Manchester Metrolink - History

History

The need for a light-rail system in Manchester was born of a desire to link its two main railway stations, Piccadilly and Victoria. In the late 1960s and early 1970s there were plans for a "Picc-Vic tunnel" to carry main-line trains under the city centre. Preliminary work did start and some tunnelling was carried out under the Arndale shopping centre; this was discovered by Manchester University in 2012. The university found via uncovering plans that the Picc-Vicc line was to be the initial core of a city-wide underground rail network. However, this proposal was abandoned because of excessive cost. University lecturer Martin Dodge stated, "In the 1960s and '70s, the Picc-Vic tunnel was a proposed rail route beneath the city centre and would have formed the centrepiece of a new electrified railway network for the region". The cancellation of the underground railway meant a refocus, and plans for a mixed of street-running and segregated-track light-rail tram system were drawn up in 1984. The initial plan was for three lines radiating from the city centre with an estimated cost of £42.5 million. The plans were revised in 1987, and a trial using a prototype Docklands Light Railway train was carried out on a freight-only line.

Authority to begin construction was granted in January 1988. This involved closing the heavy rail lines from Bury to Victoria (which was electrified using a non-standard and life-expired system) and from Altrincham to Manchester Picadilly for conversion, and a new route through the city centre streets. The line opened between Bury and Victoria in April 1992; the full system was operational from July that year.

A second phase, which extended the network to Eccles, was opened to Salford Quays (Broadway stop) in December 1999, and through to Eccles on 18 July 2000. The MediaCityUK spur, which is located on the Eccles line, opened in September 2010. The South Manchester line became the fourth new line to open on the Metrolink network, with trams running to Chorlton on 7 July 2011.

The Oldham line opened on Wednesday 13 June 2012, and replaced a heavy rail line. It terminates at a temporary station close to the old site of Oldham Mumps Railway Station. Beyond Oldham, this route will extend to Rochdale via Shaw by the end of 2013. Eventually, the Mumps route will be abandoned when the line diverts via the streets of central Oldham.