East Midlands’ Mayor plays down cost issues of potential tram link between Derby and Nottingham

Announcing £2bn in transport funding for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire from 2027 until 2032, Claire Ward (Lab), East Midlands Mayor, said priority one was for a ‘mass transit’ link between Derby and Nottingham.

The project has been discussed several times in the past by politicians in Derby and Nottingham, but no further action has been taken, primarily due to a lack of funding.

Those previous schemes hinged on a tramlink between the two cities, extending the existing Nottingham facilities, which currently terminate at Toton, 13.4km from Derby railway station.

A 2013 review priced a tramlink from Toton to Derby at £200m.

Bids for the scheme from Derby and Nottingham were submitted to the Government in 2019 but proved unsuccessful.

That iteration of the scheme included a southern link from Toton to East Midlands Airport, going through Long Eaton and under the M1 near Junction 24A.

Meanwhile, the western line was to go under the M1 at Junction 25, before passing by Breaston and Borrowash and finishing in Derby city centre.

Based on current ongoing tramlink schemes in Edinburgh and Birmingham, the going rate for new tramlines is around £57 million per kilometre.

For example, the Birmingham to Solihull 17.5km-extension is to cost £1bn, as of May this year.

Depending on the route from Toton to Derby, this could see a planned tramlink costing up £793m, with construction prices not expected to stay stagnant, approaching up to half of the £2bn funding.

People travelling by public transport can already travel from Derby to Nottingham by train or bus without changes.

The Red Arrow bus operates every 10 minutes, taking around 34 minutes (via QMC), and a train leaves every 30 minutes and takes around 29 minutes (via Spondon, Long Eaton and Beeston).

Asked about the potential for a tramlink, Ms Ward said: “We haven’t got details on that yet because we are clearly at the very beginning of thinking about our transport plan.

“What we are expressing to Government is our ambition for the development of that corridor.

“We know it will allow us to get significant growth not just across Derby and Nottingham but Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire as well.”

She said the East Midlands Combined County Authority had spent £300,000 on a tram route extension feasibility study earlier this year.

Ms Ward said: “Until that comes back we couldn’t say.

“But we know in order to unlock the opportunities of that land and investment in that area we will need to have either bus, rail, road, active travel or tram.”

Pressed on the potential cost and the implications for other projects which could be funded, she said: “I think what you are trying to do is extrapolate figures on a route that we haven’t even determined yet and whether or not it would be the right thing to do to have a tram all the way or not.

“You’re kind of getting into the what ifs and the possibles and it is just not worth that level of conversation.

“The most important thing to remember here is that we are just over a year into our roles and the Government has recognised the potential of this region which has been significantly underinvested for a long period of time and that if we are going to unlock growth we need a transport infrastructure that serves all parts of our communities.”

In early 2024, Tim Hesketh boss of Nottingham’s tram operator Tramlink said extending trams to Derby was ‘probably’ beyond the realms of the possible in the next 10 years, but a ‘possibility' in the next 20 years.

Ms Ward said the £2bn could also be used as money ‘to borrow against it for longer term projects’.

She said there was a need for new bus and train routes ‘across the region in the areas that make the most sense’, stressing ‘it isn’t just about the Derby/Nottingham corridor’.

She added: “We will be looking at all of our transport opportunities, that is why over the coming months we will be developing a transport plan, along with discussing with the Department for Transport the projects that they will be interested in developing.

"This is a fantastic boost of confidence to the East Midlands.”