Metrolink’s Trafford Park Line is on track

The first piece of track for our new Trafford Park Line has been laid. It was great to mark the project milestone today with a visit from Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, Trafford Council Leader Sean Anstee, and Chair of Transport for Greater Manchester Committee Councillor Andrew Fender.

When the new route opens in 2020, trams will run to six new stops through Trafford Park to the Trafford Centre, connecting Greater Manchester residents and visitors to employment, cultural and leisure opportunities such as Manchester United Football Club, Imperial War Museum North, EventCity and the Trafford Centre.

Constructing a major capital project through Europe’s largest trading estate brings challenges to the team and, of course, businesses operating in the area.  

A large part of the first year’s work has involved re-locating utilities in the ground to make way for laying the track. In order to re-lay 3.2km of ducts and pipes for electricity, water, gas, and telecommunications, we introduced temporary road closures and a one-way system in Trafford Park last spring, which are still in place.

Anyone who travels through Trafford Park will have seen a huge amount of activity at sites including near the Pomona stop – where the new line will branch off, along Trafford Wharf Road and around the Trafford Centre.

However, you may not realise, at certain locations, this pace of work regularly continues overnight. This is so we can make progress without closing main roads or junctions which affect businesses’ access and people’s journeys to work during the day.

We have also agreed to night-time working outside ITV’s studios so that we do not impact on the filming of Coronation Street. When we work overnight we monitor noise levels to ensure any noise created is below agreed thresholds so we minimise any disturbance to residents across the water in Salford Quays.

I’m pleased to say that the utility work for the Trafford Park line looks set to be completed ahead of schedule. This is thanks to the co-operation of local businesses, commuters and residents as well as collaborative working practices adopted by the utility companies we work with, which have developed over the last five years of the Metrolink expansion programme.

It’s great to see the first sections of rail installed and a credit to MPT and the project team that the overall programme is ahead of schedule.

The next milestones include installing platforms for the stops at Village Way and at Wharfside, as well as reinforcement work at the Bridgewater Canal Bridge before track is laid there. 

I’m sure the Trafford Park line will be incredibly popular when it opens in 2020, giving people another alternative to the car and encouraging further investment to create more jobs and homes, as we have seen in areas where other new Metrolink lines have been constructed.