Work on Greater Manchester tram lines gets underway
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive has started work on replacing the remaining track in Manchester city centre as part of a £200m investment into two new lines through east Manchester, linking key sites including Sportcity with Manchester Piccadilly.
Speaking in January this year, Eddie Smith, chief executive of urban regeneration company New East Manchester, said: "One of the new east Manchester lines will follow the Oldham-Rochdale rail line and will bring trams to the state-of-the-art station already built at Central Park by spring 2011, extending to Oldham Mumps by autumn 2011 and to Rochdale by spring 2012. The other line will run from Manchester Piccadilly to Droylsden in Tameside via Sportcity. It is planned to open in spring 2012."
From today, the following Metrolink services will run:
- every 12 minutes from Altrincham to St Peter's Square (double trams)
- every 12 minutes from Eccles to St Peter's Square
- every 12 minutes from Bury to Victoria (double trams)
The following bus services will run for people with a valid Metrolink ticket:
- G-Mex stop – Piccadilly station. Every 20 minutes throughout the day, seven days a week
- Victoria – Shudehill – Piccadilly Gardens – Piccadilly station. Every 10 minutes, Monday to Saturday, 7am to 7pm, and every 20 minutes, evenings and Sundays
The new track is aimed at making journeys smoother, quieter and more reliable.
An information campaign has been launched by GMPTE to keep people up to date on a multi-million pound project.
Philip Purdy, GMPTE's Metrolink director, said: "We want to keep everybody up to date on how the tram track replacement work might affect them.
"That's not just Metrolink passengers but other road users and people who live and work in the city centre. I encourage everyone to pick up a leaflet or go online to find out more.
"We're investing heavily in Metrolink so that it meets our passengers' needs and we'll do everything we can to keep disruption to a minimum."
