New trams in Croydon, Pic: Praveen Sundaram

Hopes for a new Croydon-Crystal Palace tram link were dashed today as Transport for London confirmed that there will be no extensions to the line in the foreseeable future.

A TfL spokemans told EastLondonLines: “TfL has identified a number of possible corridors for extending the system [in the longer term] …  One of these corridors is a possible route to Crystal Palace, which would improve connectivity and support growth.

“[However] future extensions are not currently funded in TfL’s Business Plan, [and] could only progress if additional funding was made available.”

Local’s hopes for a new route had been raised by the arrival of new trams on Tuesday and a flurry of chat on Twitter.

The Swiss made trams are to be an addition to Croydon’s existing Tramlink system. However a report by This Is Croydon on Tuesday that ‘Crystal Palace’ appeared on one of the tram’s displays – even though the network does not go that far – led to speculation among locals that the previously proposed Harrington Road-Crystal Palace link will take off.

Croydonians appear to be in favour of an extension.

An elderly woman who didn’t wish to be named said: “That would be fabulous if they get that done soon”.

Michael, a commuter between West Croydon and the Sports Arena said: “This is not Central London, so maybe that is why no one cares”.

This latest disappointment comes following a decade of false hopes over improvements to the borough’s transport infrastructure.

In January 2001, then-Mayor of London Ken Livingstone pushed through a transport strategy that included a number of potential extensions to Tramlink. After working closely with the local councils, four possible routes were identified, however Harrington Road-Crystal Palace was not among them.

The original plan was to run 6 trams an hour between Croydon and Crystal Palace Parade, benefitting close to 11,000 households.

A survey in 2006 indicated that 75 per cent of Croydon residents supported such a development. But in 2008 the plans were abandoned by authorities who cited unaffordable costs as the financial crisis took hold.

Video Journalists: Praveen Sundaram and Neeraj Shrivastava