It looks like the weekend of 8 and 9 June could prove to be the busiest ever weekend on Manchester Metrolink with around 150,000 people expected to attend events in Manchester. On both days of the weekend the Parklife festival will take place in Heaton Park and Rod Stewart will be performing at the Manchester Arena whilst the Saturday will see Grillstock take place in Albert Square and Bon Jovi perform at the Ethihad Stadium.
As a result of these events Metrolink will be making some amendments to the normal service and a number of double trams will be out and about on the network. The revised service being operated is as follows:
Saturday 8 June before 2000
Altrincham-Bury – 12 minute service
Bury-Droylsden – 12 minute service
Eccles-Piccadilly via MediaCityUK – 12 minute service
Rochdale-East Didsbury – 12 minute service
Victoria-Etihad Campus – 12 minute service
Saturday 8 June after 2000
Altrincham-Piccadilly – 12 minute service
Bury-Droylsden – 12 minute service
Eccles-Piccadilly via MediaCityUK – 12 minute service
Rochdale-East Didsbury – 12 minute service
Victoria-Bury – 12 minute service
Etihad Campus-Piccadilly – 12 minute service
Sunday 9 June
Altrincham-Piccadilly – 12 minute service
Victoria-Bury – 12 minute service
Bury-Droylsden – 12 minute service
Eccles-Piccadilly via MediaCityUK – 12 minute service
Rochdale-East Didsbury – 12 minute service
In addition to these service changes Heaton Park tramstop will be closed from 2000 onwards on both Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 June due to “limited crowd management facilities”. Any prospective tram passengers will instead be directed towards Bowker Vale.
Lets hope that Metrolink can rise to the occasion. This is a big chance to show off how efficient Metrolink can be. Please chaps the city is depending on you!
So the service between Altrincham and Manchester is being reduced from 6 minute frequency to 12 minute frequency all day on Saturday? (No mention of the Altrincham-Piccadilly service – and it’s NOT an error on this site, the Metrolink website says the same). Can’t see it being a very popular move if it’s correct.
Metrolink have been planning the logistics for this weekend for quite some time.They have been asking for as many people as possible to work their rest days over this weekend.I know from a engineering point of view they have extra staff in at both depots to cover the town centre and terminal stations.
Of course you cannot force people to work their rest days.So you can only run with what you have.Also there is also the problem of who is going to pay for all these extra services.Please correct me if I am wrong,but I was always under the impression that tfgm pay ratp for a set contract to run a set amount of vehicles.I know in the past since tfgm take all the revenue from the ticket machines,you could say that there is not much incentive for ratp to run all these extra services and not get anything in return.
Which brings me to the weekend of the 25th &26th of May which was probably just as busy as this weekend,but there was no extra staff (certainly from the engineering side)We had rugby both days at the Etihad stadium,plus athletics on deansgate and the Manchester run on the sunday.There were a few compaints about being stuck in the heat like sardines on double units.I know there was a double unit failure on mosely street and because there was no breakdown cover in the town centre,it took engineers half an hour to get there from queens road.So I hope it all goes well for metrolink and remember they are just doing the best they can with the equipment supplied by tfgm.
Half the frequency to Altrincham but supposed to be double trams.
Eccles line loses it’s Media city directs as well – so half the frequency there.
All to give room for Victoria-Etihad doubles via Piccadilly and later returns to Piccadilly. Just waiting for the points problems, heat problems, tram breakdowns etc etc!
Even if all the Altrinchams are double trams it will still be a reduction in capacity as the Altrincham-Bury directs are mostly doubles anyway. You’re right about the MediaCity service, I didn’t spot that!
It’s a poor effort, advertising extra services to the events but halving scheduled services elsewhere to provide resources. Imagine the fuss (not to mention penalties and fines) if any of the railway companies tried to pull a stunt like this!
Tonight Saturday I was filming the trams to Etihad Stadium. All was going well until around 7.45pm when a woman in a black 4wd drove onto the reserve sleeper track between Holt Town and Etihad!