The revival of interest in tramways and light rail transit systems around the start of the 21st century led to the re-introduction of electric trams to a number of British cities and towns such as Manchester, Sheffield, and Croydon.
The West London Tram scheme was first announced in 2002 by the then Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, along with other projects such as the Cross River Tram and the Thames Gateway Transit bus rapid transit scheme.

Livingstone promoted the project as a solution to traffic congestion problems in the west of London.
It was forecast that the tramway would carry 50 million passengers a year and, based on research of Croydon Tramlink, promoters anticipated around 19% of those passengers would switch from using a car to the tram for their journey.
The scheme was budgeted at a cost of approximately £200 million, and the line would come into service by 2009.

The tram was designed to run along the congested Uxbridge Road from Uxbridge to Shepherd's Bush and replace the heavily used 207, 427 and 607 bus routes.
Had the route been constructed it would have revived a tram route established in 1904 and which was replaced by a trolleybus route 607 which was itself superseded by the present bus routes.

The trams were to run on a completely on-street route, with a mixture of stretches shared with road traffic, "accessible" routes (controlled lanes which road traffic would be permitted to enter temporarily, for example to avoid an obstruction), and segregated stretches of track which would be for tram use only, mostly along the central reservation of the Uxbridge Road.
The tram was partly envisaged as a "feeder" service for other modes of transit, transporting passengers to interchange points with London Underground, London Overground and the future Crossrail service.
The revival of interest in tramways and light rail transit systems around the start of the 21st century led to the re-introduction of electric trams to a number of British cities and towns such as Manchester, Sheffield, and Croydon. The West London Tram scheme was first announced in 2002 by the then Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, along with other projects such as the Cross River Tram and the Thames Gateway Transit bus rapid transit scheme.
Livingstone promoted the project as a solution to traffic congestion problems in the west of London. It was forecast that the tramway would carry 50 million passengers a year and, based on research of Croydon Tramlink, promoters anticipated around 19% of those passengers would switch from using a car to the tram for their journey. The scheme was budgeted at a cost of approximately £200 million, and the line would come into service by 2009.
The tram was designed to run along the congested Uxbridge Road from Uxbridge to Shepherd's Bush and replace the heavily used 207, 427 and 607 bus routes. Had the route been constructed it would have revived a tram route established in 1904 and which was replaced by a trolleybus route 607 which was itself superseded by the present bus routes.
The trams were to run on a completely on-street route, with a mixture of stretches shared with road traffic, "accessible" routes (controlled lanes which road traffic would be permitted to enter temporarily, for example to avoid an obstruction), and segregated stretches of track which would be for tram use only, mostly along the central reservation of the Uxbridge Road. The tram was partly envisaged as a "feeder" service for other modes of transit, transporting passengers to interchange points with London Underground, London Overground and the future Crossrail service.
West London Tram