Metrolink services return to the city centre

05 Nov 2009

Free travel on the network on 14 and 19 November

Trams returned to Manchester city centre on schedule on Monday 2 November, after a major project to replace all of the city centre tracks and redevelop the St Peter's Square and Piccadilly Gardens stops.

All of the recent improvements - listed below - have been driven by the desire to put the passenger experience first - by improving reliability or by making services more comfortable, smoother and quieter:

• All-new, high quality street finishes have been installed that greatly enhance the overall city centre environment. These include Yorkstone paving, granite, and exposed aggregate concrete with granite banding.
• The St Peter's Square stop has been widened and the platform heights modified to allow level boarding for all passengers.
• The Piccadilly Gardens stop has been widened and new canopies have been installed to provide better shelter for even more people.
• New state-of-the-art ticket machines, which will be rolled out across the Metrolink network by spring next year, have been installed on the two revamped stops.
• All the city centre stops now bear Metrolink's new identity, which will be rolled out across the remainder of the network.
• New trams will start to come into operation very soon.

The city centre section is the most heavily used part of the network, with trams passing over it up to 250 times a day. This is set to increase to 400 times a day when the new lines to Oldham and Rochdale, Droylsden, Chorlton and MediaCityUK (now well under way) are completed.

The Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority (GMITA) has announced  two free days of travel on the Metrolink network this month - on Saturday 14 November and Thursday 19 November.  Details of how season ticket holders can claim a refund for these dates will be available shortly.