Funds for Sheffield Supertram renewal - but officials 'looking at what it means'

Officials at the South Yorkshire Mayor’s office are “still looking at what the Budget announcement means for Supertram”, after Chancellor Rachel Reeves allocated money to renew the network. 

The 29km (18-mile) light rail system was mentioned alongside the West Midlands Metro and plans for a light rail between Leeds and Bradford, as part of “£1.3 billion of funding to improve connectivity in our city regions”. 

Supertram was the second new light rail network to be built in the UK, following Manchester Metrolink. The latter revived existing heavy rail commuter routes, while Sheffield adopted a different approach of mainly on-street running with some segregated permanent way. Some of the route to the ‘Halfway’ terminus runs through Transport Secretary Louise Haigh’s constituency (Sheffield Heeley). 

Opening in 1994, the network predominantly relies on the original fleet of 25 Siemens-Duewag three-car vehicles.  

Operations were privatised soon after opening, as poor ridership numbers left the owning local councils in mounting debt.

Until earlier this year, Stagecoach ran the services with passenger figures rising to around 15 million per year in the 2010s. Those have now fallen back to around half that level. Operations have returned to the devolved authority with a new arm’s length body - South Yorkshire Future Trams Ltd - being established. 

Various plans for extensions have been presented over the years, including serving hospitals and a new-build suburb of Rotherham. But none has been progressed.

Replacing rails has interrupted services. And as the system enters its fourth decade, continuing maintenance of track, overhead line equipment and structures, plus a replacement fleet of trams, will be required.  

The Mayor’s office said it hopes these might enter service in 2032, while once again discussions are under way about potential new routes - including to Barrow Hill in north Derbyshire, and towards Stocksbridge along the recently mothballed Network Rail branch to the town’s steelworks.