New tram plan could be round this way
GREATER Manchester could get an orbital tram route that takes in Stockport.
Several town hall bosses are pushing for Metrolink to run right around the conurbation, starting to the east and south.
Officers from Oldham and Tameside councils have been working on initial proposals of a ‘tram M60’ for several months, with Stockport, Trafford and Rochdale town halls also keen to get on the idea.
It is understood the plan is rising up the agenda of the region’s ‘super council’. Leaders believe the current system – which takes people from outlying areas into Manchester and back out again – is not fit for purpose.
Stockport is already planning to run trams along existing railway lines to link the area up to the Metrolink network, but the council’s transport boss Iain Roberts said the region needs to be much ‘bolder’.
He said plans to expand Manchester Airport – as well as to create thousands of new jobs at ‘Airport City’ and build an HS2 station – would otherwise cripple the road network.
He said: “The whole of this part of Manchester will have already ground to a halt – an orbital route is one of those things we need to do.”