It has been confirmed that St Peter’s Square Metrolink stop will be closed for 14 months to allow for major redevelopment works which will include two new island platforms. The closure will start in summer 2015 and for most of this period single line operation will be in use although two eight week periods at the start and end of the period will see no services at all through St Peter’s Square.
St Peter’s Square itself will also be undergoing major work during the closure with greater public space being provided in the main area of the square. As for the tramstop there will be two island platforms constructed to allow services to operate on both the existing city centre line and the much heralded Second City Crossing, initial work for which is now underway. Four tracks will run through the square once the work is concluded.
Details of what services will run during the work have not been revealed have not been announced but it is expected that a lot of services will be turned at Deansgate-Castlefield as the work there will have been completed by this time. There will be single line running through St Peter’s Square for approximately 10 months with two eight week complete closures at either end of the work, bringing the disruption up to a total of 14 months at this key point on the network.
Cllr Andrew Fender, Chair of the TfGM Committee, said: “This is a massive project that requires significant changes and will, unavoidably, come with a level of disruption. Given the location and the work involved there is no easy way of delivering this scheme. Both the scale and complexities involved – set against the importance of maintaining services through the city – mean this is the best possible option. The alternatives would have required a much longer complete closure to passenger services, and the plan enables passengers to keep moving around the city for as long as possible to employment, shopping and events. Having the summertime closures – when the holiday period is in full swing and services are quieter – either side of the single line running means we can instead get everything done as quickly as possible whilst maintaining a service through the city. The reward is the completion of the Second City Crossing: greater capacity through the city centre which, in turn, gives us a much more flexible and dynamic network that will allow us to run additional and more frequent services to meet ever-growing demand. For example, the completion of 2CC will enable us to extend operation of the recently announced airport service into the city centre.”