Picc-Vic tunnel

Picc-Vic Tunnel
An artist's impression of the Picc-Vic line (1971)[1]
Overview
StatusAbandoned proposal
LocaleManchester, England
Termini
Stations5
Service
TypeCommuter rail
SystemGreater Manchester Transport/British Rail
Services1
History
Opened1977 (planned)
Technical
Line length2.75 mi (4.43 km)
Track length2.75 mi (4.43 km)
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in)
Highest elevationUnderground

Picc-Vic was a proposed, and later cancelled, underground railway designed in the early 1970s with the purpose of connecting two major mainline railway termini in Manchester city centre, England. The name Picc-Vic was a contraction of the two key station names, Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria. The proposal envisaged the construction of an underground rail tunnel across Manchester city centre. The scheme was abandoned in 1977 during its proposal stages due to Westminster's lack of willingness to invest in Manchester. The view was that the scheme still retained two large and expensive-to-maintain terminal stations in Manchester while other similarly sized cities had reduced their terminals to one.

In 1992, the Metrolink system opened and linked both stations via tram, to an extent negating the requirement for a direct rail connection. In 2017, the Ordsall Chord became operational; an overground railway scheme directly linking Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria in a comparable fashion to Picc-Vic.[2]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference piccvic-leaflet was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Consultation into Manchester rail link plans". BBC News. 7 October 2011.