Manchester Metrolink was hit by a major incident late on Sunday 29th June when a double unit, forming the 2244 service from Altrincham derailed on departure from St Peters Square whilst travelling along Mosley Street. The incident happened at 2310 when the middle bogie of the rear unit derailed with the trams continuing to travel for 100 metres before coming to a stop across the junction at Princess Street. The derailed bogie partially mounted the pavement and damaged the overhead line equipment but no other wheels derailed. Services were severally disrupted on Monday 30th June.
The RAIB were called onto the scene to undertake an investigation into how and why the incident happened and the tram was unable to be moved until this was concluded. This led to severe disruption for the majority of Monday 30th June, with the tram not being removed until the afternoon. Trams were able to operate along this stretch of track after 1545 with temporary measures put in place to support the overhead power cables.
The two trams involved in the incident were 1008 and 1016, with the latter vehicle being the one to leave the tracks. 1016 has had a bad couple of weeks as this was involved in the incident a couple of weeks ago when a man died after walking in front of it Passengers on board claim the tram was packed with the Manchester Evening News suggesting 300 passengers were on board. One passenger was taken to hospital with back and neck pains.
Samantha Hemingfield, aged 29, was on board the tram: “"It was much busier than at rush hour - we were really squeezed in. We heard a noise like a grinding but we kept moving for a bit before we stopped. It was really quite frightening. It did seem to be going quite fast at a bend for a tram so full."
An eyewitness who was at St Peters Square said: “The tram had just left the stop and was full of Radiohead fans returning from Old Trafford. The rear carriage left the rails, travelling about 20m close to the tracks, then another 20m or so after hitting the kerb. The only thing that stopped the tram going sideways was the kerb. It knocked over a power cable support before stopping. There was clearly nothing the driver could do."
After their preliminary investigation the RAIB said there was no indication that the condition or operation of the tram, or that of the signalling system, contributed to the derailment. This did not prevent the Manchester Evening News speculating that the number of passengers on board contributed to the incident.
During the disruption trams continued to operate Altrincham-G-Mex and Bury-Piccadilly but the Eccles branch had no trams at all with a replacement bus service operating between Piccadilly Gardens and Eccles. Metrolink tickets were also being accepted on the number 33 bus between Eccles and Piccadilly Gardens with an additional shuttle bus running from Whitworth Street West (near G-Mex) to Piccadilly Gardens.
The whole incident shows just what value a second city centre tram route would give, as with this limited trams would have been able to travel across the city. However, this second route will only be built from TIF cash and with politicians in Greater Manchester getting cold feet over congestion charging, whether this ever happens remains to be seen.
Source: GMPTE, Manchester Evening News, BBC News Online & RAIB