Thursday 6th April 2017 marks the 25th anniversary of Manchester Metrolink running its first passenger services. Since the first lines opened to the public the network has gone from strength to strength with recent years seeing major expansion leading to the 60 miles, 93 stop system we know today.<\/p>\n
On 6th April 1992 services began between Bury and Victoria with 1004<\/strong>+1008<\/strong> departing from Bury and 1012<\/strong> from Victoria simultaneously at 0600. Today we are well used to seeing modern tramways on the street of the UK (although not nearly as used to it as we should be with still a disappointingly low number of cities having undergone the tramway revolution) but in 1992 this was still a major risk with Manchester the first city to realise the benefits of having trams running with the project having been ongoing for 10 years by the time those first trams ran.<\/p>\n It had been back in 1982 that a Rail Study Group was created to give the local rail network a secure long term future by creating a new north\/south link across the city centre. This group \u2013 which consisted of members from Greater Manchester Council, GMPTE and British Rail \u2013 eventually came up with the idea of Manchester Metrolink which as well as linking Piccadilly and Victoria stations would also see the conversion of heavy rail lines to light rail operation. And the rest as they say is history!<\/p>\n That first day of services saw 1001<\/strong>, 1002<\/strong>, 1003<\/strong>, 1004<\/strong>, 1005<\/strong>, 1006<\/strong>, 1007<\/strong>, 1008<\/strong>, 1009<\/strong>, 1010<\/strong>, 1011<\/strong>, 1012<\/strong>, 1013<\/strong> and 1016<\/strong> all carry passengers from the original fleet of 26 T68 trams built by Ansaldo at various plants across Italy. It had originally been hoped that the line may open at the end of 1991 but a five month delay was well worth the wait although initially it was only possible to run trams on the off street section from Victoria to Bury. It wasn\u2019t until 27th April that the first cross city trams ran when the line to G-Mex (now Deansgate-Castlefield) opened, followed by G-Mex to Altrincham on 15th June 1992 and finally the spur to Piccadilly opened on 17th July 1992 \u2013 on the same day Her Majesty The Queen officially opened the network.<\/p>\n Cllr Andrew Fender, Chair of the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee, said: \u201cHaving overseen the development of the original plans to reintroduce a tram system to Greater Manchester, I\u2019m immensely proud to see the positive impact it\u2019s made to so many people\u2019s lives. It took 10 years to develop the first lines out to Bury and Altrincham, so you could say that today\u2019s birthday is in fact the realisation of 35 years of careful planning and commitment by a great many people. Metrolink was developed with the future in mind so it was inevitable that expansion was on the cards. It was absolutely essential that we were able to serve areas where population growth was expected, but to also be flexible enough to adapt to those places where it perhaps wasn\u2019t forecast back in 1982 \u2013 like Salford Quays and east Manchester. This year has already seen us deliver the Second City Crossing and start work on a new line out to the Trafford Centre and that\u2019s a real testament to the fact that we don\u2019t rest on our laurels. Here\u2019s to another 25 years of growth.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the years more and more lines have opened on Metrolink bringing it to is 60 mile length today:<\/p>\n Cornbrook to Broadway \u2013 6th December 1999<\/p>\n Broadway to Eccles \u2013 21st July 2000<\/p>\n MediaCityUK branch \u2013 20th September 2010<\/p>\n Trafford Bar to St Werburgh\u2019s Road \u2013 7th July 2011<\/p>\n Victoria to Oldham Mumps (temporary) \u2013 13th June 2012<\/p>\n Oldham Mumps (temporary) to Shaw & Crompton \u2013 16th December 2012<\/p>\n Piccadilly to Droylsden \u2013 11th February 2013<\/p>\n Shaw & Crompton to Rochdale Railway Station \u2013 28th February 2013<\/p>\n St Werburgh\u2019s Road to East Didsbury \u2013 23rd May 2013<\/p>\n Droylsden to Ashton-under-Lyne \u2013 9th October 2013<\/p>\n Oldham Town Centre \u2013 27th January 2014<\/p>\n Rochdale Railway Station to Rochdale Town Centre \u2013 31st March 2014<\/p>\n St Werburgh\u2019s Road to Manchester Airport \u2013 3rd November 2014<\/p>\n Victoria to Exchange Square \u2013 6th December 2015<\/p>\n Exchange Square to St Peter\u2019s Square \u2013 26th February 2017<\/p>\n There is now a fleet of 120 trams, the M5000s built by Bombardier between 2008 and 2016. These have replaced the original fleet of T68s and the six related T68As.<\/p>\n TfGM have said that \u201ca number of events\u201d will be held to mark the 25th anniversary. The first of these is a unique collaboration with the Bridgewater Hall (which itself celebrates 21 years in 2017). \u201cTram Tracks\u201d will see 93 new pieces of music, song and spoken word tracks created \u2013 one for every stop on the network. It aims to reflect the diverse communities across Greater Manchester and how those communities lives have been changed by the tram. As part of this there will be musical \u201chappenings\u201d across the network on 9th June, gala concerts at the Bridgwater Hall on 9th July, and performances on trams and at selected stops on 17th July.<\/p>\n Happy Birthday Metrolink \u2013 here\u2019s to the next 25 years!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thursday 6th April 2017 marks the 25th anniversary of Manchester Metrolink running its first passenger services. Since the first lines opened to the public the network has gone from strength to strength with recent years seeing major expansion leading to … Continue reading