Manchester Metrolink

This article is about a tramway opened in 1992. For trams operating 1877–1949, see Manchester Corporation Tramways. For other transportation systems called Metrolink, see Metrolink.

Bee Network – Metrolink
Bombardier M5000 at Exchange Quay tram stop in August 2011
Bombardier M5000 at Exchange Quay tram stop in August 2011
Schematic map of Metrolink
Schematic map of Metrolink
Overview
OwnerTransport for Greater Manchester
LocaleGreater Manchester
Transit typeTram/Light rail
Number of lines8
Number of stations99
Annual ridership42.0 million (2023/24)
Increase 16.7% [1]
Chief executiveDanny Vaughan (TfGM Metrolink Director)
HeadquartersMetrolink Trafford Depot
Warwick Road South
Stretford
Manchester
M16 0GZ
Websitewww.tfgm.com/public-transport/tram Edit this at Wikidata
Operation
Began operation6 April 1992; 32 years ago (1992-04-06)
Operator(s)KeolisAmey Metrolink Ltd.
Number of vehicles147 Bombardier M5000[2][1]
Train length28.4 metres (93 ft)
Technical
System length64 miles (103 km)[1]
Track gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Minimum radius of curvature25 m (82 ft)
Electrification750 V DC overhead line
Top speed50 miles per hour (80 km/h)

Manchester Metrolink[note 1] is a tram/light rail system in Greater Manchester, England.[10] The network has 99 stops along 64 miles (103 km) of standard-gauge route,[11] making it the most extensive light rail system in the United Kingdom.[12] Over the 2023/24 financial year 42 million passenger journeys were made on the system.[1]

Metrolink is owned by the public body Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and is part of the region's Bee Network. It is operated and maintained under contract by a Keolis/Amey consortium.[13][14]

The network consists of eight lines which radiate from Manchester city centre to termini at Altrincham, Ashton-under-Lyne, Bury, East Didsbury, Eccles, Manchester Airport, Rochdale and the Trafford Centre. It runs on a mixture of on-street track shared with other traffic; reserved track sections segregated from other traffic, and converted former railway lines.[15]

Metrolink is operated by a fleet of 147 high-floor Bombardier M5000 light rail vehicles.[16][17] Each of the nine Metrolink routes run five trams per hour in each direction; stops with more than one route running through it will have trams arriving more frequently.[18] Services on busier lines will operate as "doubles": two tram vehicles coupled together.

A light rail system for Greater Manchester emerged from the failure of the 1970s Picc-Vic tunnel scheme to obtain central government funding.[19] A light-rail scheme was proposed in 1982 as the least expensive rail-based transport solution for Manchester city centre and the surrounding Greater Manchester metropolitan area.[20] Government approval was granted in 1988, and the network began operating services between Bury Interchange and Victoria on 6 April 1992. Metrolink became the United Kingdom's first modern street-running rail system; the 1885-built Blackpool tramway being the only first-generation tram system in the UK that had survived up to Metrolink's creation.[21]

Expansion of Metrolink has been a critical strategy of transport planners in Greater Manchester, who have overseen its development in successive projects, known as Phases 1, 2, 3a, 3b, 2CC, and Trafford Park.[22][23] The latest extension, the Trafford Park Line from Pomona to The Trafford Centre, opened on 22 March 2020.[24][25] The Greater Manchester Combined Authority has proposed numerous further expansions of the network, including the addition of tram-train technology to extend Metrolink services onto local heavy-rail lines.[26]

Part of a series of articles on
Manchester Metrolink
  1. ^ a b c d "Light rail and tram statistics, England: year ending March 2024". GOV.UK. Department for Transport. 17 September 2024. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  2. ^ "Manchester Metrolink M5000 order complete". Railways Illustrated. No. 238. December 2022. p. 13.
  3. ^ Ogden & Senior 1992, p. 4.
  4. ^ a b Department for Transport (2009). "Explanatory Memorandum to the Greater Manchester (Light Rapid Transit System) (Exemptions) Order 2009". legislation.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2013. The Order grants exemptions from certain requirements of railways legislation currently applying to the Greater Manchester Light Rapid Transit System ("Metrolink") ...
  5. ^ a b Slatcher, Adrian (17 December 2010). "Procurement of hydro-electricity for Metrolink – the Greater Manchester light rapid transit system". Manchester: Energy Planning Knowledge Base. Archived from the original on 28 July 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013. GMPTE own the Greater Manchester light rapid transit system – known as Metrolink.
  6. ^ "Light Rail and Tram Statistics: England 2018/19" (PDF). Department for Transport. 19 June 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 July 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  7. ^ Ogden & Senior 1992, p. 106.
  8. ^ "£500m tram extension unveiled". BBC News. 22 March 2000. Archived from the original on 26 July 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  9. ^ Ogden & Senior 1992, p. 39.
  10. ^ "LTRA World Systems List index". lrta.org. Light Rail Transit Association. Archived from the original on 21 September 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  11. ^ "Light rail and tram statistics, England: year ending March 2023". GOV.UK. Department for Transport. 5 September 2023. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  12. ^ "New Metrolink line to Wythenshawe and Manchester Airport to open on November 3 – a year ahead of schedule". Manchester Evening News. 13 October 2014. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  13. ^ "Salford Infrastructure Delivery Plan" (PDF). Salford City Council. February 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 May 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  14. ^ "RATP buys Manchester Metrolink operator". Railway Gazette International. London. 2 August 2011. Archived from the original on 17 September 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference metuk was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Tramways & Urban Transit (15 February 2019). "Evolving the M5000". Archived from the original on 15 January 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  17. ^ Barlow, Nigel (11 October 2022). "Last of 27 new Metrolink tram arrives as part of £72m network investment". About Manchester. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tram times was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ Ovenden, Mark. Metrolink: The First 25 Years (2017). St. Leonards: Rails Publishing. pps. 15–17.
  20. ^ Ovenden, Mark. Metrolink: The First 25 Years.(2017). St. Leonards: Rails Publishing. pps.19–22.
  21. ^ "Manchester Metrolink, United Kingdom". Railway Technology. 2010. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference catchup was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ Transport for Greater Manchester (March 2014). "Greater Manchester Growth and Reform Plan: Transport Strategy and Investment Plan" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  24. ^ "Ground broken on Manchester's Trafford Park Line". Global Rail News. 13 January 2017. Archived from the original on 14 January 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  25. ^ Wordsworth, Nigel (14 October 2016). "Manchester Metrolink Trafford Park extension approved". Global Rail News. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  26. ^ Place North West (7 January 2019). "Metrolink heads to Stalybridge and Middleton in 2040 expansion". Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.


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