Manchester Metrolink services to Piccadilly and Ashton were disrupted on Thursday 23rd March after a lorry hit and damaged overhead line equipment on London Road (just outside of Piccadilly Station).
The result of the damage was that a section of overhead wire had lost tension which meant that it wasn’t possible to run trams into Piccadilly. Although its known a lorry was involved its not known exactly what it hit to cause the loss of tension.
During the disruption no trams ran on the Ashton line while those to and from Eccles were diverted to Crumpsall.
Services started to run again from around 1730.
Apparently the incident occurred on Sheffield Street behind Piccadilly Undercroft when a lorry carrying an some form of elevated work platform with its boom extended caught the wire. This resulted in loss of tension over a considerable length of wire.
I understand the incident with a lorry (with an access platform) hit the OLE in Sheffield Street, the opposite end of the Piccadilly Station Undercroft to that of London Road, although the OLE strike was in Sheffield Street, it effected the tension on the I/B line across London Road, it being the same tension length, there were a number of photo’s on the Skyscraper City site, showing the sagging C/W due to the loss of tension