South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard has revealed that the Sheffield Supertram network is being upgraded to withstand temperatures of up to 50°C, as part of wider efforts to prepare the region for the effects of climate change. Speaking during a phone-in on BBC Radio Sheffield, the Labour mayor said the current network can only cope with temperatures up to 34°C, forcing services to be suspended when heat exceeds that threshold, and warned that further adaptation such as home air conditioning and solar panels would be needed as extreme weather worsens.

Coppard said around £500m is being spent on renewing the tram network with the higher heat tolerance built in for the future, and revealed he now receives daily temperature forecasts to check whether the tram network needs to be halted. He also touched on other issues during the phone-in, including calling for greater investment to close the north-south divide in GCSE attainment, criticising Hitachi Rail for delivering new East Midlands Railway trains three years late with multiple faults, and expressing scepticism about the government's use of an emergency siren to warn about wildfire risks during a barbecue-related incident near Doncaster station.