With the new Council structure now in place it is time for the regular Transport for Greater Manchester Metrolink and Rail Networks sub-committee meetings to start once again and we can bring you all the latest performance updates on Manchester Metrolink. This review looks at three periods: Period 12 (Monday 2nd March to Sunday 29th March), Period 13 (Monday 30th March to Sunday 26th April) and Period 1 (Monday 27th April to Sunday 24th May) and we look at the recent service performance, details of major incidents, the trams, the number of complaints received and patronage.
Performance
Having ended period 11 with performance as measured by operated mileage at 99.29% there was a fall to 98.90% in period 12 (mainly due to power outage at Newton Heath & Moston) before increases to 99.20% in period 13 (lost mileage was mainly down to driver availability, major dewirement at Brooklands and signal failures) and 99.56% in period 1 (lost mileage mainly due to driver availability, signal and telecom and road traffic collision).
Major Incidents
Incidents which caused delays of at least 30 minutes in these periods were:
2nd March – Collision with car on Ashton New Road meant services were turned at Clayton Hall and MediaCityUK between 1728 and 1957.
3rd March – A points failure at Rochdale Railway Station meant 15 sets were either turned short or diverted between 0550 and 1215.
5th March – Another points failure at Rochdale Railway Station meant further services were either turned short or diverted between 0633 and 0840.
8th March – A points failure this time at Market Street led to service alterations between 1923 and 2059. Trams ran Bury-Abraham Moss, Rochdale Town Centre-Monsall and East Didsbury-Piccadilly.
9th March – A RTC with an elderly male at Wythenshawe Town Centre led to services being suspended on the Airport line between 1006 and 1204.
20th March – Network Rail points failure at Altrincham meant services were turned short at Navigation Road between 1115 and 1400.
24th March – A car was driven up the ramp at Deansgate-Castlefield with services suspended between Cornbrook and the City Centre from 2116 to end of service.
29th March – A power outage at Newton Heath & Moston saw major disruption on the Rochdale line between 0915 and 1500. Services ran Rochdale-Westwood and Piccadilly-Moston
1st April – Points failure at Cornbrook meant services from the Airport turned at Firswood from 0652 to 0900.
1st April – Points failed at Cornbrook again with the same service pattern being introduced from 2107 to 2143.
5th April – A factory fire near Clayton Hall meant service were terminated at Velopark with no service to Ashton from 1637 to 1712.
10th April – The points failed at Newbold and services were turned at Milnrow between 1530 and 1810.
15th April – It was the turn of the points at St Werburgh’s Road to fail which meant Airport services were diverted to East Didsbury from 1945.
18th April – The overhead came down between Timperley and Brooklands which meant the Altrincham line was suspended between 1420 and 2234.
28th April – A points failure at Bury with all services to Bury being terminated at Whitefield from 1710 until 1915.
2nd May – The points went again at Cornbrook this time services on the Eccles line ran at reduced speed. The disruption happened between 1055 and 1130.
4th May – A Road Traffic Collision between a car and a tram at Exchange Quay saw the Eccles line suspended between Cornbrook and MediaCityUK with trams running from there to Eccles. This disruption occurred between 1645 and 1756.
6th May – Another RTC between a car and a tram happened near Martinscroft with services on the Airport line running Cornbrook to Roundthorn and Robinswood to Airport between 1734 and 1856.
12th May – A RTC between a pedestrian and tram near Market Street saw disruption on the Bury, East Didsbury and Rochdale lines with some other services diverted to cover gaps. This happened between 1113 and 1156.
13th May – A points failure at Bury with services turned short at Whitefield between 2343 and 0038.
14th May – Another points failure at Bury with Whitefield again becoming the temporary terminus between 2130 and 2212.
18th May – A medical emergency on board a tram at Oldham Central led to services only running Oldham Mumps to Rochdale and East Didsbury to Westwood from 0840 until 0932.
Tram Reliability
Period 12 – 23,410 MDBSF (mean distance between service affecting failures) with 23 failures
Period 13 – 22,468 MDBSF (mean distance between service affecting failures) with 23 failures
Period 1 – 34,159 MDBSF (mean distance between service affecting failures) with 16 failures
Trams
During these periods 3077, 3081 and 3086 have all spent periods out of use due to collision damage and 3095, 3096, 3097 and 3098 all entered service.
Complaints
Period 12 – 414 written complaints (114 due to service disruption)
Period 13 – 485 written complaints (147 due to service disruption)
Period 1 – 323 written complaints (99 due to service disruption)
Patronage
March – 2.7m (167,000 below budget but 190,000 ahead of March 2014)
April – 2.7m (20,000 above forecast and 358,000 ahead of April 2014)
May – 2.9m (8,000 above forecast and 361,000 ahead of May 2014)
* The full report can be downloaded from the TfGM Committees website at http://tinyurl.com/pdjqomt.