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Tuesday, 05 May 2009Pieces fall into place for MediaCityUK tram line

Transport bosses in Greater Manchester have secured the final piece of the legal jigsaw that will see trams running to a new multimillion pound development in Salford.

GMPTE (Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive) has officially been given powers to run trams to the heart of MediaCityUK in Salford Quays, as construction work gets under way on the new quarter-of-a-mile line.

The successful application, made under the Transport and Works Act (TWA), follows on from a series of public consultations held last year and a successful planning application, which was approved in October 2007.

MediaCityUK will be home to the BBC's new northern headquarters and is expected to create 15,500 jobs and bring £1 billion to the regional economy in its first five years.

Councillor Richard Knowles, Chair of Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority's (GMITA) Development and Operations Committee, which oversees Metrolink developments, said: "All the pieces are now falling into place for the MediaCityUK line.

"The successful TWA application is the latest milestone in our efforts to bring trams to this important new development in Salford Quays, and is an essential part of the process.

"We're finalising the detailed designs for the civil and infrastructure elements of the spur at the moment, but initial construction work is already underway - we've cleared the foundations and we'll start building work in mid-May. It's a very exciting time."

The new tram line will leave the existing Eccles Metrolink line just before the Broadway Metrolink stop and end at a new MediaCityUK stop.

It is being funded by the North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA), Salford City Council and developers Peel Media - the organisations behind the MediaCityUK development - and is due to open in summer 2010.

GMPTE has ordered four new trams to run on the line, which will double the frequency of daytime services into Salford Quays.

A dedicated peak-time service between Cornbrook and the MediaCityUK stop will run five times an hour between 7.15am and 8pm, Mondays to Fridays, and 9am to 8pm on Saturdays.

The existing Eccles service will serve MediaCityUK off-peak, operating five trams an hour Mondays to Saturdays, and four an hour on Sundays.

The project forms part of a wider £600 million expansion of the Metrolink network, which will see new lines built to Oldham and Rochdale, Droylsden in Tameside and Chorlton in South Manchester.

To find out more about the project, call the Metrolink public liaison team on 0161 244 1555 (open during office hours), email future.metrolink@gmpte.gov.uk or visit www.gmpte.com/futuremetrolink.

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