Are the Metrolink upgrades affecting you?
Posted on August 14th, 2009, by The Chairman
Our Chairman writes:
During August the Metrolink Service out of Altrincham is closed for essential upgrades and work to connect up to MediaCityUK and Chorlton.
Northern Rail are doing their best to accomodate the increase in passengers on the Mid Cheshire Line to Chester.
Let us know how this is affecting you?
5 comments 
Category:
August 14th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Mr Chairman
I am regular traveller out of Piccadilly on the 1709hrs. Whilst I appreciate Northern Rail are doing their best, the experience is not good.
Thank you to MCRUA for keeping up the pressure on swapping the units out when they can. As you say it is an essential upgrade but once again the Mid Cheshire Line and its passengers suffer!
August 31st, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Hi, Jane! I’m just back from holiday. Thanks for your comments. We asked Northern Rail to strengthen peak hour trains during the Metrolink closure, in particular the 1709. They said they were unable to as they are so short of trains. We then asked them to ensure the train for the 1709 was a bigger unit than the Pacer normally used. They did not do this at first, but after the experience of the first few days leaving lots of people behind, they swapped the unit off the 1709 for the larger unit on one of the Stockport starters. I hear the 1709 seems to have coped adequately since then. Let’s hope Metrolink is back to normal tomorrow!
September 1st, 2009 at 8:30 am
Metrolink not quite back yet at Altrincham. Here’s copy of a part of a press release posted this morning…
01/09/2009 – Electrical safety issues affects Metrolink Altrincham
As soon as these issues have been addressed, which it is hoped will be today, trams will start operating on the line.
GMPTE has overseen several major refurbishment and engineering projects at stops and key junctions on the Altrincham and Eccles Metrolink lines, which have been closed since 1 August and were due to reopen today.
This included the replacement all of the electrical overhead power cables on the Altrincham line.
Services on the Eccles line will be running as normal; however, an electrical safety issue with the new power cables on the Altrincham line arose late on Monday evening, which means trams will not run from the start of service.
The replacement bus services that have been running throughout August will continue in the meantime and staff will be on the ground to assist passengers.
GMPTE hopes to overcome some of the issues by lunchtime in order to run a tram service from St Peter’s Square to Old Trafford for this afternoon’s International Twenty20 cricket match.
Philip Purdy, GMPTE’s Metrolink Director, said: ’We have been testing and commissioning the new overhead power lines over the weekend and have come across a number of electrical safety issues which will not allow the system to operate safely. Unfortunately this means we are not in a position to run any trams on the Altrincham line yet.’
’I would like to apologise to passengers affected by this and reassure them that we are doing everything we can to address the situation as soon as possible. We have had contractors working around the clock to find the faults but to no avail.’
’It is frustrating for passengers and for us because we’ve carried out a huge amount of work in the past month that’s really transformed the Altrincham line. However, when we are working with such electrical systems these issues can occur.’
September 3rd, 2009 at 5:08 pm
As at this afternoon, Metrolink is only running as far as Timperley from St Peter’s Square. As some of you know the new overhead wires came down near Deansgate Junction Signalbox late on Wednesday morning. Fortunately only two trains on our line were seriously disrupted (by 40 and 35 minutes). The wires are not yet fully re-hung.
Here’s a comment from the Metrolink web site….
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“03/09/2009 – ALTRINCHAM LINE UPDATE 07:00
Due to an overhead line problem there are currently no services between Timperley and Altrincham.
Work took place during the night to repair the problems from yesterday and a tram service is now operating between St Peters Square and Timperley.
The X5 and X6 bus replacement services are also running from Altrincham to Piccadilly. Please note that some services may be operated by Stagecoach buses, and display METROLINK.
Metrolink apologises for the inconvenience caused.”
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And here’s a comment from Crain’s Manchester Business e-newsletter….
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8:38 am, September 3, 2009
Metrolink says sorry with free services until Sunday
Travel on Metrolink between Manchester city centre, Altrincham and Eccles will be free until the end of Sunday to compensate passengers for this week’s disruption.
There was chaos on Tuesday morning when the services failed to be restored on time after months of being suspended for engineering work.
Passengers on the Bury line who are planning to travel on Altrincham or Eccles services are being advised to buy tickets to Manchester Victoria only.
Weekly, four-weekly or season ticket holders can claim a refund for travel on the lines during this period by writing to Customer Relations, GMPTE, Freepost MR7 116, Manchester, M1 9QL, by 30 September.
Philip Purdy, GMPTE’s Metrolink Director, said: “We feel it is only right to make this gesture to passengers to show our gratitude for their patience during the disruptions this week.
“We fully appreciate that we have not been able to provide the normal level of service they rightly expect and, while we are doing everything within our power to rectify that, we hope that this gesture will go someway towards redressing the balance in the meantime.”
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Hopefully, trams will be running normally into Altrincham tomorrow morning.
September 7th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Hi, folks!
I’m delighted to state that Metrolink reopened to Altrincham today. I travelled on it this afternoon and all was well.
Next step, reopening in Manchester City Centre, currently scheduled for November.