The Department for Transport have confirmed final funding approval of £120.9 million for two further extensions of Manchester Metrolink – to Ashton-under-Lyme and East Didsbury.
The schemes are expected to cost £170 million, with the remaining costs being found by the GMPTE locally. This includes a £9 million additional contingency which the PTE are liable for.
The line to East Didsbury will go from Chorlton (on one of the currently being constructed extensions) and will run on the route of a former railway line including five new stops at Withington, West Didsbury, Burton Road, Didsbury Village and East Didsbury. It will be 4.5km in length.
The Ashton extension will connect the town centres of Droylsden and Ashton with four new stops on 3.9km of track. It will feature two park and ride sites with space for 600 cars at Ashton Moss and Ashton West.
Eight further LRVs will be ordered for these two extensions, with the DfT money paying for six of these.
Sadiq Khan, Transport Minister, said: “Metrolink is at the heart of Manchester's transport system and has been providing a great service to the travelling public for more than a decade. People travelling to and from Didsbury and Ashton will now reap the benefits of a having a direct link to the City Centre - improving job opportunities and giving a boost to local businesses. As well as helping to regenerate some of the most deprived areas along both these corridors more passengers on the tram will reduce traffic congestion in the area and provide better local air quality."
GMPTE will now appoint contractors for the extensions with detailed design and preparatory works being carried out and local approvals secured. The main construction works will commence in early 2011 with trams running to East Didsbury in summer 2013 and the Ashton line operating from winter 2013/14.
Phil Woolas, Regional Minister for the North West, said: “This is fantastic news for the Manchester City Region and its people. Not only will it provide a more reliable, efficient and greener travelling experience for passengers from Ashton and Didsbury into the city centre, but the investment of over £120m from Government, in addition to the funding for extensions to Oldham, Rochdale and Chorlton already announced, reaffirms our commitment to a public transport system that will rival any in Europe. "
Cllr Keith Whitmore, chair of the GMITA, said: “GMITA created the Greater Manchester Transport Fund in May 2009 to provide a public transport system that will help the economy of Greater Manchester to keep growing. Today's announcement by the Minister alongside the order for an additional eight trams marks another step towards achieving our ambitions for the future of the city region's public transport network."
Cllr Ian Macdonald, Vice Chair of GMITA, said: “We were the first authority to bring trams back to city streets, and this announcement is testament to the success of that decision. Metrolink has gone from strength to strength since it opened in 1992 and I'm delighted that we're now going to see it expanded even further."
Source: Department for Transport & GMPTE