Aside from the mega projects what is evident is how much other European cities are investing in Trams. This applies in the UK too, except in London. @TramsLondon has barely expanded since opening in 2000. A thread /1

Many extensions have been mooted with the most recent being Sutton. None have been realised. After acquiring the excellent Stadler Variobahn, no additional sets have been acquired. /2

Clearly, the Sandilands tragedy has had an impact. Rightly, great emphasis has been placed on making the system safe and @TfL has made huge efforts here with more to come. /3

Now, though greater investment must be made in network expansion and service intensification./4

Completing the twin tracking from Arena to Elmers End and creating a new platform was approved and should now progress. Equally the Wimbledon upgrade to complement Crossrail 2 and restore @networkrail operations should be delivered/5

The Croydon loop planned for Westfield still would provide operational resilience for Central Croydon/6

The original Bombardier fleet from 2000 is reaching the end of it’s operational life. Larger trams and more of them for service intensification is a must do. The Variobahn is a step change and a new fleet would be a huge step forward/7

The redevelopment of East Croydon as part of #CARS is a huge opportunity to integrate mobility in Croydon and finally do the same with West Croydon with Bus/Tram, @LDNOverground and @SouthernRailUK as an Interchange /8

Being thinking of this thread a lot recently and #NetZero and #electrification make this compelling/9 END