Sheffield Supertram - Sheffield Supertram Rolling Stock - D

Sheffield Supertram - D

Sheffield Supertram Rolling Stock

Sheffield Supertram Current Fleet

Stagecoach Supertram operates the following fleet across the network:

Siemens-Duewag Supertram Tram

Blue, Purple, Yellow

1992 1994–present

Stadler Citylink (Class 399) Tram-train

Blue, Purple, Tram-train, Yellow

2014-2015 2017–present

Siemens-Duewag Supertram

The network operates 25 three car trams built by Siemens-Duewag of Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1992. The trams are 40% low floor design, the vehicles have been specially designed for gradients as steep as 10%. In the 1980s a design choice was taken to create the longest possible vehicle to avoid multiple working which resulted in a 34.8-metre (114 ft) design, the third-longest tram design in operation in Europe at the time and the longest in service in the UK until the 42.8-metre (140 ft) long Edinburgh Trams were introduced.

Launched in an initial light grey livery, following the awarding of the operating franchise to Stagecoach the trams were reliveried in Stagecoach's corporate livery from 1997. From 2006 the trams were refurbished, and a new dedicated Supertram blue–based livery was launched, with the entire fleet completed in early 2009.

Stadler Citylink (Class 399)

Stadler supplied seven tram-train vehicles, delivered between November 2015 and November 2016.

Sheffield Supertram Infrastructure

Sheffield Supertram Track

The network is 29 km (18 miles) long, with 60 km (37 miles) of track. It features two types of track, tramway track where either pedestrians or road traffic share the right of way and ballasted railway track when there are no such requirements.

Tramway track consists of a grooved tramway rail set into a concrete base with troughs into which the rails are laid. Most of the track is on-street using 35G-section grooved tram rail, with BS11-80A 80 lb/yd (39.7 kg/m) flat-bottom rail elsewhere. The railway track was supplied by British Steel Corporation Track Products of Workington and laid on sleepers consisting of concrete blocks with steel ties which gives a spring feeling when travelling on these sections. The track is laid on a bed of ballast which in turn rests on a prepared formation. Street crossings are usually laid with grooved tramway rails.

There are some major structures. Two viaducts carry Supertram onto Park Square (a major road junction in the centre of the city), one of them being a six-span viaduct, the other the bowstring steel arch Park Square Bridge. An underpass takes the tram underneath the busy A57 roundabout outside the University of Sheffield.

Tram Stop Design

The Supertram has 50 tram stops, which are generally 26.5 m (87 ft) long and 3 m (9.8 ft) deep and are of a network-wide standard making them easy to understand and use. The design incorporates recommendations made by the Cranfield Institute of Technology who studied ergonomics for both able-bodied and disabled users.

The platforms are 37.5 cm (14.8 inches) high, with a 1:20 slope. The platform edge comprises a 60 cm (24-inch) wide light-coloured textured paving with strips of 40 cm (16 inches) wide edge warning tactile strip. Directional guidance tactile paving crosses the width of the platform to coincide with the tram door locations.

Sheffield Supertram Power Supply

Supertram is powered through 12 electric substations and fed through 107 mm2 (0.166 sq in) cross-section overhead line equipment (OHLE) wire. The substations convert the 11 kV AC supply into 750 V DC supply into the overhead.

The 12 substations are situated as follows:

Blackburn Meadows

Carbrook

Nunnery Square

Park Square

Arbourthorne

Gleadless Townend

Birley

Crystal Peaks, Ochre Dyke Lane

Halfway, Eckington Way

University, Brook Hill

Langsett Road, Capel Street

Middlewood

The overhead line equipment depends on the location. If the tracks are close together, central poles with 'steady' arms on each side are used. If the tracks are further apart, poles on either side with span wire are used. With aesthetics in mind, a minimum number of traction poles are used and whenever possible the wire is anchored onto neighbouring buildings, and blended into the structures as far as possible, after talks between Supertram, the City Council and landlords.

The contact wires are twin cadmium copper ones, twin wires being necessary because of the high installed power rating of the trams (1 megawatt). The regenerative braking on the tram feeds current back into the wires.

Sheffield Supertram Depot

There is a single depot, located at Nunnery Square, which occupies former carriage sidings alongside the Sheffield to Lincoln railway line. It was designed and constructed by Balfour Beatty on 2.6 hectares (6.4 acres) of land and consists of a three-line workshop building, six stabling sidings, a turning loop, engineers sidings and sundry equipment.

Before the arrival of Supertram, the site was already dedicated to the railway industry. Nunnery engine shed filled most of the site whilst lines of the Midland Railway, Great Central Railway and London & North Eastern Railway irrigated the area and served collieries.

Sheffield Supertram Overview

Sheffield Supertram Owner: South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive

Sheffield Supertram Area Served:

Rotherham

Sheffield

Locale

South Yorkshire

Derbyshire (bypass)

Sheffield Supertram Transit Type:

Light rail

Tram

Tram-train

Sheffield Supertram Number of Lines: 4

Sheffield Supertram Number of Stations: 50

Sheffield Supertram Annual Ridership:

8.4 million (2022/23)

Sheffield Supertram Increase: 21.7%

Sheffield Supertram Chief Executive: Tim Bilby

Sheffield Supertram Headquarters:

Nunnery Depot

Woodbourn Road

Sheffield

S9 3LS

Sheffield Supertram Operation:

Sheffield Supertram Began Operation: 21 March 1994, 29 years ago

Sheffield Supertram Operator(s): Stagecoach

Sheffield Supertram umber of Vehicles:

25 Siemens-Duewag Supertram

7 Class 399 Stadler Citylink

Sheffield Supertram System Length: 34.6 km (21.5 mi)

Sheffield Supertram Track Gauge: 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

Sheffield Supertram Electrification: 750 V DC overhead line

Sheffield Supertram Top Speed: 55 mph (89 km/h)

Sheffield Supertram Map

Middlewood

Leppings Lane

Hillsborough Park

Malin Bridge

Hillsborough

Bamforth Street

Langsett/Primrose View

Infirmary Road

Shalesmoor

Netherthorpe Road

Brook Hill Underpass

University of Sheffield

West Street

City Hall

Cathedral

Castle Square

Fitzalan Square/Ponds Forge

Park Square Bridge

Viaduct alongside Sheffield Parkway

Hyde Park

Cricket Inn Road

Nunnery Square

Woodburn Road

Attercliffe

Arena/Olympic Legacy Park

Valley Centertainment

Carbrook

Meadowhall South/Tinsley

Meadowhall Interchange

Rotherham Central

Parkgate

Sheffield Station/Sheffield Hallam University

Granville Road/The Sheffield College

Viaduct over Norfolk Park Road

Park Grange Croft

Park Grange

Arbourthorne Road

Spring Lane

Manor Top/Elm Tree

Hollinsend

Gleadless Townend

Herdings/Leighton Road

Herdings Park

White Lane

Birley Lane

Birley Moor Road

Hackenthorpe

Donetsk Way

Moss Way

Crystal Peaks

Beighton/Drakehouse Lane

Waterthorpe

Westfield

Halfway