Manchester Metrolink - Airport line

[Starmill]

As I said, TfGM already believe that it's too late. Hence why all the maps have now been updated.

We apparently have enough trams to run the airport and continue the velopark turn backs.

Turning at the velopark also gives us an easy way of maintaining route knowledge as the actual turn back isn't included with Ashton line route learning.

Thing is though is that it's been proved a number of times that it is possible to turn the medias in Sheffield street.

Well, quite. I suppose it's possible, but simply looked on as an easy way to attempt to improve reliability/reduce delays - rather than actually operating a reliable fleet to a robust timetable with clever contigencies, they just plonk extra not in service trams in and hope. It does work, clearly, but along with not using the comprehensively remodeled Cornbrook it just shows scared, weak management!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Why? There's a perfectly good heavy rail link... In fact the same argument applies to the Bury and Alty lines to be honest...

The difference being that whilst the Bolton line carries regular heavy rail services to a number of destinations, the former heavy rail lines to both Bury and to Altrincham have had a complete changeover to handle the Manchester Metrolink light rail services and both Bury and Altrincham are interchanges with a bus station. Of those, only Altrincham offers an existing heavy rail service, that being one from Manchester/Stockport to Chester.

 

[BurtonM]

Airport Line OHLE is now visible from the M60 around Sale.

 

[martin2345uk]

Airport Line OHLE is now visible from the M60 around Sale.

Indeedy. here it is by Sale Water Park stop



And OLE poles soon to come in Chorlton:

 

[snowball]

Metrolink tracklaying within the airport station has begun today.

All the rest of the track for the airport line has been in place for a few weeks.

About half the overhead line is up, and the great majority of the poles.

A good deal of work remains to be done to complete the reinstatement of roads, footpaths and street furniture.

 

[northwichcat]

Maybe to deter the good folk of Wythenshawe from becoming as cable thieves

The first day of Chorlton services were disrupted due to cable theft!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

When one looks at the original project open date, matters have proceeded quite well.
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Trackwork preparation in progress at the airport terminus with sleepers being laid today.

 

[WatcherZero]

The first day of Chorlton services were disrupted due to cable theft!

Also by far the line with the worst graffiti problem.

 

[snowball]

Tram testing to start 22 June between the junction with the Didsbury line and Sale Water Park.

 

[neilmc]

Tram testing to start 22 June between the junction with the Didsbury line and Sale Water Park.

Exciting! Any chance of a phased opening?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Exciting! Any chance of a phased opening?

Won't they go all out for the "Big-Bang" total opening from St Werburgh's Road to the Airport itself, as works in different sections have all been running concurrently for a long period of time. ?

 

[Manchester77]

Yes it's still set to open all in one however dynamic testing will be a long process because of how long the line is and so if a part is ready now then they should get a move on I guess!

 

[familyguy99]

If MEN (Manchester Evening News) is right then line to Airport will be opening this year.

The tram line to Wythenshawe and the airport will be ready for passengers THIS YEAR - after Metrolink fast-tracked the project by 12 months.

The route from Cornbrook will be launched before the end of 2014, well ahead of schedule.

Services will initially run between Manchester Airport and Cornbrook every 12 minutes.

They will run through the city centre once the Second City Crossing is complete in 2017.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/video-manchester-airport-metrolink-line-7300833
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It now be confirm by TFGM that Airport line will be opening this year.

http://www.tfgm.com/Corporate/media_centre/Pages/News.aspx?articleId=468

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

What turn-back facilities exist at Cornbrook. The bay platform there is Manchester-facing.

 

[snowball]

Until now they've been sticking to the official line of "summer 2016".

Possibly the opening will be simultaneous with the restoration of full service to Victoria.

It's surprising that they're saying that (pending the opening of the Second City Crossing) airport trams will turn at Cornbrook. The expectation was that it would be at Deansgate-Castlefield, where a third track and platform are under construction.

As I understand it, an inbound tram will be able to stop at the inbound platform at Cornbrook, pull forward into the central siding, driver changes ends, call at the outbound platform.

 

[martin2345uk]

What turn-back facilities exist at Cornbrook. The bay platform there is Manchester-facing.

I don't believe there is a bay there anymore. The turnback can be used from both directions

 

[Manchester77]

What turn-back facilities exist at Cornbrook. The bay platform there is Manchester-facing.

There is a pocket siding beyond the station which replaced the former bay. The siding allows trams to access from both sides

 

[Starmill]

There is a pocket siding beyond the station which replaced the former bay. The siding allows trams to access from both sides

Does the term 'pocket siding' not imply it's closed at one end? e.g. a centre road only open at one end, such as Timperley or Sheffield st?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Until now they've been sticking to the official line of "summer 2016".

Possibly the opening will be simultaneous with the restoration of full service to Victoria.

It's surprising that they're saying that (pending the opening of the Second City Crossing) airport trams will turn at Cornbrook. The expectation was that it would be at Deansgate-Castlefield, where a third track and platform are under construction.

As I understand it, an inbound tram will be able to stop at the inbound platform at Cornbrook, pull forward into the central siding, driver changes ends, call at the outbound platform.

Presumably Victoria will be finished before Deansgate will???

 

[andyb2706]

The siding at Cornbrook is the city centre side of Cornbrook and can be accessed from either end. The original idea for the siding was to be used for the Media City UK shuttle but they seemed to have changed their mind about that and continued to run through to the city centre with this service.

The new platform at Deansgate-Castlefield is coming on really well and the platform surface is going on and looks rather posh compared to the normal platform surface standards.

I believe the reasoning behind having the airport trams twrminating at Cornbrook is they may be a lack of room for them to turn back at Deansgate-Castlefield because once D-C (can't be bothered typing the whole name again!!) is finished and operational there have been talks that to so the work at St. Peters Square there will be a shut down period and the Altrincham, Eccles and East Didsbury services will be terminating at D-C, and then once all the work is done they will make the D-C pretty. That was all in the original prospectus that was put out a while ago, of course things could have changed.

 

[317 forever]

It is brilliant news that this section is opening so soon. I had planned to ride the Rochdale vis Oldham Central section in November, but I now plan to combine this with the Airport section as a Christmas special! (And yes, I am now more in the mood for Christmas!).

Just one regret I have is that the Airport section will only go as far as Cornbrook. As East Didsbury has a train service and many buses to Manchester, and Withington and Chorlton also have many buses to town, I'd have preferred the Airport service to continue to Rochdale and the East Didsbury service to work as a shuttle to/from Cornbrook. It occurs to me that maybe the idea is to deter passengers using the Airport for flights from using Metrolink as trains are more direct and quicker?

 

[34D]

Does the term 'pocket siding' not imply it's closed at one end? e.g. a centre road only open at one end, such as Timperley or Sheffield st?

Presumably named after the erstwhile 'pocket' on the DLR at Canning Town. RIP

 

[WatcherZero]

I think its the US term for Centre Siding and just means that the siding is inbetween the running lines.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

My thanks are extended to those forum members who were so kind as to clarify the matter that I raised with regard to the Cornbrook stop.

I regret to say that a certain very recent medical set-back has seen me unable to come into the Greater Manchester area in recent times to see exactly how matters are proceeding, especially with regard to the expanded Deansgate-Castlefield stop. Fortunately, the SSC website currently provides all that I require, with many large visual images to view.

 

[Philip C]

My thanks are extended to those forum members who were so kind as to clarify the matter that I raised with regard to the Cornbrook stop.

I regret to say that a certain very recent medical set-back has seen me unable to come into the Greater Manchester area in recent times to see exactly how matters are proceeding, especially with regard to the expanded Deansgate-Castlefield stop. Fortunately, the SSC website currently provides all that I require, with many large visual images to view.

Get well soon.

 

[rebmcr]

Just one regret I have is that the Airport section will only go as far as Cornbrook. As East Didsbury has a train service and many buses to Manchester, and Withington and Chorlton also have many buses to town, I'd have preferred the Airport service to continue to Rochdale and the East Didsbury service to work as a shuttle to/from Cornbrook. It occurs to me that maybe the idea is to deter passengers using the Airport for flights from using Metrolink as trains are more direct and quicker?

Until 2CC opens, one of the services will just have to be terminated short. As the MCUK shuttle has proven, there is no political will to withdraw a service once the populace has been using it, so it's much easier that the Airport line gets cut short from the beginning.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Until 2CC opens, one of the services will just have to be terminated short. As the MCUK shuttle has proven, there is no political will to withdraw a service once the populace has been using it, so it's much easier that the Airport line gets cut short from the beginning.

How do you think that future users in the said area will feel, when they will be required to change trams at Cornbrook, when they receive this news ? Will a situation of large numbers of Airport-line passengers using this service, decanting at Cornbrook to carry on to Manchester, cause overcrowding on the other inbound Metrolink services that will have to carry these passengers to Manchester, in addition to those they already have on board at Cornbrook. ?

 

[Manchester77]

I'm of the view that Cornbrook is only temporary until Deansgate is finished, Deansgate offers a better terminus since you have direct heavy rail services to Piccadilly and other destinations, the free buses and none free buses as well as the same high frequency of trams.

 

[edwin_m]

When 2CC is finished there should be capacity for Airport services to run through the city centre to somewhere on the other side (any ideas what route they will be linked to?). So the period during which they would terminate at Deansgate is limited to that between the completion of St Peters Square (when terminating capacity at Deansgate becomes available) and completion of 2CC.

Rail interchange at Deansgate is less important for this route than for most of the others. Anyone on rail at Deansgate would probably stay on rail to the Airport rather than changing onto a tram. For many of the outer stops on the Airport tram route it will be quicker/easier access the rail network via the Airport instead of interchanging in the city centre, and stops from St Werburghs Road inwards will have through services to the city using East Didsbury trams.

 

[snowball]

When 2CC is finished there should be capacity for Airport services to run through the city centre to somewhere on the other side (any ideas what route they will be linked to?).

Usually-well-informed commentators on SSC tend to the view that when 2CC is finished, airport trams will run to Victoria.

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Presumably Victoria will be finished before Deansgate will???

Given the remarkable spurt in progress at Deansgate-Castlefield visible in recent photographs on SSC, it doesn't seem certain.

The present round of work at D-C is the first of two phases. The second will come later - I think after the alterations at St Peter's Square. But the new track and platform are part of the current phase.

 

[Starmill]

Usually-well-informed commentators on SSC tend to the view that when 2CC is finished, airport trams will run to Victoria.

That was the last I'd heard on it too. I suppose we will only know for sure what the final service pattern will be once it is actually running; wasn't the reason given by TfGM that they should have some time to analyse which cross-city services would give the most benefit (as not everywhere can have a service to everywhere else on the other side - and as long as there is a good service to the city from everywhere else that isn't a major concern).