Metrolink @25 A special review in association with Metrolink is just one sign of Manchester's ambitions of becoming a world-class city. The Beetham Tower, completed in 2016, is another; it is currently the tallest building outside the UK capital. This special celebration of 25 years of Manchester Metrolink is produced in association with Tramways & Urban Transit © 2017 Contributors: Tony Streeter, Neil Pulling Design: Debbie Nolan Production: Lanna Blyth Commercial: Geoff Butler TAUT Editor: Simon Johnston All images by Neil Pulling unless otherwise stated. Grateful thanks are due to the staff of Manchester Metrolink and Transport for Greater Manchester, past and present, in particular: Chris Allen, Mike Anderson, Graham Barrow, Chris Coleman, Marie Daly, Michael Del Rosso, Councillor Andrew Fender, Aline Frantzen, Steve Johnston, Dr Jon Lamonte, Gary Scanlon, Graham Thornton, Danny Vaughan and Tony Young. Metrolink @25 We’ve come a long way… t is hard to believe that it has been more than 25 years since the first Metrolink service left the Queen’s I Road depot back in 1992. The network’s journey from humble beginnings to the largest light rail system in the UK is certainly a remarkable one. The phenomenal GBP1.5bn (EUR1.7bn) expansion programme completed earlier in 2017 has been one of the largest and most ambitious transport projects ever to be delivered in the UK. We now have a system that spans over 97km (60 miles), boasts 120 trams and serves 93 stops at key destinations across the city region. The distinctive yellow Councillor Andrew Fender, Chair of the Transport for Greater trams are one of Greater Manchester’s most recognisable Manchester Committee. TfGM sights – an integral part of people’s lives. Back on 17 July 1992, when Her Majesty The Queen officially opened Metrolink, it was a different picture. A fleet of just 26 East Didsbury, Rochdale via Oldham, Ashton and Manchester trams ran to 20 stops along 31km (19 miles) of track between Airport. Patronage has rocketed from eight million journeys in Altrincham and Bury via Manchester city centre. The opening Metrolink’s first year to a staggering 40 million in 2017. of the UK’s first on-street running light rail extension – to Eccles This year saw the final piece in the jigsaw as we celebrated via Salford Quays – followed in 1999-2000. Since these early the completion of another ambitious project: the Second achievements, Metrolink has grown rapidly to become the City Crossing (2CC). This short but significant section of largest light rail system in the country. new line through the heart of Manchester city centre is The multi-award winning Phase 3 programme has trebled already playing a vital role in improving reliability and the size of the network with extensions to MediaCityUK, providing much-needed capacity and flexibility for a still-growing network. Metrolink has been a strong catalyst for further investment and economic growth, helping to deliver regeneration in the areas it serves, including MediaCityUK, Oldham and Wythenshawe town centres. This year we have started work on yet another major Metrolink project – the GBP350m ‘It has been a (EUR400m) Trafford remarkable journey, Park Line, due to open in 2020. and one I’m This six-stop line will offer fast privileged to have and frequent seen first-hand.’ connections to jobs, leisure, shopping and Councillor Andrew Fender cultural destinations along the 5.5km (3.4-mile) route, including connections to employment at Trafford Park, Europe’s largest industrial estate. And, in our jubilee year, a new operator has taken over Metrolink’s reigns. KeolisAmey Metrolink – a partnership between two international transport and infrastructure management specialists – signed a contract to operate and maintain the network from this summer, with a commitment to create more than 300 new jobs including drivers, apprenticeships and traineeships. Customers are already reaping the benefits of an increased staff and security presence across the network. It therefore couldn’t be a better time to celebrate Metrolink’s impressive history and the many successes of the past 25 years. It has been a remarkable journey, and one I’m privileged to have seen first-hand, and my thanks go to all Generation those who have worked so hard to turn those early dreams game: T68 and ambitions into a reality. 1003 meets Their collective dedication and focus has helped us to M5000 3013 at deliver a truly world-class transport system for the people Piccadilly on of Greater Manchester – now we turn our attention to the 24 March 2017. next 25 years. 25 years of Metrolink ❚ 3 Metrolink @25 Metrolink: A vision of unity ack in 1992, Metrolink was experimental stuff. setbacks and rejections, but that success has also led others The opening of a line that weaved together former to increasingly ask: ‘How have they done it?’ B British Rail heavy rail routes with street-running across Visitors from around the world are regularly welcomed Manchester’s city centre had never been seen before. to England’s north-west to help answer that very question, In 2017 the system completed its multi-year ‘Big Bang’ quizzing local authorities, designers, contractors and that has more than trebled its size. Greater Manchester’s operators alike. The answer, as all will tell you, is unity. There is a light rail network is now the UK’s biggest, and one that has strong sense of community within all of these parties, working become a touchstone for an industry that has reached a together towards one common goal: We are Metrolink. level of maturity equal to its European neighbours. As Transport for Greater Manchester begins work on its It sits as a shining example of what is possible with a latest extension, it’s worth reflecting on the system’s birth and long-term vision of how transport can help to reconnect remembering that the idea of fixed-track urban connections often disparate communities. Its success hasn’t come without for the city isn’t exactly a new one… An image of the modern Metrolink, M5000 tram 3017 speeds its way through St Peter’s Square on the Second City Crossing in 2017. Metrolink timeline Development news Key achievements/dates Line openings Tram Operator change 1984 1990 - JUNE 1991 1992 - APRIL The first Bill is submitted The design, build, operate Work begins to convert The first Metrolink to the UK's Parliament and maintain contract for Bury and Altrincham heavy trams run from Bury to for permission to build Metrolink Phase 1 – Bury rail lines with new track Manchester Victoria. Metrolink. to Altrincham – is awarded through the city centre. to GMA Group. 4 ❚ 25 years of Metrolink A SELNEC (South East Lancashire North East Cheshire) Passenger Transport Executive map of the proposed Picc-Vic tunnel that was never realised. TfGM Central Manchester, 1991: Metrolink tracks and overhead poles on Mosley Street, with tracks to Piccadilly Gardens leading to the right. Museum of Transport, Greater Manchester A consortium including GEC, Mowlem and Amec was appointed to design, build, operate and maintain the first phase of Metrolink. The idea was to increase connectivity into and across the city, at the same time breathing new life into old and under-utilised commuter lines. A quarter-century on, we can see how successful that vision has been. From underground to street-running At the time Metrolink was conceived it was seen as a bold step – though not as bold as a previous proposal that would have seen a tunnelled connection across the city centre. If the ‘Picc-Vic’ scheme had come to fruition it would have seen a roughly 5km (three-mile) line dug under the city centre to connect (as the name suggests) the major stations of Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria. Unlike in many other countries, the UK’s 19th Century railway boom was driven not by the state, but by private finance – and that resulted in the two stations not being physically linked, despite being only around 1.5km (one mile) HM Queen Elizabeth II unveils a plaque in St Peter’s Square at the apart. Piccadilly opened in 1842, Victoria in 1844. official opening of Metrolink on 17 July 1992, with Councillor Jack Flanagan (left) and the late Joe Clarke, Chairman of the Greater Like its future Metrolink counterpart, the Picc-Vic project was Manchester PTA. Museum of Transport, Greater Manchester visionary. Twenty years in its conception, twin tunnels would connect five stations and, significantly, it would have been electrified and built to a mainline loading gauge. Trains were scheme and it would be another decade before proposals to run every two-and-half-minutes at the core of the network for a surface-running metropolitan light railway were finalised. and moving underground travelators would have linked Now, Manchester itself has a population of around 500 000, Piccadilly Gardens, St Peter’s Square and Oxford Road station. with the wider metropolitan region containing a further 2.3 A five-year construction project was scheduled to begin in million. This is expected to grow to over three million in the September 1973, but this was rejected by a cash-strapped UK next two decades, and the city and region are changing to Government in the midst of an economic crisis the following the point that by that time it will be unrecognisable to even year. All that remains today is an escalator well lying silently the planners of the 1950s and ’60s who conceived the below the Arndale shopping centre for a station that was Picc-Vic. As such, Manchester is regarded by many as the never built, the only part of exploratory works for the project.