Editing Tramlink (section)

===Inception===
In the first half of the 20th century, Croydon had many tramlines. However, these were all closed, the first was the [[Addiscombe]] – [[East Croydon station]] route through George Street to Cherry Orchard Road in 1927 and the last to close was the [[Purley, London|Purley]] - [[Embankment tube station|Embankment]] and Croydon (Coombe Road) - [[Thornton Heath]] routes closed in April 1951. However, in the Spring of 1950, the Highways Committee were presented by the Mayor with the concept of running trams between East Croydon station and the new estate being constructed at [[New Addington]]. This was based on the fact that the Feltham cars used in Croydon were going to Leeds to serve their new estates on reserved tracks. During 1962, a private study with assistance from BR engineers, showed how easy it was to convert the West Croydon - Wimbledon train service to tram operation and successfully prevent conflict between trams and trains.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

These two concepts became joined in joint LRTL/TLRS concept of New Addington to Wimbledon every 15 minutes via East and West Croydon and Mitcham plus New Addington to Tattenham Corner every 15 minutes via East and West Croydon, Sutton and Epsom Downs. A branch into Forestdale to give an overlap service from Sutton was also included. During the 1970s, several BR directors and up-and-coming managers were aware of the advantages. Chris Green, upon becoming managing director, Network South East, published his plans in 1987 expanding the concept to take in the Tattenham Corner and Caterham branches and provide a service from Croydon to Lewisham via Addiscombe and Hayes. Following on from the opening of the DLR a small group working under Tony Ridley, then managing director, London Transport, investigated the potential for further light rail in London. The report 'Light Rail for London', written by engineer David Catling and Transport Planner Jon Willis, looked at a number of possible schemes including conversion of the East London Line. However a light rail network focussed on Croydon, with the conversion of existing heavy rail routes, was the most promising. The London Borough of Croydon wanted to improve access to the town centre without further road building and also improve access to the LCC built New Addington estate. Furthermore, road traffic in Croydon expanded considerably during the 1980s and planners were keen to apply public transit to fulfil the recorded growth in demand in the area.<ref name = "tfl tramhistory"/> The project was developed by a small team in LT, headed by Scott McIntosh and in Croydon by Jill Lucas.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

The scheme was accepted in principle in February 1990 by [[Croydon London Borough Council|Croydon Council]] who worked with what was then [[London Regional Transport]] (LRT) to propose Tramlink to Parliament. The Croydon Tramlink Act 1994 resulted, which gave LRT the power to build and run Tramlink.<ref name=tramlinkact>{{Cite web |title = Croydon Tramlink Act |year = 1994 |url = http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/localact1994/ukla_19940011_en_2#pt1-l1g4 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121026062753/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/1994/11/contents/enacted#pt1-l1g4 |archive-date = 26 October 2012 |language = en-GB}}</ref><ref name = "tfl tramhistory"/>