{"id":16738,"date":"2017-02-27T20:49:31","date_gmt":"2017-02-27T20:49:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=16738"},"modified":"2017-02-27T20:49:32","modified_gmt":"2017-02-27T20:49:32","slug":"metrolink%e2%80%99s-second-city-crossing-opens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=16738","title":{"rendered":"Metrolink\u2019s Second City Crossing opens"},"content":{"rendered":"

A seven year project to dramatically increase the Manchester Metrolink network is over following the opening of the Second City Crossing (2CC) between St Peter\u2019s Square and Victoria via Cross Street and Exchange Square. Passenger services started on Sunday 26th February with all trams between East Didsbury and the Oldham and Rochdale line now using this stretch of track, all other cross city trams continue to use the original line along Mosley Street.<\/p>\n

The first tram to operate in public service on the new line was 3064<\/strong> which arrived at Victoria at 0640 to form the first East Didsbury via Exchange Square service. This was soon followed by 3027<\/strong> which operated the 0652 service from St Peter\u2019s Square to Rochdale via Exchange Square. The day also saw 3111<\/strong> in use, which had been fitted with special vinyls celebrating the last piece of the jigsaw being in place.<\/p>\n

The opening of 2CC has meant that there has been another rejig of services across the Metrolink network. The most obvious is that trams from East Didsbury to Rochdale Town Centre and Easy Didsbury to Shaw & Crompton will operate via Exchange Square whilst Manchester Airport services are now extended from Cornbrook to Deansgate-Castlefield with this service planned to be extended through to Victoria later in 2017. Meanwhile Altrincham to Piccadilly services have been extended to Etihad Campus with Bury to Etihad Campus services now terminating at Piccadilly.<\/p>\n

The big bang expansion had started back in December 2009 when work started on the East Didsbury line and over the past seven years lines have also opened to MediaCityUK, Rochdale, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Airport. Metrolink is now three times its original size with 93 stops, 60 miles of track and 120 trams. This may be the end of the so-called \u201cBig Bang\u201d but that doesn\u2019t mean that is it for Metrolink extensions as initial work has already commenced on a line to Trafford Park which will see a further 6 stops added to the network.<\/p>\n

Cllr Andrew Fender, Chair of the TfGM Committee, said: \u201cHaving chaired a strategy group from 1982 \u2013 which developed the Metrolink concept \u2013 I am extremely proud, 35 years later, to see the completion of the Second City Crossing, and with it our phenomenal and multi-award winning \u2018Phase 3\u2019 expansion programme. It\u2019s been a remarkable journey, one I\u2019m privileged to have seen first-hand, and my thanks goes to all those who\u2019ve worked so hard to turn those early dreams and ambitions into a reality and who have, ultimately, delivered a world-class transport system to the people of Greater Manchester.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter Cushing, TfGM Metrolink Director, added: \u201cI\u2019m immensely proud of what we\u2019ve achieved with our partners over the last eight years as we\u2019ve expanded the Metrolink network to become the largest light rail system in the UK. The Second City Crossing opening is the culmination of years of hard work to complete the Phase 3 big bang expansion, and it would not have been possible without the hard work of my team, contractors MPT and operator RATP Dev, helping to make this a reality. I\u2019d like to thank everyone involved and I look forward to seeing our customers right across the tram network experiencing the benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

* Videos of the first day action on the both 2CC and the extension of the Airport service are available on YouTube courtesy of Martin Miller. They can be viewed at the following links: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=G4DTcEfpd_Y<\/a>, https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9qB3wamJmrE<\/a> and https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=FwAQAz727-k<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* A full photo gallery will be added at the weekend.<\/p>\n

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3064 departs from St Peter's Square from East Didsbury having been the first tram to traverse the Second City Crossing in revenue earning service. (Photograph by Steve Hyde)<\/p><\/div>\n

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3111 - complete with special vinyls - travels along 2CC.<\/p><\/div>\n

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3116 departs from St Peter's Square and swings onto 2CC. (Photographs x2 by Steve Kemp)<\/p><\/div>\n

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It was also the first day of the extended Airport service to Deansgate-Castlefield where we see 3107 having terminated and ready to head back. (Photograph by Martin Miller)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A seven year project to dramatically increase the Manchester Metrolink network is over following the opening of the Second City Crossing (2CC) between St Peter\u2019s Square and Victoria via Cross Street and Exchange Square. Passenger services started on Sunday 26th … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16738"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16738"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16744,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16738\/revisions\/16744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}