Saturday 4th July has seen considerable disruption for Manchester’s Metrolink network after a tram derailed late the previous night at St Werburghs Road. As a result of the incident, said to have been caused by an act of vandalism, services between East Didsbury and Deansgate Castlefield, and Cornbrook and Manchester Airport were cancelled with normal service not resuming until the evening.<\/p>\n
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It is understood that the local Police and Metrolink staff are investigating the incident involving car 3092<\/strong>, which is thought to have been the result of a deliberate act of vandalism targeting the tram track. Shortly before the derailment occurred, vandals had been seen hurling rocks at a tram loaded with passengers in the same area – although one positive outcome of this is that the trams were running at a slower pace than normal after drivers had been warned to look out for potential attacks, meaning that the impact of the derailment was thankfully not too severe and nobody has been injured. Police did attend the first reported incident but the vandals had left the scene by the time they arrived. They returned to investigate the cause of the derailment the following morning with Metrolink engineering staff in attendance at first light to re-rail and remove the affected tram. However, the removal of the vehicle took considerably longer than expected, and this combined with the need to assess the track and test to ensure that all was well crippled the service on the two aforementioned routes on this busy Saturday morning and afternoon. Finally, at around 2000, with 3092 <\/strong>out of the way it was finally possible to restart the normal service bringing an end to this sorry saga, although of course the investigations will continue and no doubt any further developments will be reported as they occur.<\/p>\n In order to help patrons to travel with as little disruption as possible, valid tickets and passes for Metrolink were being accepted on Stagecoach bus services in the affected areas and also on services 41 and 42 operated by First Bus.<\/p>\n Metrolink boss Peter Cushing has apologised to passengers in a short statement and expressed his disgust at the appalling actions of the individuals involved in both incidents. It is extremely fortunate that nobody was badly hurt, but this could so easily have been very different and hopefully those will responsible will be found and punished for their irresponsible and dangerous actions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Saturday 4th July has seen considerable disruption for Manchester’s Metrolink network after a tram derailed late the previous night at St Werburghs Road. As a result of the incident, said to have been caused by an act of vandalism, services … Continue reading