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Generating huge benefits for Greater Manchester

Posted: 30 April 2009 | Philip Purdy, Metrolink Director, Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE) | No comments yet

It’s a very exciting time to be leading the Metrolink team. Manchester is a world-class city and we’re looking forward to providing a tram system that matches that. There is a huge amount of work going on at the moment on Metrolink.

In fact, we’re investing nearly £700 million on improving the existing system and building new Metrolink lines, which will nearly double the size of the network. We’re expecting the new routes to take five million car journeys off local roads every year, and to increase the number of journeys passengers make on the network by more than 50% to 33 million.

It's a very exciting time to be leading the Metrolink team. Manchester is a world-class city and we're looking forward to providing a tram system that matches that. There is a huge amount of work going on at the moment on Metrolink. In fact, we're investing nearly £700 million on improving the existing system and building new Metrolink lines, which will nearly double the size of the network. We're expecting the new routes to take five million car journeys off local roads every year, and to increase the number of journeys passengers make on the network by more than 50% to 33 million.

It’s a very exciting time to be leading the Metrolink team. Manchester is a world-class city and we’re looking forward to providing a tram system that matches that. There is a huge amount of work going on at the moment on Metrolink.

In fact, we’re investing nearly £700 million on improving the existing system and building new Metrolink lines, which will nearly double the size of the network. We’re expecting the new routes to take five million car journeys off local roads every year, and to increase the number of journeys passengers make on the network by more than 50% to 33 million.

The MPact-Thales consortium

Last year, we appointed the MPact-Thales consortium to work with us to design, build and maintain our new Metrolink lines. MPact-Thales is made up of Laing O’Rourke, GrantRail and Thales UK. The team has previously worked on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link at St Pancras, the Singapore Mass Transit System and the London Underground.

New lines

The new Metrolink lines will cover nearly 20 miles and include 27 stops. The new routes will run:

  • Through East Manchester to Droylsden in Tameside
  • Through South Manchester to Chorlton
  • To Oldham and Rochdale
  • To MediaCityUK in Salford Quays – home to the BBC’s new northern headquarters

Trams are due to begin running to Chorlton and Central Park (on the Oldham line) in spring 2011, Oldham Mumps in autumn 2011 and to Rochdale and Droylsden in spring 2012.

Engineers started work to clear the route of the Metrolink extension to Chorlton in autumn last year – more than 40 years after the last passenger train ran on the line. The train line through Chorlton closed to passengers in January 1967 but it is being revitalised as part of the project.

Work will also start this year on replacing the train line to Oldham and Rochdale with a brand new Metrolink tram line. The last train on the line between Manchester, Oldham and Rochdale will run on Saturday 3 October 2009.

Stations

As well as upgrading the existing train stations, we will also build six new stops on the Oldham and Rochdale line. And we’ve got plans to improve parking and create two large Park & Ride sites, taking the total number of spaces to approximately 250.

Enhancing the bus network

We’re working closely with the bus operators to look at how the existing bus network can be enhanced while the line is upgraded. We also intend to carry out passenger surveys to find out where people are travelling from as well as their final destinations.

Smedley Viaduct

We’ve already started carrying out detailed inspections along all of the new routes. Structural engineers specialising in abseiling have recently been brought in to look at an historic railway viaduct in North Manchester.

Smedley Viaduct opened in 1902 and carried the railway over the River Irk for nearly a century before closing in 1998. The brick structure is just over 400 metres long, 30 metres high and has 26 arches. It will carry the new Metrolink tram line to Oldham and Rochdale when it reopens.

New trams

We’ve already ordered 40 new Metrolink trams to run on the existing system and the new lines, to add to our existing fleet of 32. The trams will have a new yellow and silver design, and full-length glass double doors will make them feel lighter and brighter inside.

The new look was developed by Manchester-based design agency Hemisphere and the trams will be built by global transport company Bombardier in partnership with Vossloh Kiepe. The new model already operates in several European cities, including Cologne, Bonn, Rotterdam and Stockholm.

Up to 200 passengers will be able to travel on each of the new trams, and the wide double doors will make it easy for people with wheelchairs or prams to get on and off them. Bombardier is building the trams at its sites in Bautzen in Germany and Vienna in Austria.

Tram frequency

The extra trams will double the frequency of services running through the city centre when the new Metrolink lines open. Most city centre stops will have trams calling at them at least every three minutes during the daytime in both directions.

Trams will run into Manchester every six minutes from Oldham, Droylsden and Chorlton, and every 12 minutes from Rochdale. Services will also continue to run from Bury and Altrincham every six minutes and from Eccles every 12 minutes. And a new service will run between Cornbrook and MediaCityUK in Salford Quays every 12 minutes, doubling the frequency of peak services between the city centre and Salford Quays.

New depot to improve services

A new depot is also being built in Trafford. It will hold up to 40 trams and will cover more than 67,000 square metres – around the size of 10 football pitches. The site of the depot is ideal as it’s sandwiched between the tramline to Altrincham and the new line to Chorlton in South Manchester. We’re also planning to expand our original depot in North Manchester to house some of the new trams.

The depot will help us to improve services as it will allow for a bigger fleet to serve the new routes and will also mean that we can launch services from two locations on opposite sides of Manchester – instead of the current single facility at Queens Road on the Bury line. It will house our new trams and give us the room we need for maintenance work.

We aim to have the depot finished in time for the delivery of the new fleet. The new trams will be tested in Vienna in the spring before the first one is ready to be delivered to Manchester in the summer. It will then go through rigorous testing on the Metrolink system for approximately three months to make sure it meets safety regulations.

This tram is due to go into service in the autumn once drivers have been trained to operate the new model. We then expect to be able to add new trams to the network at the rate of approximately one each month.

Improvements to the network

We’re also investing more than £100 million on improvements to the existing Metrolink network. In summer 2007, we completed a major project to replace nearly 20 miles of worn-out track on the Bury and Altrincham lines.

Some sections of the track were more than 50 years old as the route was previously used by trains before Metrolink opened in 1992. As well as replacing track, we upgraded platform surfaces to make it easier for people to get on and off the trams.

The work was carried out by construction company Carillion. Engineers laid nearly 40 miles of rail, 60,000 tonnes of stone and 40,000 sleepers. They also re-waterproofed a Metrolink bridge over the M60 motorway, and replaced a road bridge over the Metrolink line near Bury.

We decided to carry out the work during the summer months when fewer people would normally be travelling on Metrolink. We kept as much of the network open as possible, and trams continued to run on the Eccles line and in the city centre throughout the summer. The lines reopened on time and the project was completed within budget.

Tram rides are now much smoother and quieter. The new track has also helped to improve reliability as the trams need fewer repairs due to wear and tear from the track.

More track replacement work will be taking place this year in Manchester city centre. We’re working with the operator, Stagecoach Metrolink, to look at ways we can keep as much of the city centre tram network open as possible while the track is replaced in several phases.

We’ll be starting the main part of work in early April and there will be a major information campaign to let passengers know exactly what’s happening.

The city centre track is the busiest on the network with trams travelling over some sections more than 250 times every day. This will increase to up to 400 times a day when the new Metrolink lines open so it’s important that this work is done.

The new yellow and silver look for Metrolink has already been applied to the Piccadilly Metrolink stop at Manchester’s mainline Piccadilly rail station. The station was closed towards the end of last year when a short section of track was replaced between the Piccadilly and Piccadilly Gardens stops.

New ticket machines

Another major improvement to the system that will be of huge benefit to passengers is new ticket machines. We’ve signed a £5.4 million deal for more than 200 state-of-the-art ticket machines which will be designed, built and installed by international company Scheidt & Bachmann.

121 of the new touch-screen machines will be installed on the existing Metrolink stops, replacing all of the ticket machines on the network. Another 108 will be installed on the new lines.

Up to five machines will be installed at each stop, including at least one ‘queue-busting’ machine. These machines will only accept cash and will make it quicker and easier for passengers to buy tickets to a limited number of popular destinations. All of the other machines will accept both cash and debit or credit cards.

Work to install the new Metrolink ticket machines will begin later this year and all of the existing machines are due to be replaced by summer 2010. The new ticket machines will also be installed at each of the 27 stops on the new Metrolink lines during their construction.

Conclusion

The new Metrolink lines and the improvements we’re making to the existing network will bring huge benefits to people across Greater Manchester. I’m delighted to have been given the opportunity to take on this project and I’m looking forward to seeing the plans become a reality.

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