Manchester Metrolink (Non speculative discussion)

[507 001]

Will this be a temporary siding for the tram works closing the Altrincham line ??

Yes, I believe so.

 

[Bantamzen]

Just after Old Trafford tram stop, inbound, the old part of the four track MSJAR are has been stoned over and a single line laid, with stockpiles of rail and sleepers etc. The city end of which has been curved towards the inbound tram track. Will this be a temporary siding for the tram works closing the Altrincham line ??

From Monday 13 July to Sunday 2 August, tram improvement works will take place at Deansgate-Castlefield and Trafford Bar. During this time, additional works will take place along the Eccles line, allowing us to reduce further closures of the tram network.
The following changes will be in place across the network:

• No trams will operate on the Eccles, Trafford Centre and Altrincham lines
• Services operating on the East Didsbury/Manchester Airport lines will terminate at Firswood.
• Services operating on the Rochdale line will terminate at Exchange Square.

Replacement buses will operate between the affected stops.

https://tfgm.com/tram-improvement-works/deansgate-castlefield-and-trafford-bar-works

Crikey, that's a lot of the network out of use for 3 weeks! It's going to be chaos as a lot of people will probably opt to drive rather than wait for replacement buses or stuff themselves onto service buses.

 

[Driver12345]

Yes, I believe so.

I've been informed this is new track ready to be put into postion, there is no need for a siding there as there is no trams operating through the area.

 

[507 001]

I've been informed this is new track ready to be put into postion, there is no need for a siding there as there is no trams operating through the area.

That’s what I thought at first, but the more I look at it the less that makes sense. It’s on absolutely knackered old sleepers for a start. J-MN reckoned it was a temporary siding when I was speaking to him a few days ago.

 

[Paul AC]

The last few sleepers at the north end are now aligned to curve into the running line, so I assumed a siding was being built. If there's lots of material needing to be loaded into/onto wagons, as the big piles of stuff suggest, it would be easier doing this on a siding rather than, say, trying to do it on a running line, even one not actually in use at the time. Also avoids any worries about fouling the overhead line, even though you'd expect that to be isolated.

 

[Tim33160]

The last few sleepers at the north end are now aligned to curve into the running line, so I assumed a siding was being built. If there's lots of material needing to be loaded into/onto wagons, as the big piles of stuff suggest, it would be easier doing this on a siding rather than, say, trying to do it on a running line, even one not actually in use at the time. Also avoids any worries about fouling the overhead line, even though you'd expect that to be isolated.

As at Weds, the rails have been removed from this "siding" leaving only the sleepers!
Piles of stone and earth remain, along with various cabins and huts etc.

 

[Rail Ranger]

There will be a further two-week closure in the autumn: Major Metrolink closures are set to hit Greater Manchester from next week as 1.6km of track is replaced – here are all the tram lines affected https://share.google/d9DvKSzGv3F4icmhy

 

[Paul AC]

There will be a further two-week closure in the autumn: Major Metrolink closures are set to hit Greater Manchester from next week as 1.6km of track is replaced – here are all the tram lines affected https://share.google/d9DvKSzGv3F4icmhy

The horse's mouth is advert free - link to engineering works page on TfGM website https://tfgm.com/tram-improvement-works/deansgate-castlefield-and-trafford-bar-works

 

[Rail Ranger]

There is more detail in the Secret Manchester article (presumably sourced from a press release).

 

[py_megapixel]

There is more detail in the Secret Manchester article (presumably sourced from a press release).

TfGM actually puts its press releases on its own public facing website, which is quite handy (albeit not the best designed site in the world)

https://news.tfgm.com/press-release...th-major-track-and-lift-replacement-programme

 

[sprunt]

Sorry, what is this supposed two-week closure in Autumn? I can't find anything in Autumn on any of these links except some Sunday morning clousres.

 

[jfollows]

13 July to 2 August.
From the link in the post preceding yours.
Is your argument that this is not “autumn”?

• No trams to run on several lines as 1.6km of track is replaced between Trafford Bar and Deansgate-Castlefield
• UK-first use of specialist equipment to carry out complex work where Eccles and Altrincham lines meet at Cornbrook
• Section of track is one of the busiest light-rail routes in the world, with one tram passing through every 30 seconds
• Work starting in July kicks off the replacement of 6km of track through to March 2027, using 12,000 tonnes of new rail.
• It’s part of a £150m investment in the network making it safer and more resilient and reliable for years to come

Specialist lifting equipment will be used in the UK for the first time when upgrades to Metrolink continue this month, with tracks being replaced at Trafford Bar and Deansgate-Castlefield. Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) will also replace several lifts at tram stations at the same time.

From Monday 13 July to Sunday 2 August, TfGM will replace around 1.6km of track – parts of which are more than 30 years old – at Trafford Bar and Deansgate-Castlefield, as well as working on a separate section on the Eccles line at the same time.

The track between Trafford Bar and St Peter’s Square is one of the busiest sections of light-rail in the world, with one tram passing through every 30 seconds for 20 hours a day, seven days a week.

While the work is being done, no trams will run on the Eccles, Trafford Centre and Altrincham lines. Services on the East Didsbury and Manchester Airport lines will terminate at Firswood, while services on the Rochdale line will terminate at Exchange Square.

Replacement buses will run between affected stops, with normal services due to resume from Monday 3 August. There will be a special event bus service running for the cricket at Old Trafford on 26 and 31 July (The Hundred, Manchester Super Giants vs Birmingham and then Trent Rockets).

Work will also take place at Eccles and the city centre around Piccadilly Gardens during this closure (13 July-29 July). This will help to reduce the need for further disruptions to the network.

 

[sefyllian]

The press release also says:

Due to the scale of the work at Trafford Bar and Deansgate-Castlefield – and to keep disruption to a minimum – there will also be a further two-week closure in the autumn to complete this phase.

But no more detail than that.

 

[sprunt]

13 July to 2 August.
From the link in the post preceding yours.
Is your argument that this is not “autumn”?

I don't think it's my argument that late July isn't autumn, it's factually not autumn.

The press release also says:


But no more detail than that.

But thanks for that.

 

[Gostav]

Will this opportunity be taken to make some changes to the track layout of the network?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Will this opportunity be taken to make some changes to the track layout of the network?

What did you have in mind? I'll just be happy if/when many of the extremely tedious 5 m.p.h. temporary speed restrictions are fixed.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

What is the current Metrolink time procedure for dealing with lineside graffiti. The area between Cornbrook and Trafford Bar is an utter disgrace.

 

[Tim33160]

Diving in to the replacement buses for the three week shutdown of Metrolink south of the city centre
https://tfgm.com/tram-improvement-works/deansgate-castlefield-and-trafford-bar-works#bus

Trafford Centre Line : Buses every 30mins daytime upto 8pm - nothing after that
Altrincham line: Buses every 7.5 mins outbound M-Sat or 5/10mins inbound upto 8pm - then every 30 mins : Sundays every 15 mins to end of service
East Didsbury line : Buses every 7.5mins from Chorlton

So its a double decker bus replacing each double tram ?? and nothing to Trafford Centre after 8pm !

Looks to dissuade passengers traveling ??

 

[Rail Ranger]

In practice fewer people travel during engineering works. Journey times are much longer. Altrincham and Navigation Road have the train.

 

[cool110]

A lot of people will switch over to normal service buses as well, in that regard Trafford Centre is already well served enough in the evenings

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Why aren't there any trams operating out of the Metrolink Trafford depot and running just between Old Trafford and Altrincham?

 

[Rail Ranger]

Perhaps to do with all the ballast and sleepers currently stored at Old Trafford which will need to be moved to the work sites during the blockade?

 

[Howardh]

I'm on the tram Manchester Victoria to Oldham on Saturday,, the only change to the normal service is they run every 15 mins, am I correct?

 

[Rail Ranger]

During the day there are trams every 7.5 minutes between Manchester Victoria and Oldham (services to Rochdale and Shaw). The Rochdale line is closed for engineering work on Sunday 12th July. Tram times can be found by planning a journey at www.traveline.info.

 

[Howardh]

During the day there are trams every 7.5 minutes between Manchester Victoria and Oldham (services to Rochdale and Shaw). The Rochdale line is closed for engineering work on Sunday 12th July. Tram times can be found by planning a journey at www.traveline.info.

Thanks!

 

[M60lad]

Tram journeys including any tram replacement journeys can also be found on BusTimes.org.

 

[Tim33160]

Diving in to the replacement buses for the three week shutdown of Metrolink south of the city centre
https://tfgm.com/tram-improvement-works/deansgate-castlefield-and-trafford-bar-works#bus

Trafford Centre Line : Buses every 30mins daytime upto 8pm - nothing after that
Altrincham line: Buses every 7.5 mins outbound M-Sat or 5/10mins inbound upto 8pm - then every 30 mins : Sundays every 15 mins to end of service
East Didsbury line : Buses every 7.5mins from Chorlton

So its a double decker bus replacing each double tram ?? and nothing to Trafford Centre after 8pm !

Looks to dissuade passengers traveling ??

Looks like the Sunday evenings have now been changed to match the Mon - Sat ev30mins

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Jul 2026 ==

Seems to be serious issues upcoming with the Metrolink Replacement project (The three week closure)

Apparently there is serious lack of replacement operator availability (quoted as due to buses been on contracted school work – schools not yet finished for summer)

Over this weekend 11/12 July all mentions of replacement bus frequency have been removed from the online pages, there was also PDF of the timetables published on the site which have now been removed .
https://tfgm.com/tram-improvement-works/deansgate-castlefield-and-trafford-bar-works

It now says “Replacement bus services will operate from the start of service. After 8pm services will be less frequent”

The published timetables were showing buses running every 15mins daytime / 30 minutes after 8pm on all replacement routes e.g. buses from Chorlton to Manchester (for Didsbury line and Airport line trams) were every 15/30 mins - so 4 trams worth passengers been placed onto 1 replacement bus!

Additional to this, there are NO bus replacements on the Trafford Park line after 2000 with tickets now said to be able to be used on 30/250 Only - any other services will require a new ticket

 

[py_megapixel]

Apparently there is serious lack of replacement operator availability (quoted as due to buses been on contracted school work – schools not yet finished for summer)

Where is this quoted, please?

 

[Tim33160]

Where is this quoted, please?

perhaps I should have used " said to be" or "apparently"

 

[py_megapixel]

perhaps I should have used " said to be" or "apparently"

Same question applies though - what's the source of this information?

I don't have a problem if it's an internal source that doesn't have a link, but if it's just your speculation then it's good to keep that separate from official information.