TfGM declares £1.6bn Metrolink contract up for grabs
The current operation and maintenance contract held by KeolisAmey is due to expire in July 2027.
Transport for Greater Manchester has begun the procurement process for a £1.6bn, 12-year contract that will give one firm control of the operation and maintenance of Metrolink, the largest light rail network in the country.
The network comprises 147 trams, more than 100km of track, 99 stops, and two depots. It transports upwards of 46m passengers a year.
The chosen contractor will have responsibility for the running and upkeep of the network as well as supporting TfGM in its procurement and delivery of expansion projects, according to tender documents.
Expansion projects currently in the works for Metrolink include extending the line to Stockport town centre and creating a new stop called Sandhills that would serve North Manchester residents on the line out of the city centre before it forks towards Bury in the west and Oldham and Rochdale in the east.
Danny Vaughan, chief network officer at TfGM, said: “This is a significant opportunity for suppliers to help shape how we deliver the next generation of Metrolink and rail accessibility infrastructure across Greater Manchester.
“We’re looking for innovative, efficient and collaborative approaches that will support our ambitions for a world-class, integrated Bee Network. We encourage all interested parties to engage with us through this process.”
Tender documents can be viewed on the ProContract procurement portal here. The project reference pin is DN770111.
The KeolisAmey JV was appointed to manage the network in 2017, beating off competition from RATP Dev and construction partner MPT, National Express, and Transdev.
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I’ll do it for £1bn
By Anonymous
I love that UK local authorities are that lazy that they introduce a profit driven external company to run a fixed price non-profit piece of infrastructure which was built by the taxpayer, the contractor interest is only to rip off and skim as much as possible, happening everywhere, bins highway maintenance, nothing gets done without a job number hence the usual UK shoddy workmanship. If TfGM ran metrolink direct they could probably do it for a fraction of the £1.6bn while staff and maintenance to half the paperwork and use initiative in daily tasks rather than worrying about contractor fees and accounting, might as well scrap all the accounting, every big scheme is overrun and costs billions anyway!
By Ben Dover
For years Metrolink, has had many operators. Maybe it’s time to put it under control of Bee line. Instead of investment companies. It worked well under Stagecoach.
By Chris
The comment by Ben Dover says a lot and it’s all true. I couldn’t agree more with what he said. Sadly but true. Keep up the good work with your realistic comments. Us members of the public were not even consulted about this, after all we did pay for the metrolink development and expansion. All is left now is to raise objections formally to the planing committee, or whatever body allows us to have our say about these contracts. Anyone correct me please if I wrong, if enlighten me, I can take it.
By And brace yourself
This system needs to be run by central government/local government and not a any foreign contractors as it is now. Why , because in my experience foreign operators are only concerned about profit and are not considered about the level of disruption caused by service disruptions; they do not put the necessary resources in, sufficiently or quickly enough to minimise disruption (soon enough )because it costs more to do so . This way the UK travellers get a poor service. Europe get a much better punctual reliable service- but not us .
Secondly, Metrolink has too many jobs duplicated with TFGM – too many managers managing managers.
This company doesn’t maintain it running stock in a manner fit for use by the travelling public in that the passenger seats are sometimes soiled and smelling – this indicates poor cleaning regime ,if any .
This tram system is meant to be a ” light rapid tram system ” yet the level of delays on this system is laughable any one would think it’s free to use yet it’s much more expensive than the bus because it’s supposed to be much quicker – not so .
This company is a law unto itself with no sufficient overview and treats it UK work force with contempt .
By Cart say