Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much the change from DC to AC electrification or the new specification of the Sheffield Tram Train cost, or will cost, in terms of (1) the associated infrastructure, and (2) the trains.

The new tram train vehicles for use between Rotherham and Sheffield have been specified with the ability to operate on either 750v DC or 25kv AC power and therefore these units are already capable of operation on both systems at no additional cost.

Network Rail has designed the overhead electrification equipment on their network to operate initially at 750v DC, however passive provision (such as installing ‘mainline’ standard masts) has been made to facilitate conversion to 25kv AC should this be required in future. The costs however of such conversion are not known at this time but the work undertaken by this project will reduce the overall cost of any such future scheme in the area.