

This line is 14 km long, of which 4 km is on-street, generally in dedicated lanes. A little north of the city centre is a section about 1 km long where northbound and southbound trams follow different streets. 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 . There are park-and-ride facilities at various stations.

The system has fifteen long, articulated, Incentro low-floor trams, built by Bombardier (the Eurotram was originally proposed but rejected as its large single leaf doors were a victim of door alarm regulations). Tickets are sold on board by a conductor. As of 31 January 2005, there are trams every five minutes during peak times, running alternately to Hucknall and Phoenix Park. Plans are afoot to extend this peak service from 7.30 to 18.30 every day.

There are also plans for extensions, which would consist of two new lines from the city centre - one going south-west to Chilwell, via the University of Nottingham and Beeston, the other south to Clifton by Wilford . Work on these is expected to begin in 2006, in two phases. The tram scheme aims to take four million car journeys off the road per annum.

Route

• Station Street (for Nottingham railway station)
• Lace Market
• Old Market Square
• Royal Centre
• Nottingham Trent University
• High School
• Forest Recreation Ground (park and ride)

Routes rejoin

• Wilkinson Street (park and ride)
• Basford
• David Lane
• Highbury Vale

External links

• Nottingham Express Transit - official website
• Nottingham Express Transit - official website for future extensions