A line which was due to open to the public in summer 2016 is set to welcome its first passengers before this year is out it has been confirmed by Transport for Greater Manchester. The Manchester Metrolink extension to the Airport will see test running and commissioning starting from Monday 23rd June with an expected opening by the end of 2014, although no exact date has yet been announced.
The route runs for 14.5km and leaves the current Metrolink South Manchester line just after St Werburgh’s Road with 15 new stops having been constructed. It has been one of the biggest civil engineering projects in the UK with several major purpose built structures having been constructed. This has included a viaduct over the Mersey Valley, two new bridges over the M60 and M56 and the Ringway Road dual carriageway underpass at Manchester Airport.
New stops have been built at Barlow Moor Road, Sale Water Park, Northern Moor, Wythenshawe Park, Moor Road, Baguley, Roundthorn, Martinscroft, Benchill, Crossoacres, Wythenshawe Town Centre, Robinswood Road, Peel Hall, Shadowmoss and Manchester Airport. A 300 space park and ride facility has been built at Sale Water Park which will be free to use for Metrolink passengers.
It is planned that eventually services will travel from the Airport to Manchester City Centre but on opening trams will only run between the Airport and Cornbrook as there is not the capacity for them to go any further. This will, however, change when the Second City Crossing is completed in 2017. It remains to be seen how popular it will be for passengers being told to change trams at Cornbrook when coming from the Airport! 9 LRVs will be required to operate the service.
Cllr Andrew Fender, Chair of the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee, was delighted to make the announcement: “The sheer scale of the challenges this project presented make its early completion a truly phenomenal achievement. To be so far ahead is down to several marginal gains adding up to a significant result: the early delivery of a number of lines allowed us to move resources onto the line earlier; lessons learnt during the early phases of the expansion drove efficiencies across work areas; creating a desktop simulator cut the timescales for driver training in half. These are just a few examples of how, by working closely with local authorities, utility firms, our principal contractor MPT, stakeholders and the operator MRDL, we’ve become an ultra-efficient machine – and this is our collective reward. My thanks go to everyone involved: the residents, the businesses, the local councillors and MPs, the contractors, the TfGM and city council officers, and Manchester Airport.”
When this line opens the Metrolink network will be up to 92.5km (57.5 miles) with 92 stops open to passengers. There will then just be one further line under construction (the Second City Crossing) although as reported last week with the Trafford Park line there remain high hopes of further extensions in the future.
It will certainly be interesting to see how much traffic is generated from air travellers. The change at Cornbrook will not be attractive to people with luggage, especially as the heavy rail service into Piccadilly is faster and a little more user friendly for luggage. 15 stops to Cornbrrok will already take some time, plus the change means travel times from the Airport to the City centre will be long. But I suspect there will be much traffic generated from people who work at the airport, the line for them maybe beneficial indeed.
I really cannot see there being much demand for this service from people travelling between the airport and city centre when trains take as little as 15 minutes (and are probably cheaper).
As John West says the business case was never based on air passengers using it to get from Manchester to the Airport, that was always assumed to be the role for heavy rail. The main purpose was providing transport for Wythenshawe and also for Airport based staff residing along the route as a means of transport to and from work. The fact that the workforce travel 5 days a week provides a more robust potential market than the more random discretionary air traveller market.
The Race is on!
Which out of the extensions on the Nottingham Express Transit to Chilwell and Clifton (Due to open I understand on 14th December 2014) , or the Manchester Metrolink Extension to Manchester Airport will actually be the first to carry fare paying passengers??? Any suggestions?
I suppose it depends what side of town you live on.Some people don’t want to travel all the way into Manchester to catch a train when you have a tram on your doorstep.I think in the initial planning it was more suited for people who work at the airport rather than people catching planes.
But the public are unpredictable when it comes to public transport.Who would have thought east didsbury would be really busy.It just goes to show that if you put a tram line to anywhere that people will use it.
Of course the only stumbling block is the already overcrowded cornbrook.Untill the second city crossing is complete maybe they would be better terminating at St werburgs or even G-mex once the third platform is in place.I certainly wouldn’t fancy changing at cornbrook on a cold and dark night.
It has never been the intention for the Airport line to be used as the primary means of getting to the Airport. It’s main purpose is to provide railed transport provision for Wythenshawe. It made sense to continue to the airport as its only 1m further on!
Metrolink have been having problems with the points at Cornbrook for the last couple of days,so it doesn’t bode well for the airport line.The only plus side to the airport line is that it will eventually enhance the east didsbury service from St,werburgs into town.Top marks to the contractors for delivering a year early.
It will probably be a godsend especially when Airport City is completed.
The Cornbrook signalling gave problems this morning and affected the whole system all day. Did not see any overt testing just workings on the new stations at Mauldeth Road, Hardy Lane and Sale Water Park.
I don’t think you’ll find there is a stop at Mauldeth Road just Barlow Moor Road between the Airport Line junction and the new Mersey viaduct.
The test running has been overnight with the 2 trams involved returning to Trafford Depot each morning.
Great news.
It is amazing how more recent projects seem to be completed ahead of schedule. A while ago developments were always, it seemed, to be badly over-running. Perhaps the plan is to now over estimate the finishing date to gain kudos for appearing to complete early. Just a thought!!
I suspect it’s because a team has now gained an awful lot of experience and is used to how to commission new extensions. It would be great to see further extensions to NET announced and started before the current ones are finished so that the tema doesn’t get dispersed.
Jamie
Jamie,i was thinking along the same lines.Have they in effect put themselves out of work a year early.Or have they completed early so they could use all that workforce and knowledge on the second city crossing.Then just as that is completed they will probably start work on the Trafford centre extension.Thats my theory anyway.
Yes I meant the station at the end of Mauldeth Rd which is actually on Hardy Lane. The station takes it’s name from Barlow Moor Road which crosses at this junction. I walked from St Werbergs Road to Sale via the Barlow Moor Rd and Sale Water Park stops. My friend had a bungalow just off the original roundabout by the Sale Water Park stop. He received 2 compulsory purchase orders one for the tramway and one from the DOT for putting an extra lane on the motorway!
Didn’t mean to sound critical Ralph but here I go again, Barlow Moor Road stop is on Mauldeth Road West east of the junction. It’s quite a nice walk across the fields of Hardy Farm and it will be great to see the trams on the viaduct.
I used to teach at what used to be West Wythenshawe College of FE on Moor Road I can’t help thinking how short sighted it was of the College Management to develop the Yew Tree site in Northern Moor and sell the Moor Road site for housing when the plans for the airport line were already on the drawing Board!