Manchester’s Unconventional Tram System

Good video, a few more points I think I'd like to add:

– Some terminus stations are near or next to a regional rail station which is usually significantly faster to the city centre, so it's not always that useful if you're going end to end.
– The quality of the lines correlates pretty well with the amount of street running. The ones with more street running are slower, the streets they use are often major roads (airport line mostly excepted, that seems to weave its way through low density suburbs like it's had a bit too much to drink) and are therefore congested during peak hours, and may only have a single route out to the terminus. Many of these lines also have sharp corners and low speed limits. The Eccles line is particularly bad, beyond about Broadway you're probably going to be able to cycle to the city centre faster than the tram. I used this line and if definitely gave me a more negative opinion of the system than it probably would have if I'd used a different line.
– There is a lot of interlining which is the main driver of frequency, though this does mean transfers may be necessary if you want to go to a specific stop in the city center, which may not save you time if you aren't lucky.
– There have been considerations on how to increase 12-15 minute frequency per route on sections with no interlining, but there are limits on traction current that have prevented this, not to mention congestion on interlined sections.

The debate on the second city in the UK is all dependent on where you draw the boundaries. If you take the UK as a whole Birmingham City Council has the biggest population. Whilst the Manchester urban area has always been a collection of bigger boroughs. There are also oddities that Warrington is NOT part of the Manchester City Region but Wigan is. Meanwhile large chunks of South East Lancashire are really in the commuter belt. The TfGM supported rail network runs from Blackpool to Buxton and Crewe/Stoke-on-Trent to Liverpool.
The Metrolink heritage as people have mentioned really comes from the city always wanting a link between Piccadilly and Victoria stations and the need to replace the Unique 1200V DC side contact shoe Class 504 trains from Victoria to Bury and the 25kv AC Class 304 on The Altrincham line both of which were due for retirement.
The original units were built for Metrolink by Firema later Ansaldo with High Floors so existing stations on the Bury and Altrincham lines could be used.
Manchester then developed the network to Eccles and Salford Quays with development money as the former wharehouses around Ontario basin, the former ship canal grain docks had been developed into offices, apartments and leisure facilities. This involved street running in traffic.
The scheme was extended under the Metrolink 2000 plan which was delayed due to government funding decisions and the usual cost over runs.
The next rail line to be converted was the Victoria to Rochdale via Oldham (Oldham Loop) line.
For this new rolling stock was needed the M5000 loosely based on Köln [Cologne] K5000 Stadtbahn cars.
If your every over on these islands again Rees try the Tyne and Wear Metro. The first light rail system built in the UK around Newcastle, Gateshead, Tyneside and Sunderland.

Manchester tram network is a graded and non graded light rail system operating on former heavy rail city and suburban passenger and freight rail corridors using high floor light rail vehicles. A 'Train Tram' is a low, medium or high floor light rail rail vehicle that is built to operate on both light and heavy rail tracks and infrastructure.

The idea of extending to Stockport is, unfortunately, an old idea at this point. Very few Stockport residents believe it will actually happen. Though, personally, I think chances are better now than in the past.

correction : Greater Birmingham has 3.5 million people, still bigger than Manchester.

If you are doing non-London UK cities, then you should do the story of Leeds' tram system next… 😮‍💨

I don't feel that there is anything "unconventional" about the Manchester tram. In my opinion it is a very standard and rather boring system. After the old trams were replaced the system became very uninspiring, and it is more of a pain to go on, rather than something enjoyable. The worst part about it is that it runs far too slow. All of the new parts of the route that are not converted railways and poorly designed with too many bends and not enough money spent on building properly separated tracks. In particular the route to the airport is terrible, and takes a bad route, with not enough fast running sections. The Manchester city center part is painfully slow. They should have built it underground through the center. But this is the UK, where nothing outside of London is ever built to a decent standard.

I could like to see more traditional underground rapid transit to Manchester someday. A circle loop could be great or a Y-shape lines as a safer and likely options.

There is an almost constant rumour of the network eventually expanding towards Bolton.

Not a fan of the city train moniker. They're just high floor trams or light rail cars.

I do think that the Manchester Metrolink should continue on to extend to Port Salford and to Wythenshaw and Stockport. I quite like the M5000 trams and I would like to go to Manchester to ride on the Metrolink.

I wonder if there's anything to be done with the old rail tunnels just south of Oldham town centre? If they ever get to the point where they want to provide an express service to Rochdale, they could bypass Oldham entirely, saving about 10 minutes.

Manchester is strangled by the Castlefield Corridor which links Victoria (via the Ordsal Curve) and Piccadilly. 2 tracks with passenger traffic to a from Newcastle, Leeds, Liverpool, Preston, Blackpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow, North Wales….. with freight from Trafford Park, the regions main rail freight hub. The predecessor to the tram was the cancelled "Picc-Vic" tunnel, which was going to do what it said! It was going to be Manchester's "cross rail" and a real missed opportunity. Metrolink is a poor replacement.

Oh, in addition to my post below, perhaps next time look at the suburban rail. Manchester has an incredible history there due to the world's first (proper) railway being from Manchester to Liverpool, two cities just a stone's throw away (35 minutes). I say proper as the earlier Stockton & Darlington railway was only single track, mostly wood, one steam train (and the passenger ones were horse driven) with no signalling, no proper stations nor even a regular timetable. Whereas the Liverpool to Manchester railway was twin track all the way, proper standard gauge rails, actual stations (and the first real stations in the world), timetabled, fully steamed and with (basic) signalling. In essence, not that different to today.

But many of those original stations (like Eccles) are still is use today as part of the suburban rail network.

Anyway, Manchester has quite a decent sized suburban rail network, but it's far from optimal. It would be interesting to hear your take on it.

Pretty much everything is bad, the frequencies can be atrocious, the stations are really old, the services are provided by different companies (e.g. Northern, Transpennine Express, Transport for Wales etc) and interchanges are terrible (often Metrolink stops and railway stations of the same name are a good 10 minute walk apart, e.g. Eccles, East Didsbury, Ashton etc. HS2 and NPR (Northern Powerhouse Rail, the East <> West high speed rail) was supposed to change all of this by removing all the express trains from the existing lines, allowing all those in Manchester to be upgraded to high frequency, but sadly this may not happen. This isn't so much a cost issue, but a political one. Politicians in London always find the money to upgrade infrastructure in the south where they live, but rarely up north.

Anyway, it is a big system with terrible service and usage, but with huge opportunities.

I live in Salford and use the Metrolink a lot. There are some things both positive and negative that I can say about this light rail network:

+ It's bright and colourful, easy to spot and makes the city more vibrant.
+ It is very good for tourists visiting Manchester. The system covers the majority of what you want to see in and around the city and does so at an excruciatingly slow pace (see counter point below) which allows you to take in all the sights, sounds (and smells) the city has to offer.
+ It has very frequent stops which can place you closer to your destination.

– The system is incredibly slow. It is by no means a rapid transit system since it was decided that the Metrolink system would be taken onto city streets mixing with street traffic and the general public. There is also very questionable design choices when it comes to routing and junctions which unnecessarily slows the trams (definitely trams, not trains!) down and thus leads to very long journey times. This alongside the fact;
– The system is very congested. As you can imagine with such a fast expansion rate, there are so many more lines and thus so many more trams. The most notable section for congestion is between Cornbrook and Deansgate-Castlefield where you often have to wait in a queue of trams for an available platform at either station. There doesn't seem to be much communication between the town planners and the Metrolink as expansion space is quickly turned into an incredibly unaffordable glass shoebox.
– The system is becoming seemingly… neglected. Much of the network has seen "temporary speed restrictions" added in areas where there are track defects or some operating hazard, and these are now widespread, slowing down the system even more.

Going forward, for the Metrolink to survive into the future, the city centre section needs to be taken underground, out of conflict with road traffic and the public, with more routes across the city.

"called the Met"

I dispute this. Plenty of us call it the tram, like grown-ups should. Or, if necessary, "Metrolink". But it's not "the Met", that's the police force responsible for that village down south.

Hey, someone must've already said this, but the absence of not only a video on, but even mentions of transit in Moscow (and other post-Soviet cities) is kinda starnge . The Moscow Metro is by many metrics one of the best, biggest and most unique in the world, with a super interesting history, and is a basis for many other transit systems. I understand that praising Moscow feels problematic at the moment (and for good reason), but that's no reason to shy away from the topic. Would love to hear your take on post-Soviet transit systems in general.

10:05 the only issue for that route is that theres a section from Bury to Heywood is under the heritage "East Lancashire Railway" and also its has a connection to the main railway network aswell.

Metrolink is great but nowhere near big enough yet. I lived in Salford for 3 years for university and the system barely scrapes the area, for those 3 years I lived there I think I used the system like, twice. I plan on moving back later in life so I hope it's expanded by then because I can see myself using it regularly.

Talk about Nottingham next. Its tram and bus system. 5x award winning and well earned imo. Best bus system outside of London

Whato
You forgot the Old Trafford cricket ground. Much more important than those little supported football teams.

As someone who had lived in Manchester all my life and have travelled extensively on all types of vehicles, I can tell you wholeheartedly that the original T68/T68A trams were by far superior to the current M5000s. They had way more seats, were much smoother at higher speeds on the Bury/Alty lines, and plus, they sounded GREAT! They were overall just much nicer LRVs to travel on, especially from an enthusiasts point of view (and much better from a driver's point of view as I've been told by many).

Honestly its a damn shame the link to Bolton has ended up on ice too. Bolton is the third largest settlement in the North West (after Manchester and Liverpool) yet the lack of solid public transport infrastructure just pushes everyone to not bother and drive. Being better connected to the city its technically attached to i feel could work wonders on the town as a whole.

My personal opinion is that a loop/ring line or lines would be a sensible expansion. Manchester has very radial public transport, so getting into the city centre is very quick but trying to traverse across the city, for example from Trafford to Salford, is not