A Tramlink tram approaching East Croydon (mattbuck, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons).
Commuters in south London are being warned to expect nearly two weeks of disruption on London Trams from this weekend, with three branches out of East Croydon shut entirely while engineers carry out a major programme of maintenance and improvement work.
Transport for London will suspend all trams between East Croydon and Beckenham Junction, between East Croydon and Elmers End, and between East Croydon and New Addington from Saturday, 24 October until Thursday, 5 November — a 13-day closure that cuts off every eastern section of the network at once.
Replacement buses will run along the affected routes for the duration of the works, but passengers are being told to plan ahead, check before they travel and allow extra time for journeys, particularly during the morning and evening peaks.
Services between Wimbledon and East Croydon will continue to operate normally, so the western arm of the network — the busiest section of the tramway — remains untouched. Normal services on all routes are expected to resume on Friday, 6 November.
Which journeys are hit hardest
The shutdown takes out all three eastern branches in one go, and for some passengers the impact will be far greater than a simple inconvenience.
The New Addington branch is likely to be the most painful. The estate sits on the edge of the borough with no National Rail station of its own, and the tram is the area’s only direct public transport link into Croydon and onward into central London. For the next fortnight, residents heading to work, college or hospital appointments will depend entirely on the replacement bus service — which, as any regular tram user knows, rarely keeps to the same timetable in rush-hour traffic.
The Beckenham Junction branch, running through Birkbeck and towards Bromley, removes a popular interchange with South Eastern rail services at Beckenham Junction station. Commuters who use the tram to reach mainline trains into Victoria or Blackfriars will need to rethink the first leg of their journey.
The Elmers End branch, serving Addiscombe, Woodside and the Arena area, is the shortest of the three closures but will still force regular passengers onto buses for local trips into Croydon town centre.
TfL describes the work as essential maintenance and infrastructure improvements. Major track and systems programmes on the Tramlink network are typically scheduled in longer blocks like this precisely because piecemeal overnight working would drag the disruption out for months — but that is cold comfort to passengers facing a 13-day shutdown.
A difficult autumn for tram passengers
This latest closure comes hard on the heels of recent Tramlink stops closures on the eastern branches, making it the second significant bout of disruption to hit the network this autumn.
It is not just trams, either. South Londoners have endured a rough week across the board — this newspaper reported yesterday that six lines were delayed across the Tube, Overground and Trams in a single rush hour, with the Tramlink among those affected. Passengers could be forgiven for feeling that the network is having a rough few weeks.
What to do
Passengers planning journeys between now and 6 November should:
Check before travelling. TfL’s status page and journey planner will show the replacement bus routes, but allow considerably more time than the tram would normally take — particularly for the full length of the New Addington branch.
Consider rail alternatives. Where the branches meet mainline stations — Elmers End and Beckenham Junction in particular — South Eastern and Southern trains may offer a faster way into central London than a replacement bus into Croydon.
Remember Wimbledon is open. The western section of the network between Wimbledon and East Croydon is unaffected, so journeys entirely within that corridor run as normal.
With the closure coinciding with half-term for some schools and running right up to early November, anyone planning trips into Croydon for shopping, hospital visits or onward rail connections should factor the buses into their plans. Services are due to be fully restored for the start of normal operation on Friday, 6 November.
