British Trams Online News

It has been confirmed that the planned strike due to take place on Manchester Metrolink on Wednesday 11th February has been called off. MRDL and Unite met at ACAS on Monday 9th February and agreement was reached on an improved offer which will now be taken to the union members for another ballot but in the meantime the strike will not take place meaning normal services will run.

It has been confirmed that Manchester Metrolink services which normally run through St Peter’s Square are to be significantly altered from the summer due to the major transformation work due to take place here ahead of the opening of the Second City Crossing (2CC). The work is due to start in the summer (no exact date has yet been confirmed) and will continue for 14 months, during the first and last eight weeks of this period not trams at all will operate through the area but for the remaining 10 months a single line will remain open allowing limited services to run.

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In less than two weeks time Manchester Metrolink services will once again stop at Victoria following 12 months of transformation works to prepare the stop for the Second City Crossing (2CC). As the countdown continues to the re-opening we bring you a photo update showing the latest state of play with the construction works both within the station complex and also on the approach from the city. Photos from Steve Kemp.

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As well as the major transformation works at Victoria (see separate story) works continue to take place at Deansgate-Castlefield which will end up with three platforms once these are completed. Work has now moved onto reconstructing the outbound platform and the old structure here has been removed and will now be rebuilt. All services continue to use the new island platform until the work is finished, which is scheduled to be this summer. Photos taken by Steve Kemp.

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It is almost time for the Metrolink and Rail Networks sub-committee of the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee to meet again, for the first time in 2015, and that means that we can once again bring you the latest Metrolink performance statistics. Periods 8 (Monday 10th November to Sunday 7th December 2014) and 9 (Monday 8th December 2014 to Sunday 4th January 2015) are under review this time around and we round-up the report with details on the service performance, details of major incidents, the LRVs themselves and the number of complaints received.

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Long term absentee 3013 has finally returned to service – almost two years to the day since it was involved in a collision with a lorry on the Eccles line. 3013 was used on the Bury to Abraham Moss shuttle service on Tuesday 3rd February and also worked on this circuit the following day as it is reintroduced to service.

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It has been announced that members of the Unite working on Manchester Metrolink are planning to strike on Wednesday 11th February in an ongoing dispute over pay. RATP Dev Ltd – the operators at Metrolink – have been negotiating with the union since last May over pay and it is understood that a 3.5% deal over two years has been offered but this has been rejected by members. It would just so happen that 11th February sees a home match for Manchester United when a large number of passengers would be expected to travel on Metrolink to get to the game and Unite have admitted that the date of the strike has been timed deliberately. Talks will continue between the two sides over the next week to try and resolve the issue but if this is not possible it is likely that Metrolink services will be severely affected by the action.