Manchester Metrolink - Eccles line

[Mcr Warrior]

Just a reminder / heads up that the Manchester Metrolink Eccles line (section between Eccles and Media City via Broadway) is temporarily shutting down from end of service tonight (Friday 15th July 2022) until late October for planned track replacement maintenance work.

Section of Gtr Mcr tram line to close for three MONTHS over the summer

Replacement bus services will be running from next weekend

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Extract of story...

There will be no trams between Eccles and MediaCityUK for three months after planned engineering works get underway next week. Between July 16 and October 21, a bus replacement service will be operating between the two Metrolink tops as maintenance is carried out to replace the rails on the Eccles line.

 

[Trackman]

Renewing rails then, seem to have a low life expectancy but I don't much much about tram track. I've heard some of the rails in Manchester city centre are in a bad way too.
Could they not do a section at a time or is it more complicated than that?

 

[WatcherZero]

The track is just over 20 years old. Street embedded track is more work than normal rails as you cant just replace a section you have to dig up and relay the road surface as well so better to do the whole lot at the same time, its not an overnight job.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

The track is just over 20 years old. Street embedded track is more work than normal rails as you cant just replace a section you have to dig up and relay the road surface as well so better to do the whole lot at the same time, its not an overnight job.

Indeed. More like a three months' job, by the looks of it.
The Eccles Metrolink line was opened in 1999/2000, so the trackwork will now be up to 22 years old, if it's part of the original installation, although I do believe that there was some previous remedial work done on the line over a two month period in 2016.

 

[Greybeard33]

Renewing rails then, seem to have a low life expectancy but I don't much much about tram track. I've heard some of the rails in Manchester city centre are in a bad way too.
Could they not do a section at a time or is it more complicated than that?

The original (1992) track in Manchester city centre was replaced in 2009 during a 6 month closure (services terminated at St Peters Square and Victoria). But the additional traffic from the Phase 3 extensions must have increased the wear rate since then.

I understand that the cost of replacing worn out track was a major factor behind the progressive closure of the first generation Manchester tramway network in the 1930s. Much cheaper to tarmac over the track and buy trolleybuses and motor buses.

I fear the cost of on-street track renewals is an Achilles heel of second generation British tram systems too.

 

[507 001]

Indeed. More like a three months' job, by the looks of it.
The Eccles Metrolink line was opened in 1999/2000, so the trackwork will now be up to 22 years old, if it's part of the original installation, although I do believe that there was some previous remedial work done on the line over a two month period in 2016.

The work has been done in stages. The previous closures dealt with the curved parts of the line, which were obviously more heavily worn.

The current closure is to deal with the straight sections on South Langworthy and Eccles New Roads. This should be the last major closure for the next 20 odd years.

The original (1992) track in Manchester city centre was replaced in 2009 during a 6 month closure (services terminated at St Peters Square and Victoria). But the additional traffic from the Phase 3 extensions must have increased the wear rate since then.

I understand that the cost of replacing worn out track was a major factor behind the progressive closure of the first generation Manchester tramway network in the 1930s. Much cheaper to tarmac over the track and buy trolleybuses and motor buses.

I fear the cost of on-street track renewals is an Achilles heel of second generation British tram systems too.

The city centre track isn’t in too bad condition (apart from a few cracked rails, but that’s a different story). The 2009 track seems to be holding up better than the original track did, but there have been some piecemeal replacements over the past few years to try and fend off the need to do it all in one go.

 

[WatcherZero]

Are they keeping up the same pace of grinding?
The argument is that small surface cracks can propogate through the rails so regularly grinding off the top surface even when not required for re-profiling reduces broken rails.

 

[507 001]

Are they keeping up the same pace of grinding?
The argument is that small surface cracks can propogate through the rails so regularly grinding off the top surface even when not required for re-profiling reduces broken rails.

There has just been an extensive grinding program on the Altrincham, East Didsbury and Rochdale lines, as well as the Cornbrook area.

The cracks in the city centre are all climate related.