Travel advice following Manchester Arena terror attack

Travellers across Greater Manchester are being advised to allow more time for their journeys on Wednesday as transport continues to be affected following the terrorist attack that took place at Manchester Arena on Monday night.

People are being encouraged to use public transport and use park-and-ride sites to travel into the city centre.

Manchester Victoria station is expected to remain closed all day. The area closed to the public has been reduced but still covers Victoria along Corporation Street from Printworks, which is open, to the inner ring road at Angel Square, home to the Co-op HQ, which is also open. New Cathedral Street and most of Exchange Square are now open.

Reduced cordon around Victoria station and arena on Wednesday morning

TfGM said: “All bus services will operate on Wednesday morning, however there are diversions in place to some services.

“There will be train and tram services running, although they will not run through Victoria station.

“Roads across the region and particularly in the city-centre will remain very busy and Wednesday morning’s peak time travel is expected to be busier than normal.”

Jon Lamonte, chief executive of TfGM, said: “I would like to thank the people of Greater Manchester for their patience and courage at this most difficult of times.

“Manchester is open for business and many parts of the transport network are returning to normal following this horrific attack, although Victoria station is expected to remain closed on Wednesday.

“To help keep our region moving, we are encouraging travellers to plan ahead and use public transport wherever possible, including the park-and-ride sites that will be opened at the Etihad and Old Trafford stadiums tomorrow morning.

“Our team is continuing to monitor the situation and I’d strongly advise anyone looking to travel in and around Greater Manchester to continue to check the TfGM and Metrolink websites and Twitter feeds.”

Transport for Greater Manchester has created a special travel information page on its website to help keep people in Greater Manchester moving: www.tfgm.com/travel-information-23-may.

For information on public transport across Greater Manchester visit www.tfgm.com, call 0161 244 1000 (7am-8pm, Monday to Friday, and 8am-8pm at weekends and bank holidays) or follow @OfficialTfGM on Twitter.

Meanwhile, transport union RMT announced that it had cancelled planned strike action which had been due to take place across Merseyrail and Northern Rail on Tuesday 30 May.

Mick Cash, RMT general secretary, said: “In light of the horrific bombing in Manchester, and the heightened safety and security alerts on our transport services, RMT’s executive has taken the decision to suspend the 24 hours of strike action scheduled for Tuesday 30 May on Merseyrail, Northern Rail and Southern Rail.

“Our thoughts and solidarity at this time are with the people of Manchester.”