LIGHT RAIL IS BACK AND HERE TO STAY

n a snowbound day this year a DJ on Sheffield radio announced: 'The only things working in Sheffield today are the trams - I've waited 30 years to say that.' Indeed, 30 years on from its demise the tram is making a comeback - not only on Sheffield's gradients, but elsewhere too.

On the other side of the Pennines the Greater Manchester Metrolink is being hailed as a success. After three years it is attracting 20% more passengers than target, 10% of whom used to make the journey by car, and a substantial 40% 'could have' made the journey by car.

The new age of the tram dawned in the mid 80s, spurred by Thatcherite transport policies which favoured the car and led to city centre congestion. Local authorities were forced to look at alternatives to the car and the furiously competitive, deregulated bus services.

In the euphoria of the construction boom, 22 schemes worth œ2.7 billion were seriously being put forward, as light rail's bright, modern and environmentally friendly image encouraged local politicians up and down the country to believe that it had the answer to congestion in their towns.

'We had a loony boom when everybody wanted a system,' remarked Scott McIntosh, light rail development manager for London Transport.

Unfortunately, the goldrush never materialised. The conviction of politicians - particularly in Government - didn't extend to parting with cash. In 1992 a House of Commons Select Committee admitted that the œ400 million pledged to the Jubilee Line by Canary Wharf's developers had been 'mistakenly viewed as the shape of things to come everywhere else'. The private sector never came up with the cash: smaller towns abandoned the idea of trams. But light rail did not die.

The 'loony boom' was merely replaced with pragmatism. Larger towns and cities have put together more modest schemes, some integrated with 'guided bus' services. Today, the serious contenders still weigh in at around œ1 billion (see section below).

'We needed a more balanced approach to tram systems,' says Tony Depledge, president of the Light Rail Transit Association and managing director of Blackpool Transport Services. 'In smaller towns it would be too expensive. Saddling future generations with expensive light rail schemes they don't need will bring few benefits.'

The LRTA is a great advocate of the balanced public transport system. 'We need to convince a potentially receptive public that the message is: Go by car when you have to, go by bus or tram when you can.' Scott McIntosh agreed wholeheartedly. 'Simply building a tramway is not enough. It has to be part of an integrated approach,' he said.

The future is not likely to hold too many surprises according to McIntosh. 'Any government will carry forward the joint public/private approach. But there is going to be less money spent on the roads programme and more on public transport whichever government is in power.'