Manchester's Metrolink 37km (23 miles) railway operation from Altrincham, Bury and Eccles into the City Center. There is currently four services in operation;
Altrincham - Bury
Altrincham - Piccadilly
Bury - Piccadilly
Eccles - Piccadilly via MediaCityUK
The first phase fully opened on the 20th July 1992 between Altrincham, Bury and Piccadilly. Phase 2 to Eccles opened as far as Broadway stop in December 1999 and the whole Eccles line opened on the 18th July 2000, nearly eight years to the day since the last opening.
Services are currently every 12 minutes Monday - Saturday with a 15mins services running on Sunday and bank holidays.
The system is currently having major extension works seeing lines across the Greater Manchester area under the Phase 3 programme. Other than the short MediaCityUK line there are four major projects.
They are
East Manchester Line, extending the Piccadilly services all the way to Ashton-Under-Lyne
South Manchester Line from Trafford Bar to East Disbury
Airport Line from Trafford Bar to Manchester Airport
Rochdale via Oldham to Victoria
The line will be opened in stages along with a second City centre crossing (SCC) completed by mid 2016.
The first of the Phase 3 opening was the MediaCityUK stop on the current Eccles line. This is currently an extra stop rather than the planned additional service from Cornbrook. The stop opened on the 20th September 2010.
The current plan of opening is as such;
Early 2011
Trafford Bar - St Werburgh's Road
Victoria - Central Park
Winter 2011
Central Park - Freehold
Spring 2012
Piccadilly - Droylsden
Freehold - Rochdale Station (not via Oldham town center)
Summer 2013
St Werburgh's Road - East Disbury
Winter 2013
Droylsden - Ashton-Under-Lyne
Spring 2014
Freehold - Derker via Oldham Central
Mid 2016
Deansgate Castlefield - Victoria (New City Centre crossing)
St Werburgh's Road - Manchester Airport via Wythenshawe
Currently there are 44 trams able to work the current routes with many more being deliveried. The original 26 trams (1001-1026) were increased by 6 (2001-2006) for the Eccles extension. For the Phase 3 extension the new Bombardier M5000 trams were ordered. Currently 23 of the new trams have been delivered but only the first 12 can be used due to new operating rules meaning trams 3013-3062 can't be used on the system under this goes live.
Early 2011
Trafford Bar - St Werburgh's Road
Victoria - Central Park
Winter 2011
Central Park - Freehold
Spring 2012
Piccadilly - Droylsden
Freehold - Rochdale Station (not via Oldham town center)
Summer 2013
St Werburgh's Road - East Disbury
Winter 2013
Droylsden - Ashton-Under-Lyne
Spring 2014
Freehold - Derker via Oldham Central
Mid 2016
Deansgate Castlefield - Victoria (New City Centre crossing)
St Werburgh's Road - Manchester Airport via Wythenshawe
Currently there are 44 trams able to work the current routes with many more being deliveried. The original 26 trams (1001-1026) were increased by 6 (2001-2006) for the Eccles extension. For the Phase 3 extension the new Bombardier M5000 trams were ordered. Currently 23 of the new trams have been delivered but only the first 12 can be used due to new operating rules meaning trams 3013-3062 can't be used on the system under this goes live.
