Sand issue behind 'severe' Nottingham tram delays as over 60 services cancelled this month
Nottingham's tram operator says an issue with sand was to blame for recent "severe delays" on its network. NET said early on Thursday (January 23) that some customers were waiting 12 minutes between trams due to a technical issue.
Delays lasted for much of the morning and it comes during a month which has seen widespread cancellations of early morning tram services on most days. There have been 66 cancellations of early morning tram services this month, according to NET's own customer service updates.
The highest number of cancellations came on January 13, when eight services were cancelled in just one morning. NET were asked about the scale of cancellations this month and to set out what the technical issue was that caused severe delays on Thursday morning.
READ MORE: Air fryer warning as people told to stop cooking two popular foods in them
READ MORE: CCTV appeal after disabled Nottingham Forest fan mocked at City Ground
Do you support plans to extend Nottingham's tram network? Let us know here
The operator confirmed an issue with sand was partly to blame for Thursday's disruption. Nottingham trams are fitted with sand boxes, used to distribute sand onto the tracks to improve traction, particularly in wet and steep conditions.
Trevor Stocker, head of operations at NET said: "We always take every measure possible to limit disruption to tram services for all our customers, but due to the nature of our operations, sometimes delays are inevitable and out of our control. This can be due to damage to the tracks or road traffic accidents, for example.
"However, we're always committed to getting the service back up and running as soon as it's safe to do so. We also operate an emergency bus replacement service to further minimise disruption for our customers during those occasions when our tram services are not able to operate.
"Checks are always made on all our trams each day before they go into service, and we follow a rigorous set of processes and procedures before they're released from the depot. Overnight last night, we identified a technical issue with our sand plant which delayed trams being prepared for service as work was carried out manually.
"Engineers have been working to resolve the technical fault today, and we're pleased to report that the issue has now been resolved, and all our trams are once again running as normal. We apologise to all our customers for the disruption caused by this."