Manchester invests £6m for planning work on Metrolink expansion including city centre underground

Greater Manchester Combined Authority has confirmed its pipeline for new rapid transit tram and tram-train schemes by committing investment of more than £6m to advance planning works. The programme is part of the on-going long-term major expansion of the Bee Network and a plan to link every borough in Greater Manchester to the Metrolink network.

The new projects also support the Greater Manchester Strategy, released in July, in which the Mayor and local council leaders pledged that 90% of people in city-region to be within a five-minute walk of a bus or tram that comes at least every 30 minutes by 2030.

The project pipeline builds on already announced schemes such as the Oldham-Rochdale-Heywood-Bury Tram-Train ‘Pathfinder’ and Metrolink to Stockport, together with proposals that prioritise better links to Manchester Airport and in the North-West of the city-region together with extensions to Middleton & the Northern Gateway and Trafford Waters, Port Salford & the Western Gateway.

The investment will also support early development work on plans for a new underground system in the city centre – which will complement and join up with plans for east-west underground connections as part of the proposed Liverpool-Manchester Railway.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said “Every part of our city region needs to feel the benefits of Greater Manchester’s growth. To make sure that happens, we’ve pledged to connect our people and communities to new opportunities better than ever before. We’re planning to connect all ten boroughs to the ever-popular Metrolink network as part of a long-term, sustained expansion of the Bee Network.

“This latest funding means we can develop the case for a pipeline of both tram and tram-train new lines and extensions – and ultimately underground infrastructure in the city centre – to make sure we get a public transport system befitting the global city region we are.

“More people are getting on board the Bee Network, but we can’t afford to be complacent. We need to plan ahead to accommodate continued growth, with more tram, bus and train routes giving people a viable alternative to the car.”

Vernon Everitt, Transport Commissioner for Greater Manchester, said, “Better transport is a core enabler of economic growth, higher productivity and greater access to homes, jobs and wider opportunity across the whole of Greater Manchester. This new development work will help ensure that we have a pipeline of projects to build on everything that is already being done across bus, tram, rail and walking, wheeling and cycling as we create an integrated Bee Network for the people and businesses of this fast-growing city-region.”