Manchester Metrolink facts for kids

Manchester Metrolink (or usually just Metrolink) is the name of the tram system in Greater Manchester, England. The system is owned by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), which used to be called the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE). It is operated under contract by the RATP Group.

History

A 1910 map of railways in central Manchester

The construction of Manchester's railway network in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries had created a lot of termini around the City Centre. These were not linked together. This left a large amount of Manchester disconnected from the railway network.

For many years there had been plans to connect Manchester's two main railway stations. These are Piccadilly and Victoria. In the late 1960s and early 1970s there were plans for a "Picc-Vic tunnel". This tunnel would carry main-line trains under the city centre. The proposal was abandoned because it would cost too much.

Metrolink was created by converting two British Rail lines serving the suburbs of Manchester, one to the town of Altrincham to the south, and another to the town of Bury to the north, to light rail. These two lines were joined up in Manchester city centre, where trams run on the roads, and had a short branch to Piccadilly railway station. This first section of the new system opened in 1992, and a newer line to Eccles opened in 2001.

Lots of extensions to the system have opened since then, with more that are currently being built or proposed. Metrolink now has lines that serve Didsbury, Ashton-under-Lyne, Oldham, Rochdale, MediaCityUK and Manchester Airport. These expansions increased the system's length from 37 km to 97 km with 99 stops. Sometime in 2017 there will be a second line through Manchester city centre serving Exchange Square, and another line towards the Trafford Centre shopping mall before the end of the decade. There are also plans for tram-train lines to Stockport and other places in Greater Manchester.

Images for kids

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  Phase 1 construction of the core section of the network near Manchester Piccadilly, 1991

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  A (now retired) T-68A tram on the Eccles line, opened in 1999–2000 during Phase 2

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  Phase 3 included the re-opening of the disused railway line through Didsbury

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  Phase 3 extended Metrolink to Manchester Airport and introduced a new fleet of M5000 trams

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  Two trams running on the Second City Crossing (2CC) in Cross Street in 2017

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  A coupled pair of M5000 trams, pictured in Ashton-under-Lyne in 2013

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  AnsaldoBreda T-68 in Manchester city centre in 2008.

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  Geographic map of Metrolink system.

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  Audenshaw tram stop on the East Manchester Line.

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  Bombardier M5000 trams stabled at the Queens Road depot.

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  Metrolink smart readers and ticket vending machines at Manchester Airport tram stop

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  Metrolink stops are marked with yellow totems, such as this one at MediaCityUK

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  The Metrolink logo device

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  Brand transition: AnsaldoBreda T-68 & Bombardier M5000 trams in old and new livery in 2011

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  Phase 1 (1992)

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  Phase 2 (1999–2000)

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  MediaCityUK spur (2010)

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  Phase 3a (2009–13)

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  Phase 3b (2013–14)

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  Second City Crossing (2017)

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  Trafford Park Line (2020)

See also

In Spanish: Manchester Metrolink para niños