Tramlink route 2

Route 2
2548 standing at Arena tram stop
Overview
System	Tramlink
Operator	Transport for London
Depot	Therapia Lane
Route
Locale	Croydon, England
Start	Beckenham Junction
End	Therapia Lane (Restricted service) At other times, this route terminates at West Croydon.
Length	6 miles (9 km)
Service
Level	Daily (05:00 until 01:00)
Frequency	About every 10 minutes
Journey time	21-22 minutes

Tramlink route 2 is one of four tram routes operated as part of the Tramlink network in south London. The route is operated by London Tramlink, part of Transport for London (TfL) under the Tramlink brand.

The whole idea of trams is that they can run along streets with other traffic in areas where there is not enough space for designated track. However, on Croydon’s tram system, there is relatively little street running, this being confined to the town centre area.

Route 2 is perhaps the most innovative of the three Tramlink routes, from the town centre, trams follow route 1 as far as Arena, the section from Addiscombe to Elmers End is along the former alignment of the Mid Kent Line, as explained on the route 1 page.

After Arena, route 2 branches off, taking a sharp left across the South Norwood Country Park to reach Harrington Road, a residential stop at the back of South Norwood. Then after a hard right trams once again use a railway alignment to take the tracks to Beckenham Junction, although in this case it is not a ‘former’ railway alignment, as it is still used by Southern services to London Bridge.

The established line is a branch off the line from Crystal Palace to Croydon, serving an intermediate stop at Birkbeck before terminating at Beckenham Junction. This route does not really fit in with the South London network map, and has seen many changes and cutbacks to the service provided, with a complicated and not very useful service structure.