An ambitious future for Manchester’s Metrolink

Bringing people together is one of the greatest benefits of any transport system, and here in Manchester, we’re transforming the city’s iconic Metrolink service to connect passengers with new areas across the region. New routes, new trams and new ticket machines are only part of the ambitious work currently being delivered, which will almost triple the network’s size and improve the passenger experience.

If you take a stroll across Manchester city centre, the chances are you’ll see one of the new yellow and silver M5000 trams that have arrived on the Metrolink network in the past year, bringing a splash of colour to the city.

First introduced in December 2009, the new trams form part of a wider package of improvements across the existing system – owned by Transport for Greater Manchester (formerly GMPTE) and operated by Stagecoach – and are symbolic of the huge changes that are taking place to extend Metrolink into new areas.

Since launching back in 1992, when the first Metrolink line ran between Bury and Victoria Station, the network has gradually extended to link Altrincham in the south and Eccles in the east to the city centre. Around 20 million journeys are now made on Metrolink across 23 miles of track every year. But never before has the service experienced a transformation of the current works’ scale or ambition.

In 2008, Transport for Greater Manchester appointed MPact-Thales (MPT) – a consortium made up of Laing O’Rourke, VolkerRail and Thales UK – to design, build and maintain the network extensions, which will be delivered in two stages, known as 3A and 3B

The first stage, phase 3A, will see new Metrolink lines reaching into Chorlton in South Manchester, Droylsden in Tameside, Oldham and Rochdale. 2010 saw the opening of the MediaCityUK line in Salford Quays, taking passengers via a 0.4km spur off the existing Eccles line. Set for completion by 2012, this package of works will connect communities and create new links to amenities, businesses and leisure facilities.

East Manchester Line

Spanning more than three miles and stopping at the City of Manchester Stadium and the Velodrome, the Droylsden service will run through the heart of East Manchester and into Tameside, travelling under the very busy Great Ancoats Street, through Holt Town and along Ashton New Road.

One of the larger civil engineering projects on this line was a major ‘cut and cover’ work for the construction of the underpass that will take the tram under Great Ancoats Street and out to East Manchester.

Oldham and Rochdale Line

Joining the Bury Metrolink line just outside the city centre, the 14-mile Oldham and Rochdale extension will run along the former Oldham Loop railway line between Manchester, Oldham and Rochdale.

Almost all the track along the line is being replaced, and old railway stations are being demolished to build new Metrolink stops. Infrastructure along the route is also being updated or replaced, with a significant amount of maintenance and refurbishment work carried out to nearly 100 bridges and structures along the route, varying from minor cosmetic work to more extensive refurbishment work.

This New Year also saw the completion of one of the most ambitious construction projects along the extensions, with the installation of a new 400-tonne steel viaduct to carry the tram over the Manchester-Leeds railway, where it will then run along High Level Road to a stop just outside Rochdale Railway Station.

MediaCityUK Located at Salford Quays, MediaCityUK has attracted many creative, digital and media businesses, including the BBC. It is expected to create 15,500 jobs and bring £1 billion to the regional economy in the first five years of being operational.

Construction of the new line to MediaCityUK, which links up to the existing Eccles to Manchester Piccadilly line, was completed in September 2010. Situated at the heart of the multi-million pound complex, the stop will serve thousands of workers, residents and students each day.

South Manchester Line Running south of the city centre, this 1.7-mile line runs from Trafford Bar along a disused railway line, with three new stops at Firstwood, Chorlton and St Werburgh’s Road. Set to open in spring 2011, the main construction work began in 2009, which included putting in permanent drainage along the length of the disused railway cutting, forming the basis of the line. As well as work getting underway on the new stops, last year also saw new track being laid, the erection of overhead lines and the installation of equipment.

Trafford Depot

To accommodate the expansion, a new 67,000m2 depot at Trafford has been built – around the size of 10 football pitches – which involves 3.7km of rail, as well as 140 tonnes of steel, used to create the main depot building. The depot can currently stable 40 trams and will be fully operational in late-2011, when it will also be used to carry out light maintenance and cleaning of the exterior of Metrolink’s growing fleet of trams.

Passengers will see a more flexible and responsive tram service (with depots on either side of the busy city centre section and the rollout of a new tram management system.) The original Queen’s Road depot in North Manchester, which will be used for heavy maintenance, has also been expanded to stable more trams.

The Greater Manchester Transport Fund

In May 2009, the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) and the then Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority (GMITA), (now known as Transport for Greater Manchester Committee) created the Greater Manchester Transport Fund, a £1.5 billion investment programme.

The fund included an ‘accelerated transport package’ worth over a quarter of a billion pounds, with additional money coming from the Department for Transport for new Metrolink extensions to be built in addition to the ones currently under construction.

It provides funding for new lines to Manchester Airport; through Rochdale and Oldham town centres; and a second tram line across Manchester city centre. Collectively, this ambitious package of developments forms the second phase of work, known as 3B.

Contracts with MPT were signed in July 2010, and these additional lines are due to be open during or before 2016. Once both stages are completed, the extensions will provide thousands of people with new links to businesses, services and amenities across Greater Manchester and the city centre.

Droylsden to Ashton-Under-Lyne

Additional stops to be created at Audenshaw, Ashton Moss, Ashton West and Ashton-under- Lyne. Initial work on the line is already underway.

Oldham and Rochdale Town Centres

Advanced works are now underway to provide a route through Oldham town centre and extend out to Rochdale town centre. In Oldham, new stops will be built at Westwood, Oldham King Street and Oldham Central (Union Street), and the Rochdale extension will run to a new transport interchange in the town centre.

East Didsbury Extension

We’re extending the South Manchester line from St Werburgh’s Road to East Didsbury, with additional stops at Withington, Burton Road, West Didsbury, Didsbury Village and East Didsbury. Plans and preparation works are currently underway.

Manchester Airport

Creating an integrated transport network is a key priority for Greater Manchester, and the construction of a new line to Manchester Airport will not only connect people to one of the country’s busiest airports, but also one of the region’s largest employers, but will also support the regeneration of the Wythenshawe area.

Leaving the South Manchester line just after St Werburgh’s Road in Chorlton, the Manchester Airport line will run on 9 miles of new track through Northern Moor, Baguley and Wythenshawe to Manchester Airport. Passenger services are expected to begin in 2016.

Utility diversions and vegetation clearance are underway as part of advanced works to clear the route and move gas, water, electricity, sewers and telecommunications away from the new line.

New stops will be built at Barlow Moor Road, Sale Water Park, Northern Moor, Wythenshawe Park, Moor Road, Baguley, Roundthorn, Haveley, Benchill, Crossacres, Wythenshawe town centre, Robinswood Road, Peel Hall, Shadowmoss and Manchester Airport.

Other investments

The existing network has also benefited from significant investment in recent years. Between April and November 2009, the city centre network underwent a major upgrade project, which saw all the city centre tracks replaced, the redevelopment of stops, and the installation of new, high-quality street finishes including York stone paving and granite.

We’re introducing a new tram management system across the network, which will provide real-time passenger information at all stops.

More than 60 new trams have been ordered to service the expanding network, pushing the total fleet beyond 90 vehicles. These new trams mean passengers will experience quieter, smoother journeys, less crowding at peak times, and a more reliable service. They look strikingly different from the existing trams, and bring new benefits for passengers, such as a roomier interior, extra legroom, wider doorways, clearer information displays and better handrails for standing passengers.

Manufactured by Bombardier at its factory in Vienna and with room for more than 200 passengers per vehicle, similar trams operate in several European cities including London, Cologne, Bonn, Rotterdam and Stockholm. The electrical equipment is provided by Vossloh Kiepe in Dusseldorf.

We’ve also invested in more than 200 new state-of-the-art touch-screen ticket machines that can take credit and debit card payments, as well as coins and bank notes. Designed by Scheidt and Bachmann, the machines issue a railway-type ticket in place of the former paper type.

So far, 115 new ticket machines have been installed and placed into service across the existing Metrolink network, with up to five machines at each stop, and work is underway to install a further 108 at stops along the new lines.

All the machines offer a choice of English, French, German, Spanish or Polish and a number of ways to pay. Our focus is on improving the passenger experience when using Metrolink, and these improvements make it that much easier for people to know where they’re going, what type of ticket they need and how much they need to pay.

Construction is also nearing completion on the new Abraham Moss stop north of Victoria Station on the Bury line to serve a major regeneration area identified by Manchester City Council (MCC) as a priority for housing renewal, including the Abraham Moss Centre.

In addition to having a track-level crossing similar to the Castlefield-Deansgate and Old Trafford stops, the Abraham Moss stop will also deliver improved spacing on the Bury line south of Crumpsall, enhancing overall access to public transport.

Passenger journeys across the Metrolink network are set to rise to 90,000 per day, with more than twice as many trams running across Manchester city centre when the first phase of expansion is complete in spring 2012.

Most new services will run every six minutes during the day. They are also anticipated to relieve congestion, removing more than five million car journeys a year from roads in Greater Manchester.

Transport for Greater Manchester’s vision is clear: to improve the quality and availability of transport networks and services, supporting the economic prosperity of Greater Manchester by connecting people with employment, education, health and leisure choices in ways that are affordable, accessible and environmentally sustainable.

We’re extremely ambitious for Metrolink, and our teams work hard to deliver these huge projects on time and in budget. For passengers, these changes are not only an iconic symbol of Manchester’s renaissance, but also our commitment to a smarter, integrated and better connected transport network across the region.

About the Author

Philip Purdy is Transport for Greater Manchester’s Metrolink Director. With more than 30 years’ experience in the public transport industry, he has worked on a variety of major tram projects for Melbourne Tram Network – arguably the largest tram network in the world – as well as in various roles in both the public and private sectors, and the heavy rail industry. These have included line extensions, new depots, managing infrastructure, network changes, and the introduction of new vehicles.