A line which was due to open to the public in summer 2016 is set to welcome its first passengers before this year is out it has been confirmed by Transport for Greater Manchester. The Manchester Metrolink extension to the Airport will see test running and commissioning starting from Monday 23rd June with an expected opening by the end of 2014, although no exact date has yet been announced.<\/p>\n
The route runs for 14.5km and leaves the current Metrolink South Manchester line just after St Werburgh\u2019s Road with 15 new stops having been constructed. It has been one of the biggest civil engineering projects in the UK with several major purpose built structures having been constructed. This has included a viaduct over the Mersey Valley, two new bridges over the M60 and M56 and the Ringway Road dual carriageway underpass at Manchester Airport.<\/p>\n
New stops have been built at Barlow Moor Road, Sale Water Park, Northern Moor, Wythenshawe Park, Moor Road, Baguley, Roundthorn, Martinscroft, Benchill, Crossoacres, Wythenshawe Town Centre, Robinswood Road, Peel Hall, Shadowmoss and Manchester Airport. A 300 space park and ride facility has been built at Sale Water Park which will be free to use for Metrolink passengers.<\/p>\n
It is planned that eventually services will travel from the Airport to Manchester City Centre but on opening trams will only run between the Airport and Cornbrook as there is not the capacity for them to go any further. This will, however, change when the Second City Crossing is completed in 2017. It remains to be seen how popular it will be for passengers being told to change trams at Cornbrook when coming from the Airport! 9 LRVs will be required to operate the service.<\/p>\n
Cllr Andrew Fender, Chair of the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee, was delighted to make the announcement: \u201cThe sheer scale of the challenges this project presented make its early completion a truly phenomenal achievement. To be so far ahead is down to several marginal gains adding up to a significant result: the early delivery of a number of lines allowed us to move resources onto the line earlier; lessons learnt during the early phases of the expansion drove efficiencies across work areas; creating a desktop simulator cut the timescales for driver training in half. These are just a few examples of how, by working closely with local authorities, utility firms, our principal contractor MPT, stakeholders and the operator MRDL, we\u2019ve become an ultra-efficient machine \u2013 and this is our collective reward. My thanks go to everyone involved: the residents, the businesses, the local councillors and MPs, the contractors, the TfGM and city council officers, and Manchester Airport.\u201d<\/p>\n
When this line opens the Metrolink network will be up to 92.5km (57.5 miles) with 92 stops open to passengers. There will then just be one further line under construction (the Second City Crossing) although as reported last week with the Trafford Park line there remain high hopes of further extensions in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A line which was due to open to the public in summer 2016 is set to welcome its first passengers before this year is out it has been confirmed by Transport for Greater Manchester. The Manchester Metrolink extension to the … Continue reading