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CR4000 (Bombardier Flexity Swift)
The trams the network opened with: 24 three-section Bombardier trams, with two double doors a side on each end section. Since 2012 they have run alongside Stadler's Variobahns, 12 of them by 2016.
Scale
99 ft (30.1 m) long
CR4000 (Bombardier Flexity Swift) · schematic drawing GB Trains · gbtrains.uk/stock/cr4000/ · CC BY 4.0
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Liveries 1
London TramsLondon TramsWhite with the windows in a black band, lime green ends and roofline, a blue skirt under a green line; from photographs of 2543 (2025) and 2551 (2011)Shown aboveSpecial liveries 1
- TfL 25th anniversary half wrap on 2537 (blue vinyl, milestones) Applied Sept 2025; second time 2537 left fleet livery (Turkish Airlines full advert Aug 2016).
Former liveries 3
Red and white fleet liveryRan as Croydon Tramlink / Tramtrack CroydonFormer1999-2000 to 2008-2009Not drawn yet
FirstGroup white, blue and pink (tram 2550)FormerApr 2000 to Oct 2001Not drawn yet
Amey yellow all-over advert (tram 2542)Former1999 to 2001Not drawn yet
- Type
- Tram, three sections, 76% low floor
- Builder
- Bombardier, Vienna (Austria)
- Built
- 1998–1999
- In service
- since 2000
- Lines
- Trams
- Formation
- Three sections (14.35 + 1.4 + 14.35 m), 99 ft (30.1 m), double-ended
- Trains in fleet
- 24 built (2530–2553); 22 in service
- Top speed
- 50 mph (80 km/h)
- Power
- 750 V DC overhead; four 120 kW motors · how it works
- Bogies
- Bombardier Flexity Swift motor bogies under the end sections (CR4000); a trailer running gear under the centre section, its four wheels on stub axles (CR4000)
- Train length
- 99 ft (30.10 m)
- Car height
- 11 ft 10 in (3.60 m)
- Car width
- 8 ft 8 in (2.65 m)
- Profile
- tram
- Walk-through
- Yes
- Air-conditioned
- No
- Seats per train
- 70
- Total capacity
- 70 seats and 138 standing at 4 per m²; two wheelchair or pram spaces (Bombardier)
- Status
- In service. 2551 was written off after the Sandilands derailment of 9 November 2016, and the good halves of 2542 and 2548 were joined into one tram, 2548, which was back in service by May 2026. TfL plans 24 new trams to replace them for the early 2030s: four makers were invited to bid in September 2024, the new trams to come subject to funding.
Car types
| Code | Car | Length | Doors per side |
|---|---|---|---|
| ENDP | End section, with a cab and the pantograph | 47 ft 1 in14.35 m | 2 double |
| END | End section, with a cab | 47 ft 1 in14.35 m | 2 double |
| MID | Centre section, over the trailer bogie | 4 ft 7 in1.40 m |
Sources
How we source figures → · Spotted a mistake? Tell us → (opens in a new tab)
Show the 21 sources from British Trams Online, Wikimedia Commons, Transport for London and 5 more
- FLEXITY Swift light rail vehicle, London-Croydon (data sheet 0965/LRV/02-2006), released under FOI-4043-2324 Bombardier Transportation; Transport for London, February 2006, pp. 1–2dimensions, sections, doors, floor, weight, capacity, speed, power; elevation; running gear (two powered bogies and one trailer bogie, 2 ft 1 in (630 mm) wheels, magnetic brakes; laid out from the p. 2 elevation); the pantograph (p. 2): which section, its end, length and which way it folds (measured off the part-raised elevation), the folded height at the printed 11 ft 10 in (3.6 m); three modules, an aisle 2 ft 0 in (600 mm) wide; the plan view's aisle running on through the centre module (walk-through, p. 2); two bicycle, pram and wheelchair places (p. 2); no air conditioning listed
- Overturning of a tram at Sandilands junction, Croydon, 9 November 2016 (Report 18/2017, version 2.2) Rail Accident Investigation Branch, 7 December 2017; revised October 2020built in Austria in 1998; door layout; capacity; in service since May 2000; running gear: a four-wheel bogie with conventional axles at the outer end of each end section, four wheels on stub axles under the articulation unit, two of the six magnetic rail shoes on each (paragraphs 29, 32 and 104); the skirts over the bogies (figure 3)
- London Trams fleet list British Trams Online, July 2026fleet numbers and delivery dates
- CR4000 news: two trams combined into one British Trams Online, 15 May 20262542 and 2548 combined; the reformed tram numbered 2548, back in service by May 2026 (status)
- Light rail and tram statistics, England: year ending March 2026 Department for Transport, 29 September 2026fleet of 34 trams
- 2026 Business Plan Transport for London, January 202624 new trams planned
- London Trams invites manufacturers to bid to design and build new fleet of trams Transport for London, 10 September 2024four makers invited to bid for 24 new trams to replace the oldest, September 2024, subject to funding (status)
- Bombardier CR4000 Flexity Swift Tram (2543; photograph, CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (Samson Ng), 20 April 2025layout only: the skirt panels over the motor bogie and the articulation unit, the end sections' cut-away corners; livery: the bands' heights (measured on it rectified on its two doors), the cab end's green, the pale pillars beside the dark doorways, colours
- Tram 2553 at East Croydon 2 (photograph, CC BY 2.5) Wikimedia Commons (Oxyman), 29 July 2008layout only: the same panels and corners (2553, 2008)
- Tram in Addiscombe Road, Croydon (geograph 2658180; 2551; photograph, CC BY-SA 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (Peter Trimming, via Geograph), 16 October 2011livery and colour only: the cab end's green sweep, the white bodyside, black window band, green lines and blue skirt, colours sampled in sun
- The Highway Code: road works, level crossings and tramways (rules 288 to 307), rule 307 Department for Transport (GOV.UK), accessed 10 October 2026, p. rule 307the "In operation" drawing's contact wire: 19 ft 0 in (5.8 m), the normal height of tramway wires over a carriageway
- More trams, more often in massive upgrade of Croydon tram services Transport for London (press release), 25 June 2012air conditioning named as a feature of the Variobahns; the Variobahns in service from 2012 (summary)
- Two more Variobahns for London Trams British Trams Online, 2 June 2016two more Variobahns, making 12 (summary)
- Variobahn and CR4000 at Sandilands.jpg (photograph, CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (Hammersfan), 28 July 2019the cab ends' couplers: their state (hidden, drawn or none fitted) checked on photographs (set BC11, 20 October 2026; layout only)
- Coupling trams (CR4000) croydon-tramlink.co.uk (S.J. Parascandolo), 1999-2007the emergency coupler stowed behind the lower front skirt, wound out by hand for a rescue (set BC11, 20 October 2026; layout only)
- FLEXITY Swift light rail vehicle, London-Croydon (data sheet 0965/LRV/02-2006), released under FOI-4043-2324 Bombardier Transportation; Transport for London, February 2006, p. 2the roof equipment boxes and the side destination display: places and sizes, read off the side elevation (set T12, 28 October 2026)
- Bombardier CR4000 Flexity Swift Tram (2543; photograph, CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (Samson Ng), 20 April 2025the roof covers' colour and the lit side display's place (set T12, 28 October 2026)
- Picture in Time: Croydon Tramlink 2542 British Trams Online, 11 May 2021the Amey Construction all-over advert on 2542, October 1999 to October 2001
- Tramlink Wikipedia, read 13 October 2026the livery's name, who ran it and its years (no colours taken)
- Picture in Time: Croydon Tramlink 2542 British Trams Online, 8 September 2023its yellow vinyls with the Amey logo, October 1999 to October 2001 (no colours taken)
- In Pictures: London Trams 2537 receives a TfL celebration wrap British Trams Online, 18 September 2025the half wrap on 2537 for TfL's 25th anniversary, blue vinyls showing TfL's milestones, applied in early September 2025, fleet livery at the other end; 2537's Turkish Airlines advert in August 2016
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- Length: 99 ft (30.1 m) over the body ends (Bombardier); RAIB's 100 ft (30.5 m) matches the length over the anticlimbers (about 100 ft (30.45 m) on Bombardier's elevation, 100 ft (30.48 m) as drawn)
- Motor power: the data sheet doesn't say whether 120 kW is per motor
- Number in service: 22 (from British Trams Online and DfT's fleet of 34)
- Bogie centres: the drawing gives 38 ft 1 in (11.6 m), the data table 35 ft 7 in (10,850 mm)
- Livery: the cab end's green curve forward of about 3 ft 3 in (1 m) from the nose is estimated (the cab side tapers out of the rectified photograph's plane)
- Livery: the roof band drawn green from 9 ft 11 in (3,014 mm) to the roof edge (the Commons diagram and 2537, set CR4F); seen from above, as on 2543, the roof's top is white
- Door leaves: glazed 1 ft 7 in to 8 ft 3 in (490-2,510 mm) as 2543 shows them (Bombardier's elevation draws 2 ft 9 in to 7 ft 9 in (850-2,360 mm)); the windows' width (2 ft 3 in (680 mm) a leaf) is estimated
- No air conditioning: no source read says so outright; inferred from TfL naming air conditioning as a Variobahn feature (2012) and the Bombardier data sheet listing none (MPN2)
- Red and white fleet livery: when the red and white ended (2008-2009): no source read gives it (set TFF, 26 October 2026)
- The years of the former liveries come from Wikipedia's class article and the other sources listed, and haven't been checked against a second source.
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