The delivery of the current batch of M5000s for Manchester Metrolink has been a little erratic so far with the expected one every three-four weeks as mentioned in the original press release only having been met once at the very start of the deliveries. And now its got even more erratic as 3124 – the fourth of the batch to be delivered – arrived at Queens Road Depot on a Tuesday instead of the usual Saturday!
As with all the trams of this batch 3124 has been built by Bombardier in Germany and was transported by road, ferry and road to reach Queens Road Depot with it being seen arriving during the evening of Tuesday 30th March. It was soon unloaded and then moved into the workshops for a start to be made on commissioning.
Of the four trams of this batch delivered so far, 3121 remains the only one to have seen any use with this entering service, briefly, just before Christmas. 3122 and 3123 continue to wait for their chance to enter service to help provide some additional social distanced capacity on the line.