This is a list of confirmed or proposed future developments of the Manchester Metrolink light rail system in Greater Manchester, England.
In January 2019, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority published a draft delivery plan detailing its transport priorities for the next five years. Contained within the document are options to extend some Metrolink lines as well as expansion of Metrolink-style services onto the local heavy rail network using tram-train vehicles. [1] Following consultations, a revised draft delivery plan was published in January 2021, with the publishing of the final plan, subject to approval, in February. [2]
As part of developments related to bringing High Speed 2 (HS2) and Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) to Manchester, High Speed Two Limited has proposed the present two-platform Piccadilly Metrolink stop at ground-level below the existing station platforms is relocated. [3] A new larger four-platform stop located underground below the Manchester Piccadilly High Speed station is planned to replace it. Provision for a second ground-level Metrolink stop at the eastern end of the high speed station to service future Metrolink extensions, to be called Piccadilly Central, also forms part of the plans. At the proposed Manchester Airport High Speed station provision for a new Metrolink stop — potentially serving an extension from the existing Airport line — is also envisaged. [4]
Buckley Wells tram stop has been proposed to provide better passenger access in southern Bury, and would be on the Bury Line between Bury Interchange and Radcliffe tram stop. [5]
In January 2016, Jim McMahon, MP for Oldham West and Royton, proposed two loop extensions to the Metrolink system around Oldham:
Both would connect Rochdale to its neighbouring towns without the need to travel in and out of Manchester city centre. Initial high level feasibility work was undertaken by officials at Transport for Greater Manchester which demonstrated the route is technically possible. [6]
In Salford City Council's 2004–2016 unitary development plan:
In January 2019, it was revealed as part of a plan for new houses in Greater Manchester that the Metrolink would be extended to Salford Stadium. [8]
In January 2015, Stockport Metropolitan Borough adopted a Rail Strategy proposing substantial conversion of current rail alignments around Stockport to tram-train operation, running into an interchange at Stockport bus station. These proposed services expand on, and are consistent with, those outlined in the TfGM tram-train strategy document. Earlier plans (now discarded) had envisaged the Metrolink line to East Didsbury being extended to Stockport along the Mersey Valley. The revised plan proposes instead a revised alignment for this link via Edgeley and Stockport railway station.
In the Rail Strategy, Stockport MBC also outline longer term aspirations to establish tram-train services between Stockport town centre and Marple; and between Stockport town centre and Ashton town centre. [9]
Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. Opened as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. Located to the south-east of Manchester city centre, it hosts long-distance intercity and cross-country services to national destinations including London, Birmingham, Nottingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, Reading, Southampton and Bournemouth; regional services to destinations in Northern England including Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle and York; and local commuter services around Greater Manchester. It is one of 19 major stations managed by Network Rail. The station has 14 platforms: 12 terminal and two through platforms. Piccadilly is also a major interchange with the Metrolink light rail system with two tram platforms in its undercroft.
Manchester Metrolink is a tram/light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. The network has 99 stops along 64 miles (103 km) of standard-gauge route, making it the most extensive light rail system in the United Kingdom. Metrolink is owned by the public body Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and operated and maintained under contract by a Keolis/Amey consortium. In 2021/22, 26 million passenger journeys were made on the system.
Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England, is a combined mainline railway station and Metrolink tram stop. Situated to the north of the city centre on Hunts Bank, close to Manchester Cathedral, it adjoins Manchester Arena which was constructed on part of the former station site in the 1990s. Opened in 1844 and part of the Manchester station group, Victoria is Manchester's third busiest railway station after Piccadilly and Oxford Road and the second busiest station managed by Northern after Oxford Road.
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is a local government body responsible for co-ordinating transport services throughout Greater Manchester in North West England. It is an executive arm of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), the city region's administrative authority. The strategies and policies of Transport for Greater Manchester are set by the GMCA and its Greater Manchester Transport Committee (GMTC). The committee is made up of 33 councillors appointed from the ten Greater Manchester boroughs, as well as the Mayor of Greater Manchester.
Stockport railway station in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, is 8 miles south-east of Manchester Piccadilly on the West Coast Main Line to London Euston.
The Oldham Loop Line was a suburban-line in Greater Manchester, England, used by trains that ran from Manchester Victoria to Rochdale via Oldham Mumps. Services on the line at the time of its closure were operated by Northern Rail.
Rochdale railway station is a multi-modal transport hub in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. It consists of a Northern-operated heavy rail station on the Caldervale Line, and an adjoining light rail stop on Metrolink's Oldham and Rochdale Line. The original heavy-rail element of the station was opened by the Manchester and Leeds Railway in 1839 0.5 miles (0.80 km) to the south of Rochdale town centre. The Metrolink element opened in February 2013. Further changes to the station are planned as part of the Northern Hub rail-enhancement scheme.
Shaw and Crompton is a tram stop on the Oldham and Rochdale Line (ORL) of Greater Manchester's light-rail Metrolink system. It opened to passengers on 16 December 2012 and is located in Shaw and Crompton, a part of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, England.
Hollinwood tram stop is a tram stop and park & ride site on the Manchester Metrolink Oldham and Rochdale Line in Hollinwood, Greater Manchester, England. It was formerly a railway station before its conversion to a tram stop between 2009 and 2012.
Cornbrook tram stop is a tram stop on Greater Manchester's light rail Metrolink system in the Cornbrook area of Manchester, England. It is an interchange station, allowing passenger transfer between the network's Altrincham, Eccles, Airport, Trafford Park and South Manchester lines. The station opened on 6 December 1999 for line transfers and allowed street-level entry and exit to the public from 3 September 2005. It takes its name from Cornbrook Road, between the A56 and Pomona Docks on the Manchester Ship Canal, and was built on what was a Cheshire Lines Committee route to Manchester Central railway station. The stop is one of the most used on the Metrolink network.
The transport infrastructure of Greater Manchester is built up of numerous transport modes and forms an integral part of the structure of Greater Manchester and North West England – the most populated region outside of South East England which had approximately 301 million annual passenger journeys using either buses, planes, trains or trams in 2014. Its position as a national city of commerce, education and cultural importance means the city has one of the largest and most thorough transport infrastructures which is heavily relied upon by its 2.8 million inhabitants in the Greater Manchester conurbation and further afield in the North West region. Public transport comes under the jurisdiction of Transport for Greater Manchester.
Central Park is a tram stop on the Oldham and Rochdale Line (ORL) of Greater Manchester's light rail Metrolink system. It opened to passengers on 13 June 2012 as part of Phase 3a of Metrolink's expansion, and is located in the Newton Heath area of Manchester, England.
Between 1901 and 1949 Manchester Corporation Tramways was the municipal operator of electric tram services in Manchester, England. At its peak in 1928, the organisation carried 328 million passengers on 953 trams, via 46 routes, along 292 miles (470 km) of track.
The history of Manchester Metrolink begins with its conception as Greater Manchester's light rail system in 1982 by the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, and spans its inauguration in 1992 and the successive phases of expansion.
This timeline of Manchester Metrolink lists significant events in the history of Greater Manchester's light rail network.
The East Manchester Line (EML) is a tram line of the Manchester Metrolink in Greater Manchester, England, running from Manchester to Ashton-under-Lyne via Droylsden and Audenshaw. The line opened in 2013 as part of phase three of the system's expansion.
The South Manchester Line (SML) is a tram line of the Manchester Metrolink in Greater Manchester running from Manchester city centre to Didsbury. The line was opened as far as St. Werburgh's Road in 2011 and then to East Didsbury in 2013 as part of phase three of the system's expansion, and runs entirely along a former railway trackbed.
The Oldham and Rochdale Line (ORL) is a tram line of the Manchester Metrolink in Greater Manchester running from Manchester city centre to Rochdale town centre via Oldham, using most of the trackbed of the former Oldham Loop Line which closed in 2009. The line was re-opened in a modified form as a tramway between 2012 and 2014, as part of phase three of the system's expansion.