Making Metrolink well, a bit more Metro-Y

[Jozhua]

Hey all!

As Manchester continues to grow, as one of the UK's major cities, adding extra transport capacity is obviously vitally important.

This is very much speculative - I've got a bit of a proposal for a new line that will help lay the foundations for a more Metro version of Metrolink, one that tunnels below the city centre and for a decent length of its path, using elevated rail viaducts for other parts and following existing/past rail alignments.

METROLink - Google Maps


Northbound on Line 1, takes us from St Peter's Square, to Salford Central, Crescent, Pendleton before joining the existing mainline at Irlam to Walkden. Going this way helps to relieve pressure on Salford Crescent, but also helps bring people from the North of the city to the South of it by rail without needing to use the Castlefield Corridor. Salford is poorly served by existing public transportation, in fact, the line is very much focused on bringing a high quality local transport connection to areas not yet served by Metrolink. I was intending of stopping the line at Walkden, but I saw a handy lil old alignment that could perhaps carry the line further North up towards Bolton with limited demolition.

Southbound on Line 1, takes us from St Peter's Square to Oxford Road, following Oxford Road underground until it reaches fallowfield. After fallowfield, it turns East, interchanging with Mauldeth Road station. It continues East, connecting Mauldeth Road station to Heaton Chapel station. From heaton chapel, the line resurfaces and follows/uses the existing rail alignment to take the line into Stockport, where it will terminate.

Another line I added was Picc/Vic. This is a short shuttle that interchanges with Line 1 at St Peter's Square. At Piccadilly, the underground station will be connected to the proposed underground station for the existing Metrolink network.

I would probably not use light rail as we see in the existing network, but rather go for a DLR model of shorter, more frequent self driving trains, as it will not have any street level running. The only possible challenge with this is any areas that are shared with the existing network, but I'm sure it would be easy enough to do if extra tracks are added to segregate things.

What are your thoughts, what would you do to improve Manchester's local transport network?

 

[Purple Orange]

There are plans that already exist for this in the 2040 plan

• Tram/train conversion (Atherton, Glossop, Hadfield, Marple, CLC to Warrington
• Media City to Salford Crescent then City centre
• A line from Salford Crescent to St Peters Sq via Salford Central
• An underground line from east of Piccadilly to Cornbrook.

(Some people on this forum get upset about converting from heavy rail and increasing frequency to 5 or 10 tph).

 

[Jozhua]

There are plans that already exist for this in the 2040 plan

• Tram/train conversion (Atherton, Glossop, Hadfield, Marple, CLC to Warrington
• Media City to Salford Crescent then City centre
• A line from Salford Crescent to St Peters Sq via Salford Central
• An underground line from east of Piccadilly to Cornbrook.

(Some people on this forum get upset about converting from heavy rail and increasing frequency to 5 or 10 tph).

I still think Oxford Road corridor deserves a proper connection, as the busiest bus route in Europe, it certainly proves the demand is there.

But, looking at the proposals for 2040, I'm pretty impressed! The underground line from the east of Piccadilly is definitely important, as the current street-level city centre stuff is becoming far too jammed up already.

I don't know how I feel about conversion from heavy rail. I think it definitely depends on the service being provided and as Sheffield has shown, it doesn't have to be one or the other.

I would also be interested to see what stock they use in the future. As so many trams run as double sets anyway, something that is that length but one continuous unit could provide more capacity by cutting out that cab space. Maybe an M5000XL... In that respect, it would probably begin to look quite metro-y. If we're going to go out as far as Warrington, especially when sharing space with other heavy rail, increasing top speeds a bit is probably another goal that the 2040 stock should have. 75mph seems like a reasonable goal. I'm presuming the stock will also have the ability to use 25KV overheads if they are sharing with mainline rail, which would mean they can draw more power on those routes. In fact, I wonder if the under-city tunnel is built from new, if they'd just 25KV electrify it, especially considering that AC and DC clearances are practically the same now.

Interesting to speculate

 

[Purple Orange]

I agree that Oxford Road and Wilmslow Road are areas that need a metro. I wonder if an underground line is built east-west, it will start as a catalyst for a north-south line in decades to come.

 

[Jozhua]

I agree that Oxford Road and Wilmslow Road are areas that need a metro. I wonder if an underground line is built east-west, it will start as a catalyst for a north-south line in decades to come.

Yeah, I think a metro would be best, because it would probably have to be underground anyway. Trying to ram a tram down curry mile would be a pain!

The area doesn't appear perhaps built up enough on the maps, but considering the number of house shares & student accommodation, it's a pretty significant number of people. Also a lot of people living without cars. The density at the top end of Oxford Road is pretty intense and only getting more so!

Salford is also upzoning quite significantly, but a tram connection is in the works. I do wonder how they will route the new line. Chapel street is probably wide enough to accomodate street running alongside traffic, however there are a couple of very busy intersections coming out of Salford Central and a lot of buses also use the route.

 

[Purple Orange]

I would guess that the tram would be segregated street running along chapel street in the main. Salford University have released plans where a significant stretch is car free, with only buses and trams allowed on Chapel Street. It’s quite a dense looking scheme and could be a bit like Oxford Road in terms of people volume. That lends itself to how the city centre is growing. Manchester has not really needed a proper underground railway network with several lines, each with 5 or 6 city centre stations, simply because the city centre size has not warranted it. However it is coming to a point where it is needed. That central area needs to be thought of in terms of Salford Quays to New Islington and Whitworth Park to Salford Crescent. On that basis, two underground lines could be feasible in the future, should growth continue,