TfGM want to show passengers, partners and the whole of the region their support in encouraging people to visit the variety of local amenities, leisure facilities and events for which our region is renowned.

They’re also launching this initiative to build on the huge support the ‘I Love MCR’ campaign has already gained from residents, business and organisations throughout the city and beyond.

A Transport for Greater Manchester voucher for free travel will be printed in the Manchester Evening News later this week, and will also be available to download from the TfGM website.

The voucher will allow groups of up to two adults and up to three children under 16 to travel free on the Metrolink network between 10am and 6pm on Sunday 21 August. There must be at least one adult in the group.

Single adults or two adults together can also use the voucher.

Might be a good time to try the new branch to St. Werburgh’s Road (Chorlton).

It’s quick to download – just click here.

Our previous posts covering Tram-Train have included:
- Tram-Train – Why are we waiting? and
- Cheshire, Warrington & Merseyside – A Case for Tram-Train.

The sooner we get a decent timetable on our line rather than just one train an hour for most of the day, the sooner we’ll see usage increase and a part-transfer of traffic off the heavily-congested nearby A556.

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“As you may be aware, Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority (GMITA) is proposing to close the Mosley Street Metrolink stop in Manchester city centre.

The closure of the stop will offer passengers faster journey times for outbound services, improve access and visibility to retailers at the rear of the stop and will enable tram traffic to be managed more effectivily through the city centre particular as the network is extended.

Earlier this year, GMITA granted approval to proceed with the formal closure procedure with the Department for Transport. As part of the closure process, the Department for Transport will be launching the public consultation on the proposals this week. Notices will be published in the regional press this week and next week to announce the consultation.

Anyone wishing to respond will have until 9 February 2011 to do so, after which the Department for Transport will collate the responses to allow ministers to make their decision in conjunction with the Office of Rail Regulation.

If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards
Steve Burns
Metrolink Stakeholder Manager, Metrolink Projects
GMPTE
2 Piccadilly Place, Manchester M1 3BG
Direct line 0161 244 1242 Office fax 0161 244 1316 Mobile 07884 263 407
www.gmpte.com”
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It all sounds very positive according to their letter.

Users from Mid-Cheshire may agree or otherwise.

We intend to respond. If this affects you, please let us have your thoughts ….

Here’s the Mosley Street Closure Assessment recently come to hand (21/11/10). £1.2m seems a huge amount for the extension of one platform. If that was the cheapest quote, goodness knows what the most expensive was!!

The line is expected to remain closed until some time on Thursday (19th August).

Replacement buses are running from Altrincham bus station (stand M) calling at all stations to Trafford Bar. 

Trams are running from Old Trafford to Piccadilly. We can expect the Mid-Cheshire line to be quite cosy at peak periods!

We’ve been doing a bit of digging and have heard the following, though it may not be correct ….

Apparently, it seems the M5000s ride very roughly once they travel over 35mph. On the Altrincham Line in order to keep time, it’s important they operate at 50mph between stations. Otherwise, this leads to lots of knock on delays.

We also hear that the clearance into platform 1 at Altrincham is such that the M5000s have to approach it very slowly and have to stop short of where the trams normally stop, otherwise they hit the platform edge.

How much of this is true, we don’t know, but it may explain why we don’t seem to see them any more.

As the older trams are more comfortable, have more seats and are less bumpy, we’re happy about that!

If you know more, please let us know.

There are 30 Real Ales from around the North-West on tap. Entrance is £5 on the door.

Remember from our line to ask for a through ticket to Sale Metrolink (Sale MTLK) – it’s cheaper than a return to Altrincham and then an Altrincham to Sale return on the tram. Northern Duos are not available for use on Metrolink and only Greater Manchester Senior Cards are valid for concessionary over 60s travel.

After all the disappointment of having our services downgraded:
- when the line through Sale was handed over to Metrolink in 1990, and then again:
- in December 2008, when the Department for Transport (DfT) allocated more of the line capacity between Stockport and Manchester for “more and faster trains to London”,
tram/train would allow us to keep the hourly service to Manchester via Stockport, and for the other two trains an hour to go into Manchester on the old route through Sale.

They’d be trains whilst on our line, and trams whilst on Metrolink through Sale.

Tram/Train is a concept well known. It’s been running in Germany since the 1970s, and versions of it are seen in France, Germany & USA.

The UK trial started around 2 years ago on the Penistone Line. Two years later, there’s still no visible signs of anything happening.

So, why are we waiting?

Whilst we wait, here’s some pictures I took on my mobile phone last Friday of tram/train in …. England.

Yes, England!

Joining Network Rail tracks from the Tyne & Wear Metro tracks at Pelaw

Not a great day for weather and my mobile phone is not the best camera, plus why are the front windows on the Tyne & Wear Metro so often filthy?

A Class 180 passes at line speed - 70 mph

Almost immediately having joined the Network Rail line from Pelaw to Sunderland, we were passed by a Grand Central empty stock class 180 DMU working back to its depot at Heaton, just north east of Newcastle.

The branch to Tyne Dock

Tyne Dock is busy again, currently being used to load imported coal into block freight trains for use in power stations further south.

A passing Tyne & Wear Metro double set

There’s a tram to South Hilton via Sunderland every 12 minutes, in between which run Northern Rail trains up to 2 an hour, plus the Grand Central empty stock workings, plus the freight trains to and from Tyne Dock.

A class 142 Pacer approaches Sunderland

Behind the filth on the front window you can just see a class 142 Pacer emerging from underneath a bridge prior to crossing the River Wear Bridge into Sunderland.

Then it started raining. Definitely not a good day for pictures!

A Grand Central class 180 train heads for Sunderland, then Kings Cross

Back at Pelaw, the rain’s stopped. First GBRf 66713 waits with empties for Tyne Dock to follow the next tram, whilst a double tram set waits in the turn back sidings for its path to return north through Newcastle. Shortly afterwards, 66714 arrived with another train of empties to await its turn to go down for loading.

First GBRf 66713 waits with empties

Meanwhile, Mid-Cheshire’s economy badly needs tram/train to make commuting from places like Northwich and Knutsford much easier into the Manchester City Region. But we have to wait for a UK trial which currently doesn’t seem to be progressing, to trial something that we’re already doing!

Why are we waiting?

The proposed 4.5km Chorlton to East Didsbury extension, on a former railway line, will include five new stops connecting Chorlton with Withington, West Didsbury, Burton Road Didsbury Village and East Didsbury.

The Ashton extension will see 3.9 km of new track laid and four new stops, connecting the town centres of Droylsden and Ashton.

The funding will also pay for 6 extra trams to be added to the Metrolink fleet and two new park-and-ride sites at Ashton Moss and Ashton West.

The new extensions are in addition to work currently underway to expand existing lines into Oldham, Rochdale and Chorlton.

Main construction works on the two extensions will begin early next year, with the East Didsbury line ready for service in summer 2013 and the Ashton line ready for service in winter 2013/14.

The Metrolink extensions to Wythenshawe and Manchester Airport have also been given £26m of funding from the Greater Manchester Transport Fund. That line should open in 2016.

Happening at last!

That’s the headline in the Altrincham Messenger about the redevelopment plans for Altrincham Interchange.

To read the article complete with a picture of our very own Andrew Macfarlane, click here.

What do you think?

New Tram 3001 at Piccadilly Gardens around 1230 on 6/1/10 - (c) Mike Battman

We hear Metrolink will start running their new trams next week. Apparently they now have seven – numbers 3001 to 3007.

If you get a good picture of one, email it to me – john.oates@mcrua.org.uk – we’ll put the best ones up on the Blog.

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As you can see, I’ve added pictures sent in on 6/1/10 by Mike Battman. Thanks, Mike!

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New Tram 3001 at Piccadilly Gardens on 6/1/10 around 1230 (c) Mike Battman