'Landmark day' for Metrolink

Mike Keegan

April 07, 2009

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THE arrival of a giant pile driver rig signalled a new phase in the £600m Metrolink expansion project.

The work, which will take trams to Chorlton, Oldham, Rochdale, MediaCity at Salford and Tameside, got underway on Great Ancoats Street in Manchester.

Concrete walls are being made to protect an underpass that trams will use on their way to Droylsden.

Transport bosses described the start of the work as 'a landmark day'.

Coun Matt Colledge said: "After months of preparations and groundwork, we're now beginning to actually see the new lines being built, which is very exciting.

"I am sure that the sight of this considerable piece of machinery at work will make people realise that Metrolink is coming their way."

The new four-mile line to Droylsden will run through east Manchester, past Eastlands and the Velodrome.

Work has also started to replace city centre tram lines - meaning Shudehill, Market Street, Piccadilly Gardens and Mosley Street stations are temporarily closed.

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Submit Comments | Comments (26) | Previous | Next

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Chapman (07/04/2009 at 11:27)

What a waste of space this transport system has turned out to be.They took the best two commuter lines in Altrincham to Manchester and Bury to Manchester and turned them into an inferior system.Unnecessary.

They are going to change the Oldham and Rochdale lines to a tram,why?

The next line will be to the new Media City at Salford quays when I bet the majority of people will drive there.

The promise was for the Metrolink to be open in time for the Commonwealth Games in 2002 which would run past SportCity to Ashton.Its 2009 now and the line will eventaully go to Drolysden 2012.Ten years late.
Instead they built a line out to Eccles.Did they hold the Commonwealth Games in Eccles or have I missed something?

If they were going to build a tram system they should have built it on dedicated track, using different routes, to the existing commuter train lines and it may have benefited areas without adequate transport links.As it is they are mainly substituting an inferior system.

The stinking kipper, pinned under the table (07/04/2009 at 11:47)

Chapman: Correct!

Munkey Boy, Audenshaw (07/04/2009 at 11:50)

Chapman, the Oldham and Rochdale line will eventually run through both town centres to improve access, something not possible with conventional trains. Also, at the other end you'll be able to travel through the streets of Central Manchester.

Besides, the line needed an upgrade anyway, so why not make it Metrolink while you're at it?

"The next line will be to the new Media City at Salford quays when I bet the majority of people will drive there."

What about those that don't drive there? And not forgetting that many of those that will work there will be migrating north from London, where public transport use is far higher and it would be expected to have a decent link.

Dave Dave (07/04/2009 at 11:58)

Chapman, the tracks to Chorlton, Tameside and Media City are totally new lines.

The benefit of replacing the old rail lines on the other routes are to open up the route to new passengers by building more stations, and also to create new connections between these new stations.

Piccadilly Dog, Beswick (07/04/2009 at 12:29)

FACT: Work actually started years ago, remember the school moved in Droylsden, the houses/petrol station demolished in Audenshaw, the houses in Wythenshawe, etc.??

FACT: Bury and Altrincham routes were the first to be converted, because they were asset/life-expired, and they were the easiest, as well as cheapest to convert.

FACT: Conversion of those lines massively reduced the local rail grant budget, saving increases in local council tax rises ACROSS the whole of Greater Manchester.

FACT: Phase 1a to Salford Quays and Dumplington (aka Tat Warehouse) would have been built immediately after Phase 1 (Bury-City-Alti), but for the public enquiry dithering by Whitehall/Tory Government over building the centre and widening the M60 (old M63).

FACT: If Labour had renationalised the railways, as promised, it would have been ready and had the funds to build Metrolink in time for the Games. They lied/failed to deliver, time after time.

FACT: Manchester was given the opportunity to change the above, with local decision making, project control, fundraising, etc, through TIF. Most people decided they were happy with the status quo.

So when people moan about crap public transport, I always ask them: 'How did you vote?'.

Rammylad (07/04/2009 at 12:37)

I thought we were only getting metrolink extensions if we voted yes to the new gravy train tax named TIF.

The stinking kipper, pinned under the table (07/04/2009 at 13:06)

Piccadilly Dog:

FACT: If an organisation (the Labour government in this case) has a track record of failing to delver on its promises you do not keep believing them.

FACT: The majority of people I know want to drive a car and do not fancy subsidising the odd few who want to use a tram - and the even fewer who pay for it.

FACT: The original plans showed stops all over the show. MAny have now disappeared from the planned routes.

Technobabble, Manchester (07/04/2009 at 13:15)

"FACT: Manchester was given the opportunity to change the above, with local decision making, project control, fundraising, etc, through TIF. Most people decided they were happy with the status quo.

So when people moan about crap public transport, I always ask them: 'How did you vote?'. "

If you happened to ask me, I would refer you to your own comment. You know, the one about Labour lying and failing to deliver on promises?

Jan Elliott (07/04/2009 at 13:25)

I just find it daft that you can't get from Wilmslow to Sale or Altrincham by tram without going all the way into the City Centre, when it is only a twenty minute car journey! My sons took 2 hours to get across to me for Sunday lunch last weekend!!! I usually offer to pick them up, but that's not always possible either. There must be quite a few commuters with the same problem and worse. The buses are no better either. Surely if transport was easier and more convenient more people would get rid of their cars - and the resulting benefits would be there for everyone, freeing up the roads for those who really have to use them -c(emergency vehicles -which of course would arrive faster,cars/vans for businesses, etc.;and better for the environment also.

Rob H, Manchester (East) (07/04/2009 at 13:51)

Excellent - good to see they are building an underpass to go under Great Ancoats street and not just having an at-level crossing with traffic lights, which I was worried they might be stupid enough to do!

Munkey Boy, Audenshaw (07/04/2009 at 14:06)

Jan Elliott: "I just find it daft that you can't get from Wilmslow to Sale or Altrincham by tram without going all the way into the City Centre, when it is only a twenty minute car journey!"

Fair point, but we should walk before we can run, ie. build the radial routes first before connecting them up with orbital ones. We can't even get the funding for the radial ones yet!

Rammylad: "I thought we were only getting metrolink extensions if we voted yes to the new gravy train tax named TIF."

No, that was never the case. Didn't read your TIF documentation? I'm not surprised.

The stinking kipper, pinned under the table (07/04/2009 at 14:15)

Jan Elliott said: "I just find it daft that you can't get from Wilmslow to Sale or Altrincham by tram without going all the way into the City Centre"

Oh dear. I find it daft that the metro comes nowhere near where I love. Be grateful that (for soem reason) Altrincham was the first area to be serviced.

Benjani's voodoo doll, prestwich (07/04/2009 at 16:41)

I just find it daft. FACT.

Pippa, Manchester (07/04/2009 at 17:26)

It's completely beyond me, and always has been, why Metrolink needs to go to Droylsden (and eventually Ashton?) using Ashton New Road which is the exact same route that the frequent buses to and from Manchester use. Would seem much more logical to reinstate the old railway route through Droylsden and therefore open up more public transport options to more people.

matt t, tameside (07/04/2009 at 20:03)

"No, that was never the case. Didn't read your TIF documentation? I'm not surprised."

Funny how Liz Phelan said if we voted no, we would get "absolutely nothing". Maybe she didn't read her TIF documentation either.

dpa (07/04/2009 at 21:55)

you will be abell to get the tram to sale if you take the train to altringham or manchester airport when the extension is built

artymorty (07/04/2009 at 23:23)

I went to school in Chorlton and did a GCSE project on Metrolink in 1990. In those plans, Chorlton was getting a link. 20 Years later they're finally doing it. My folks still live in Chorlton and, unless you live near the bus station, public transport into town is a joke and has been for a long time. I'm all for the extensions. About time!

David North M/C (08/04/2009 at 01:03)

Pippa, have you not travelled to your neighbouring European countries, if you haven't then you would have noted that a City the size of Manchester should have many tram routes that intergrate with underground lines that connect to suburban City rail lines and buses that come on time that also connect local rail with regonal rail to inter-city rail all cheap. People have a choice and in a big City don't need a car and there would be many ways to get to places like Droylsden.

The UK is in my opinion 100 years behind Germany regarding public transport, and maybe 500 in the way a lot of the working classes think and behave.

A Bus Driver (08/04/2009 at 08:07)

Jan Elliott said: "I just find it daft that you can't get from Wilmslow to Sale or Altrincham by tram without going all the way into the City Centre"
I don't know why Wilmslow residents think they should get Metrolink paid for by the rate and taxpayers in Greater Manchester. Wilmslow residents had a chance to join Greater Manchester, but probably due to snobby reasons resoundingly voted "no", so now they don't get any of the benefits which is fair enough.

The stinking kipper, pinned under the table (08/04/2009 at 08:23)

OOOOPS! Looks as though the landmark day finished with a big bang! The corkscrew shaped pile driver thing (the one working on the left going towards Pin Mill Brow) looks as though it's snapped off in the ground. A bit like snapping a drill in a hole - but probably a lot harder to get the broken bit out. Ah well, nobody said it would be easy.

Roger Turning the Holme Valley Blue (08/04/2009 at 09:43)

Whilst true that the old Bury Electrics was life expired, the section to Altrincham was tacked on to make it look like a system. It was already very well served and well used with heavy rail.
Yes it has reduced pressure on the public purse, but by hitting the passengers harder. I'm not sure how that is a good thing.
The Oldham Loop is already well served with trains (four an hour from Shaw into Manchester. Reinstatement of double track between Shaw and Rochdale would have been far cheaper and would have made five or six trains an hour possible.
Who is going to use the Metrolink from Rochdale to manchester? Higher fares and a longer 'all stops' journey time when direct trains taking less than half the time will be available frequently, make it pretty pointless.
I can see the point of new lines, (Didsbury and Chorlton for instance) through areas that are not rail served, but simply converting to using smaller vehicles, that take longer and cost more, mean a poorer service for those on the Oldham Loop. A complete waste of time and money.

Munkey Boy, Audenshaw (08/04/2009 at 10:22)

matt t: "Funny how Liz Phelan said if we voted no, we would get "absolutely nothing". Maybe she didn't read her TIF documentation either."

She did say that and we aren't getting anything from TIF.

However, the Metrolink extensions mentioned in this article that we are commenting on have nothing and have never had anything to do with TIF.

matt t, tameside (08/04/2009 at 12:46)

"However, the Metrolink extensions mentioned in this article that we are commenting on have nothing and have never had anything to do with TIF"

Its a matter of record that the pro-TIF campaign glossed over the improvements that were already in the pipeline.

Cleverly worded statements were made, such as "no trams to Ashton, Oldham or Rochdale", without explaining that they meant Oldham and Rochdale Town Centres, and that "no TIF" meant "no funding", without explaining that some funding had already been secured via traditional means. Even the maps of the proposed routes, and the colour scheme used, could give the impression that all the new tram extensions were part of the TIF bid, unless you read the small print very carefully.

Fortunately the residents of Greater Manchester were not taken in by the spin and misrepresentations, and voted overwhelmingly for a better deal.

Rammylad (08/04/2009 at 13:10)

Rammylad: "I thought we were only getting metrolink extensions if we voted yes to the new gravy train tax named TIF."
Munkey Boy: "No, that was never the case. Didn't read your TIF documentation? I'm not surprised."

But I saw RL on tele telling us about the 70kms of track so tha tmust have included this link. oh hang on a minute, the truth, TIF and RL were never well acquainted were they.

Munkey Boy, Audenshaw (08/04/2009 at 14:02)

I'm not going back into TIF arguments/opinionating. I'm just stating facts.

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