Double tram causes delays to Rochdale

Posted on Wednesday 3 July 2013 by Gareth Prior

Services were suspended for around two hours between Oldham Mumps and Rochdale Railway Station on Monday 1 July during the morning peak after a double M5000 had problems at Derker. It was reported that there was a problem with the coupling between the two unidentified M5000s which led to the service being suspended. Trams from East Didsbury terminated at Oldham Mumps from approximately 0700 until 0900 with passengers for stops to Rochdale Railway Station advised to find alternative ways to get there.

This entry was posted in Manchester Metrolink. Bookmark the permalink.

6 Responses to Double tram causes delays to Rochdale

  1. Ken Walker says:
    Wednesday 3 July 2013 at 19:58

    Services between Oldham and Rochdale suspended again today due points failure at Newbold where the 2 lines go into one on the approach to Rochdale station. Metrolink message timed at 1720, further message at 1930 advising service now resumed, don’t know exactly how long it was stopped for.

    On a more positive note, for the “T68A chasers”, I noticed on Monday and Tuesday that the Altrincham/Bury diagram which last week seemed to regularly have 2003 on it had 2001 this week, and 2003 was on the preceding Altrincham-Bury service passing through Victoria at about 1240. I don’t know whether these are a coincidence or whether the 2 T68As are being kept to specific diagrams for a reason. Haven’t been on the system today so I don’t know whether this happened today

  2. Ralph Oakes-Garnett says:
    Wednesday 3 July 2013 at 20:40

    More failures and everytime passengers are asked to find alternative means to get to their destination a percentage make it permanent. I just find the way this system is run heartbreaking. I pray that we can have a tram system for which we can be proud but we have some way to go. It reaches the point when I get on a tram from Shaw to Manchester and leave my car in Shaw it always crosses my mind will I get back! I am an enthusiast and retired using it mainly for leisure. What must the average commuter think?

    • freel07 says:
      Saturday 6 July 2013 at 22:28

      Given that the system is in a state of change with 2 fleets of incompatible trams and 2 different control systems with interim equipment at a number of locations the number of failures are surprisingly low. Any failure is one too many but I am afraid that for the system to expand some as new systems are gradually brought into use.

  3. Ken Walker says:
    Thursday 4 July 2013 at 10:07

    I don’t know about the frequency of double tram failures, but as far as I’m aware this is the first time the points at Newbold have failed. It’s just a pity the trams weren’t able to use the turnback facilities at Shaw, especially as the Newbold failure happened in the evening peak. According to the Metrolink website passengers were told to use the 58 bus, but I don’t know whether they were also told that the 58 service finishes at about 1800hrs from Oldham and 1900hrs from Rochdale!
    As far as the double tram failure is concerned, these coupling faults also happen on the railway and are often cured by simply splitting and recoupling the units but I don’t know how easy it is with M5000s. The other option is to divide them and run them forward separately, but of course to do this you need to get another driver to site which can take some time at busy periods.

  4. tram man says:
    Thursday 4 July 2013 at 16:03

    The M5000 couplers and fenders are a bit over complicated,compared to a T68.There are a lot of sensors and micro switches involved and that’s apart from the main electrical box on the coupler.Of course we have only really seen M5000 doubles on all day service since mosley street closed.Once the drivers get used to them and get more confident in fault finding the situation should improve.The driver has got a lot on his plate when a double breaks down.he has to try and keep the passengers informed as well as trying to get the vehicle going and speak to control.

  5. David Holt says:
    Saturday 6 July 2013 at 08:59

    I was on 2003 on Thursday and it did a full emergency brake application for no apparent reason at Old Trafford crossover, inbound. An elderly lady just standing up to get off was comforted by customer service people who happened to be on board, but no explanation was given.

Comments are closed.