A KEY link taking trams on a second route through Manchester city centre has opened for business, marking another phase in the system’s expansion.
The Second City Crossing connects St Peter’s Square with Victoria station via Exchange Square, for the Arndale Centre. It is carrying trams from East Didsbury on the lines to Rochdale and Shaw & Crompton, but Metrolink has said trams from the airport, which currently terminate short of the city centre at Deansgate-Castlefield, will also use the 2CC and run through to Victoria, providing a direct link between the airport and the centre of Manchester for the first time.
The new line runs along Princess Street, Cross Street and Corporation Street, and it had opened ahead of schedule between Exchange Square and Victoria in Decenber 2015, haviing been ‘fast tracked’ with the aid of money from the European Development Fund.
Councillor Andrew Fender, who chairs the TfGM Committee, had said 2CC ‘will provide much-needed operational flexibility and resilience’.
The original junction at Piccadilly Gardens, which forms a triangle, was part of the original system when it opened in 1992 and was intended to be future-proof. However, major expansion of the network since then has meant that Piccadilly Gardens no longer has enough capacity to carry every tram running through the centre of Manchester.
Work has also now started on a new 5.5km Metrolink line to Trafford Centre, which will branch off from the Pomona stop and could be open by 2020. It will take the route length of Metrolink to 103km.
The system celebrates its 25th anniversary in April, while the identity of the operator which runs the system for TfGM will change from RATP Dev and maintenance contractor MPT to KeolisAmey in July.