TRAMS ‘TO RUN ON TRAIN TRACKS’
TRANSPORT REVOLUTION PART OF BLUEPRINT FOR REGION’S LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT
NEW tram stops, railway stations and the birth of tram-train are at the heart of a five-year transport plan aimed at revolutionising travel across Greater Manchester.
Announced by the city region’s leaders, the ‘radical’ transport strategy includes measures to get more people out of their cars and on to public transport.
That includes the launch of the tram-train to areas including Heywood and Stockport, allowing trams to pass from the Metrolink network on to the rail system.
Meanwhile, a new ‘orbital’ bus corridor could link towns between Wigan and Stockport.
Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, said the plan was crucial to changing the way people move around, bringing levels of road congestion under control and achieving legal obligations to clean up the air.
This includes a potential move to charge drivers of the most-polluting HGVs, taxis and buses, key to a goal of creating a carbon neutral Greater Manchester by 2038.
The transport plan is divided into three parts – the 65 projects which are on their way to completion in the next five years, those schemes which are subject to business cases and could be delivered around or after the 2025 mark, and the ones under consideration which could become reality by 2040.
That includes three potential new Metrolink stops, 10 train stations, five Metrolink or tram-train stations, four new stations that could be for rail, Metrolink or tram-train, and the replacement of three existing stations, possibly to allow access for Metrolink and tram-trains.
Although funding has already been allocated for the immediate plan up to 2025, Mr Burnham told the M.E.N. there is less certainty around cash for longer-term schemes at a time when Transport for the North is also applying for funding to meet its region-wide wishlist.
It means Mr Burnham and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority are currently £3bn short for the plan up to 2040.
He accepted that longer-term funding was a ‘concern,’ adding: “If there’s one big thing that’s looming that potentially holds Greater Manchester back it’s a transport system that’s not up to the job.
“So it is funding partly but it’s also about powers. This is a fragmented system that can’t integrate because it’s not possible to get hold of the levers at a Greater Manchester level. You’ve got Highways England, you’ve got Network Rail, you’ve got the bus operators doing their thing.
“It’s a very bitty system. We need it to come together into a single whole.
“We do need more powers to integrate the system into a whole that works for the whole city region.”
But he said he had a high level of confidence in the five-year plan.
Funding could come from the government’s Transforming Cities fund, which has already paid for Chris Boardman’s ‘beeline’ routes to boost cycling across the region.
In future developers could also be asked to chip in for infrastructure around new housing and employment developments as part of planning conditions. But looking further into the future, he accepted there was uncertainty, adding: “We do need to finalise discussions with the government.”
This will include Metrolink expansion and orbital routes linking towns for tram-trains and buses.
Mr Burnham said the government’s own Infrastructure Commission had supported the need for more investment in transport for city regions.
He spoke also of the Williams Review – commissioned by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to look at how the railways are run in the wake of the May timetable crisis. Mr Burnham said he wanted Greater Manchester to take control of commuter routes in the region to better integrate them with tram and bus routes.