Trams to MediaCity have been suspended because of problems with a new signalling system.
The gradual switch from the old railway signalling system on the Eccles line to the modern way of controlling trams is now on hold while bosses investigate an ‘anomaly’ on the newly-opened spur.
Services were suspended last week when a driver ‘saw something he didn’t expect to’ on his signalling controls.
Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority's Metrolink director Phil Purdy refused to say what the driver had reported but insisted: “There were no safety implications whatsoever.”
The new system, which will allow drivers to use their line of sight rather than only allowing one tram on a section of track at a time, is slowly being rolled out and will eventually cover the whole network.
Trams could be running on the spur again later this week.
The MediaCity spur opened in late September to serve the new northern home of the BBC.
But services were halted within a day when a tram derailed and hit a lamppost.
The new system will lead to much more flexibility – allowing trams to queue up at a safe distance at busy times rather than having to wait in a separate section of track, possibly miles away. It will also mean ‘real-time’ electronic information screens will tell passengers how near their tram is.
It has been under test since the beginning of the year but Mr Purdy told the M.E.N: "No matter how much testing you do, in operation, there are so many variable sets of circumstances that the unexpected can happen.
The hitch is the latest in a series of problems which have involved tracks and overhead lines. GMITA chairman Ian McDonald said: “I am very concerned about MediaCity.
“People are asking what is going wrong and this could spread to all the areas where we are building new lines.”
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Maybe if they had build two seperate tracks going into media city instead of doing it on the cheap and only having one track,there wouldnot have been these problems.
This is such a shoddy effort ,hugely embarrasing and gives the travelling public no confidence in the company
As usual, absolutely no communication from Metrolink to their customers other than to say that the service has been suspended. No indication of what the problem is or when it might be fixed. I realise that the MediaCity stop isn't the most used on the network (although it's very convenient for The Lowry compared to Harbour City), but as a high profile launch of a new stop, this has been a complete disaster. Metrolink know nothing about public relations.
The company running the tram system in Manchester is "STAGECOACH"
Need I really say anymore more !!!!
Cowboys !!!!
Bring back horses I say !!!
Not going to plan this one is it,
dont worry to fix these problem a rise in fares is the easy solution!!!
"Services were suspended last week when a driver ‘saw something he didn’t expect to’ on his signalling controls"
Rubbish! Was anyone else on the 8:05 service to Piccadilly last week, when we got stranded at MediaCity because the points failed and another tram was heading straight for us from the opposite direction on the same line.... I wrote a massive complaint to Stagecoach Metrolink - no response (no surprise). I've lost count of the times I've been late or on the second in to work because of this stupid waste-of-money stop.
You can feel the silent sighs, and hear the out-loud ones too whenever the tram pulls up saying 'via MediaCityUK' as everyone knows its going to add another 10-15 minuts to the previous 19/20 minute journey time.
It would be easier to accept their failings if anyone actually used the stop - instead, when pulling in at any time of the day all you find is confused looking pensioners/tourists who've gotten lost walking around the lowry centre and don't even board the stupid thing.
It's gotten to the point now that, weather depending, I just walk to town from langworthy. I can guarantee you that if I left the stop by foot at the same time as the tram, I'd get to St Peters Sq with enough time to grab a coffee from Nero's and have a cigarette before the tram pulls in.
JUST SHUT THE STOP DOWN!
"The new system........ will also mean ‘real-time’ electronic information screens will tell passengers how near their tram is."
This is interesting - does this mean that the "state of the art" passenger information screens being boasted about as "coming soon" during the upgrade in 2009 are actually about to come into service? At several of the stations I pass through on my journey to town, there the pathetic structures hang, covered in cardboard and polythene, and there they have been, unused, for over a year now! I have never received a satisfactory reply from Metrolink or GMPTE about why these boards have remained covered for so long and when (if ever) they were coming on stream. I get it now - wonder how long before 1) they actually start working and 2) they don't work/ go wrong after launch?
The line of sight system is already on the eccles line, from Pomona onwards and has been since it started. One word of caution, the powers that be i.e GMPTE and poor management that is still there since I left about 3 years ago intend to implement this unsafe system of work on all the new lines. They also wanted it on the existing lines, now for the sake of a few minutes you couldn have the scenario of a tram coming out of heaton park tunnel at 50mph right into the back of a failed tram and the only way of stopping this is the driver observing five little white lights and not becoming distracted. Does this seem very safe to you, while I was working there it was the skill and professionalism of the drivers that didn't result in many more incidents happening I feel there will be plenty of tram crashes to come in the future so its just as well there getting a practise run on corrie.
It's been one failure after another with this tram. The mediacity "stop" was perhaps the most useless public transport addition to the whole network. I've worked all over the country and in Europe and had the benefit of some truly brilliant public transport systems. On a recent visit to both London and Sheffield I was amazed at the integrated transport systems available, where I could hop from bus to tube to tram with no need to find alternative payment methods etc. Transport was both clean and reliable.
Then I see Manchester, who can't even operate a single ticketing system from north to south Manchester using buses; who have a tram network that is overpriced, overcrowded and regularly breaks down, fails or doesn't have enough trams; and which simply doesn't work in any coordinated way at all. Politicians from both sides blame each other, yet none of them have integrated transport for over 50 years. It's time that the "Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Association (GMITA)" either lived up to it's title and forcefully introduced a single payment method (Oyster works fine) and actually brought these companies making money hand over fist (First and Stagecoach) to account. If it can't then it should disband and walk away in shame.
Manchester is attempting to be this world class system, yet hasn't even got the public transport system of a backwater town.
GULP! bosses investigate an 'anomaly' on the newly-opened spur and a driver ‘saw something he didn’t expect to’.
Does that mean we are going to see dinosaurs rampaging around as in the tv series Primeval when an 'anomaly' is spotted there. Mind you, every cloud has a silver lining and hopefully that hot little blond in the programme will be running about too.
Manchester amazes me. Why on earth don't they take advice from Europe?
Catch the 33 bus from Eccles New Rd/Regent Rd instead, its much quicker and cheaper than the tram.
I do hope that they make the trams work, after all with Roger Jones back on the commitee of the GMITA I am sure that the congestion charge will be on the agenda soon.
Funny thing was that he said that he was not interested in transport anymore, how things change once the election is won.
http://www.gmita.gov.uk/gmita/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=33&pageNumber=7
I have just telephoned Metrolink to report the loss of my Monthly Season Ticket and have been told that there is nothing they can do about replacing it as they only replace Annual or Quarterly ones - other Transport Companies offer a replacement but of course Metrolink have no idea of Customer Service!