GMCA progresses £1bn transport package 

Greater Manchester Combined Authority is to draw down cash from its eight-figure City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement to kick off a series of projects to create a London-style transport system. 

The schemes in line to benefit from a share of the £1bn CRSTS funding, which the government signed off in April, include upgrades to make some of Greater Manchester’s train stations more accessible.

A city centre bus connectivity programme in Salford and walking and cycling infrastructure as part of the Stockport Interchange development also feature in the combined authority’s planned works. 

GMCA will meet on Thursday to approve the drawdown of funds from the CRSTS allocation to progress the projects. 

Some £300,000 is required to progress the development of business cases for access improvements at Swinton, Hindley, Bryn and Reddish North train stations.  

An additional £1.6m is needed to develop the outline business case for a bus connectivity scheme between Salford Crescent and Media City. 

This project will cost £23.4m to develop and will be managed by Salford City Council. 

The connectivity scheme will include “standard infrastructure improvements to key routes to and from the city centre, tackling gaps in existing bus priority network, points of bus delay, access to the rapid transit network and key severance in the active travel network,” according to a report to GMCA. 

Part of the Stockport Interchange project, being developed by Stockport Council and TfGM, also requires CRSTS funding. 

GMCA is seeking to draw down £3.6m to facilitate the detailed design and delivery of a walking and cycling ramp as part of the redevelopment of Stockport’s bus station. 

Finally, GMCA wants to use CRSTS funding to procure an additional 50 zero-emission buses, taking the size of the fleet to 100. The estimated cost of the buses is not disclosed. 

GMCA’s City Region Sustainable Transport capital programme totals £1.2bn. Of this, £1.07bn has been awarded by the Department for Transport through CRSTS. The additional £170m is being provided locally. 

Improvements to the city region’s bus network are earmarked for £438m of this budget, with the rail network to benefit from £49m. The Metrolink network will have £170m spent on it, while £225m worth of highway works are also proposed.