Passengers are being urged to plan their journeys as work to make Greater Manchester’s tram network more reliable, resilient and safe for years to come gets under way over the Easter weekend.
As part of a continuing £150m investment in the network, more than 1km of track will be replaced on the Altrincham line. Work will also take place between Trafford Bar and Deansgate-Castlefield, to prepare for full track replacement later in the year.
As a result, there will be no trams on the Altrincham, Eccles and Trafford Park lines all day from Friday 3 to Monday 6 April. The East Didsbury and Airport lines will run to Firswood only. Services on the Rochdale line will terminate at Exchange Square. Other tram service changes include Bury – Ashton-under-Lyne and Bury/Victoria – Etihad Campus.
To keep people moving, replacement buses will run between all the affected stops. Anyone using a replacement bus will need a valid Metrolink ticket and customers will be able to use all existing options including contactless (ensuring they touch in at the start and out at the end of their journey using on-stop card readers), paper tickets or those bought through the app.
Anyone with a one day Bee bus ticket will also be able to travel on a replacement bus,but passengers will not be able to buy a ticket or pay for the fare on the replacement buses.
Frequent Bee Network bus services will also call at bus stops near each tram stop. Travel advice can be found HERE.
Ian Davies, TfGM’s Network Director for Metrolink, said:
“The first main upgrades of the year get under way over the Easter weekend, as our £150m programme to improve our network continues.
“We’ll be doing everything we can to minimise disruption to passengers while we carry out this essential work to ensure our tram network remains reliable, resilient and safe for years to come.
“Staff will be out across the network and replacement buses will call at all affected stops, and I would encourage our passengers to plan ahead using the Bee Network app and website. Our social media channels are also a great way of keeping up to date with all the latest travel information.”
(Picture: Bee Network/TfGM)
