The latest statistics from Manchester Metrolink have been released giving details on the performance of the service, any major incidents, trams out of service and the number of complaints received. The latest document concentrates on periods 11 (Monday 3rd February-Sunday 2nd March) and 12 (Monday 3rd March-Sunday 30th March) and a summary of this is provided below.
Performance
Performance as measured by Operated Mileage was on the decline again during these periods (during the previous period it was up at 99.46%) with 97.82% operated in period 11 before increasing to 98.56% in period 12. The main reason during these periods for lost mileage was due to operations (with the main cause being driver availability) with 69.7% of lost mileage in period 11 and 49% in period 12 put down to this. As a result of these driver availability problems TfGM are working with TfGM to accelerate driver recruitment.
Major Incidents
Four incidents in period 11 and seven incidents in period 12 caused delays of more than 30 minutes:
14th February: Irk Valley Junction and the Newton Heath single line section failed. Services on Bury and Rochdale lines were suspended. Disruption occurred between 0605 and 0732.
25th February: Irk Valley Junction failed. Services on Bury and Rochdale lines were suspended. Disruption started at 1150 with normal services to Rochdale and between Bury and Abraham Moss resuming at 1205. Then at 1215 services through Oldham Town Centre were suspended due to an unsafe building on Union Street. Normal operations were able to resume on the Bury line from 1255 after a full repair was made to Irk Valley Junction. Services were unable to resume through Oldham Town Centre again until 1800.
26th February: Points failure at Bury at 1548. Services on Bury line started and terminated at Whitefield. At 1631 there was a power failure on Bury line causing a signal failure which led to a complete suspension of services on the line. Services returned to normal from 1707.
2nd March: A car blocked the tracks at Holt Town. Services to Ashton-under-Lyne were suspended. Disruption between 0620 and 0929.
7th March: Network Rail track circuit fault. Services suspended between Altrincham and Timperley. Disruption between 1326 and 1705.
7th March: Failed tram at Radcliffe. Services suspended between Whitefield and Bury. Disruption occurred between 1437 and 1648.
8th March: RTC between a taxi and a tram. Ashton-under-Lyne service was suspended from 0009 until end of service.
11th March: Power fault. Rochdale line was suspended. Disruption started at 0558 with services as far as Newbold resumed at 0630 and then through to Rochdale from 0822.
11th March: Points failure at Bury. Services suspended Bury to Whitefield. Disruption between 0922 and 1016.
12th March: Points failure at Bury. Services suspended Bury to Whitefield. Disruption between 1821 and 1908.
21st March: Communication fault at Cornbrook. Services could only operate Altrincham-Old Trafford, Eccles-MediaCityUK, Bury-Piccadilly, Ashton-Piccadilly. Disruption occurred between 2100 and 2200.
27th March: Failed tram at Ladywell. Services suspended between Weaste and Eccles. Disruption between 1236 and 1429.
Trams
3013 is still out of service but is approaching a return to operational status.
The reliability of the M5000s fell slightly in period 11 and then fell further again in period 12 (period 10 had been the best four week period yet). Despite this the reliability remains on target.
Complaints
626 written complaints were received in period 11 and 511 in period 12. 49% of complaints in period 11 and 48% in period 12 were due to service issues (as would be expected on any transport system).
13 commendations were received in period 11 and nine in period 12.
Patronage
February’s patronage was at 2.29 million – 168,000 below budget but 230,000 above February 2013. In March patronage increased to 2.54 million (114,000 below budget but 265,000 ahead of March 2013).
* The full report can be downloaded from the TfGM Committees website at http://tinyurl.com/nsfhbfl.