Monday 11th April saw a bit of a surprise turn up in Manchester as the latest M5000 was delivered – not only coming just over a week since the last delivery but also a rare midweek delivery. 3139 was the tram that caught us by surprise (we were going to say everyone by surprise but we presume Metrolink were expecting it to arrive!).
Its presumed that with the ongoing issues with P&O ferries and with Easter approaching that it has been necessary to tweak the delivery schedule which is why 3139 has come so soon after 3138. There were eight days between deliveries but this isn’t the quickest between two of the M5000s with 3002 coming just six days after 3003 and 3007 seven days after 3006 back in 2009.
With 3138 having only been in the city for eight days its no shock to realise that it has yet to be commissioned for service and is now joined by 3139 in needing to go through that work.
Another recent arrival to report on Metrolink is a Zephir Crab 2100e battery electric shunter which is now being used at Queens Road Depot. This new permanent addition to the works fleet will mainly be used around the depot to shunt trams around the facility. Its not known if this has any impact on long-standing works car 1027.