Vandals derail Metrolink tram

Saturday 4th July has seen considerable disruption for Manchester’s Metrolink network after a tram derailed late the previous night at St Werburghs Road. As a result of the incident, said to have been caused by an act of vandalism, services between East Didsbury and Deansgate Castlefield, and Cornbrook and Manchester Airport were cancelled with normal service not resuming until the evening.

It is understood that the local Police and Metrolink staff are investigating the incident involving car 3092, which is thought to have been the result of a deliberate act of vandalism targeting the tram track. Shortly before the derailment occurred, vandals had been seen hurling rocks at a tram loaded with passengers in the same area – although one positive outcome of this is that the trams were running at a slower pace than normal after drivers had been warned to look out for potential attacks, meaning that the impact of the derailment was thankfully not too severe and nobody has been injured. Police did attend the first reported incident but the vandals had left the scene by the time they arrived. They returned to investigate the cause of the derailment the following morning with Metrolink engineering staff in attendance at first light to re-rail and remove the affected tram. However, the removal of the vehicle took considerably longer than expected, and this combined with the need to assess the track and test to ensure that all was well crippled the service on the two aforementioned routes on this busy Saturday morning and afternoon. Finally, at around 2000, with 3092 out of the way it was finally possible to restart the normal service bringing an end to this sorry saga, although of course the investigations will continue and no doubt any further developments will be reported as they occur.

In order to help patrons to travel with as little disruption as possible, valid tickets and passes for Metrolink were being accepted on Stagecoach bus services in the affected areas and also on services 41 and 42 operated by First Bus.

Metrolink boss Peter Cushing has apologised to passengers in a short statement and expressed his disgust at the appalling actions of the individuals involved in both incidents. It is extremely fortunate that nobody was badly hurt, but this could so easily have been very different and hopefully those will responsible will be found and punished for their irresponsible and dangerous actions.

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11 Responses to Vandals derail Metrolink tram

  1. Paul says:

    Midland metro has also been targeted over the last couple of months with windows been smashed on trams in the wolverhampton region.

  2. David Butterworth says:

    Vandal attacks on trains and trams is not a new problem and stone throwing happens from time to time especially during school holidays and during summer weekends. However to actually succeed in derailing a tram takes vandalism to a whole new level on the Metrolink system. This is a very worrying trend and as one who uses the system regularly I hope that no effort is spared in catching the persons concerned and employing vigilance in order to prevent any repeat attacks. I just wonder if any CCTV footage of the perpetrators is available.

    The Blackpool tramway has suffered similar stone throwing incidents,down the years and many years ago, Fleetwood bound Centenary 645 tram was derailed on the approach to the right hand curve at Gynn Square, North Shore, by a scaffolding pole, which had been placed in the rail groove by two youths – (later caught, I think). The tram left the rails and veered to the left demolishing part of the concrete wall and coming to rest, narrowly avoiding plunging over the edge of the upper promenade and landing on the lower promenade around twenty feet below. The consequences of the latter need no elaboration.

  3. HowieB says:

    Can anyone suggest a suitable punishment for the offenders if caught? I can think of a few but I suspect the moderators here would delete them.

  4. tram man says:

    In the political correct world a new x-box and a trip to Disney world.
    Metrolink have suffered badly recently with smashed windows.December last year and January this year the toll was up to 22 windows each month plus numerous windscreens and doors..Each side of the M5000 is one big window.I know when they first ordered the M5000 tram metrolink asked could they have the doors half and half,the reply from bombardier was “NO” take it or leave it.I would have thought 200million pounds later the customer would have a bit more imput.

  5. Christopher Callan says:

    As others have alluded to its not a new phenomenon mindless acts of vandalism have been a feature since the tramcars inception. What is a concern is the frequency appears to be on the up with seemingly a very tepid police response. These idiots causing significant distress and inconvenience and potentially serious injury or worse to others.

    • Ken Walker says:

      Of course it happens on our railways as well. I remember a train being derailed near Pendleton in Gtr Manchester due to a length of rail being placed along the top of the running rail and therefore not able to be seen by the driver until he was almost on top of it. That was about 30 years ago so as Chris says it’s nothing new. With the weight of the rail it wasn’t kids either. Fortunately the train had stopped at the previous station so only the leading pair of wheels was derailed.

  6. David Butterworth says:

    According to the Manchester Evening News the incident was a result of a brawl by a group of males, apparently after they had mocked a young man for sporting a pony-tail hairstyle as he waited at St. Werburgh’s station. He retaliated then boarded the tram; the youths then attacked the tram, breaking windows. The ‘debris’ caused the tram or another tram to derail on the points. It took the police 45 minutes to turn up. Other passengers were justifiably alarmed. Apparently there are dozens of tram windows being smashed by ‘low-lifes’ every month.

  7. David Butterworth says:

    Correction to my last comment; it seems that the incident happened on the tram and then escalated when those involved got off at St, Werburgh’s Road. They took out their frustration on the tram and track; not surprising really with such unprincipled hot-heads around.

  8. Ralph Oakes-Garnett says:

    I reported serious misbehaviour on an Ashton bound tram last month. It took some days to respond and when it arrived it was tepid and predictable. I had mentioned that originally the trams were policed by a branch of the BTP but this was discontinued I believe on cost grounds some time back. However this was completely skated over in the response. We all know where the trouble spots are: Droylsden, Langworthy, Failsworth usually in the evenings. Interesting when you see the great numbers of Metrlonk staff during the day but rarely at night apart from football games. Nearly every journey I have made on the Ashton line in the veneings has had at some point bad behaviour usually from youths in the stretch between Clayton Hall and Audenshaw but there is never anyone around to police it.

    • Steve Hyde says:

      Ralph, Metrolink was never policed by BTP. There was a dedicated GMP unit based at Queens Road up to 2007 when the Stagecoach contract came into force. The cost of buying that unit gradually increased until it became unsustainable. Moreover when things went wrong it was inevitable that the officers were at the opposite end of the system! There were never enough officers available to ensure an efficient response to any incident and even then they could well find them selves directed away from Metrolink to other non-related incidents.

      More recently TfGM have been setting up their new Travelsafe Partnership with GMP, Stagecoach, First Manchester and MRDL to try to make some inroads into the problems of anti social behaviour. Whether it will have any success remains to be seen. The incident this weekend seems to have been related to a dispute between rivals rather than a random vandal attack.

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