You should have included the iconic warning sound the trams make to warn pedestrians in the video. Most emblematic sound in all of Manchester for me haha
I don't think I've heard the new trams actually honk with a rail horn, but the old ones definitely did if people weren't heeding the whistle. The driver would briefly switch the mode lever to "segregated" (heavy rail) mode so that the whistle became a full-on horn.
As a former Manchester resident, I just wanted to say well done on your pronunciation of our place names! People from outside the region rarely get Altrincham right.
I think one important thing to mention for your viewers is how the expansion of Metrolink has mirrored Manchester's rise in fortunes over the last couple of decades. Manchester was in a deep post-industrial depression over the latter half of the last century. Now there is A LOT of new development, with a new skyscraper going up seemingly every other week. The city centre population is booming. The relatively good tram network is important to the city's newfound attractiveness.
Indeed - Manchester had to give up on being industrial, then post-industrial, and got on with the future. It all started to turn around in around 1986/87 and it has been leading the way ever since, setting the standards in the UK outside London.
@@ianhalsall-fox It did help, but only one area. The effect of that event is often overstated (without diminishing the immediate shock of it) as if no other development was happening (before or after).
The direct financial effect of the IRA bomb was minimal at the time, especially as the UK government contributed very little to the rebuild (as always because it is a strong Labour voting constituency) however it did bring in significant funding from elsewhere and acted as a powerful catalyst for change, which is something Manchester has always excelled at. The bomb was a reset for the city and it hasn't looked back since. @@metropleb
As you started out by saying, it's really refreshing to see someone from across The Pond take a look at transport in the UK that's _not_ London. Thank you.
As a lifelong mancunian and regular user of the metrolink for Manchester United matches the biggest issue the metrolink has is an inability to gear up additional services for events. Football matches are a prime example as Old Trafford seats 73,000 average per match, yet service from Trafford Bar to East Didsbury on match days is always dangerously full and has been for a long time. We are talking overcrowded to the point the trams get weighed down to the degree that the doors cannot open at some stations due them now interfering with the platform. And Old Trafford is very well served with Old Trafford, Trafford Bar, Exchange Quay and Wharfside all within walking distance and featuring services across five differnt lines. The Etihad on the other hand is woefully underserved with only one line serving it, which considering the average attendance there is 53,000 a game is pretty dire. Add in the concerts held at the Etihad and also Old Trafford cricket ground (literally 50m from Old Trafford Tram stop) and thats lots of days per year where the system can be totally overwhelmed. E.g Both United and City usually play minimum 22 (usually closer to 30) home matches per year but due to policing they don't play at home the same time so thats upto 60 instances per year before any concerts, Cricket Matches or additional events. Still despite that significant issue the system is pretty great and frankly outside of London we have some of if not the best public transport in the UK.
And Northern;s inability to feel like re-opening Old Trafford train station . Also though Old Trafford has a large resident population that walks to the area the stadium has been in for many years. City fans it is more difficult owing to the nature of the area, but maybe more City fans are from Gorton/Ashton/Stockport which have usable bus services
@@highpath4776 In addition, the borough of Stockport (as well as Bolton and Wigan) isn't on the Metrolink network at all. The Didsbury line gives up a few hundred metres before the Manchester/Stockport boundary.
Fun fact: the Bury line, before conversion, had very non-standard electrification. Yes, it was a British Rail line, but it had 3rd rails that were SIDE-CONTACT (inherited from the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, at 1200 volts DC. It was a natural candidate for conversion, and so it was, in 1991 (to become the first Metrolink branch to open in 1992)
@@RMTransitNo - it was a standard third-rail arrangement, with power being delivered through the "juice" rail (staggered offset by 30cm from the running rails) and the return current going through the running rails. Only real difference was the fact that the collection shoes on the units were sprung horizontally to hit the side of the live rail rather than vertically to contact at the top (Southern /LU) or vertically to hit the bottom (DLR). And, of course, the voltage difference.
I used to love those old trains. The big soft seats, the wood, the doors, their handles and the noise they made when you shut them; the noise of the train’s motors whirring…
I'd like to note I've not heard anyone else outside the town pronounce 'Bury' as the locals do. Pretty much everyone else, including the BBC, pronounce it 'berry'.
I'm terribly disappointed that you didn't address the most important part of the Metrolink - the charming "Bonk" sound they make to gently warn pedestrians to get out of the way, before they go as far as the angry horn! It's a ubiquitous part of Manchester's urban soundscape
There's a bit of a story behind that, it's a recording of the old T-68 air horn. Initially when the M5000's were brought in they had a different sound, but locals seemed to have grown so fond of the old sound they changed it.
@@Croz89 I have so much nostalgia for the old trams and their toot sounds, never knew that the new ones had a different sound when they were first introduced though, how funny that they changed the noise back to a toot i love that
I live in Liverpool but recently went on vacation to San Francisco. I spoke to some of the locals and lots of them this that most of the UK is London. I had to explain that England has way more to it than London, Wales wasn’t a ten minute walk away, Scotland wasn’t a short bus ride up the road and that Northern Ireland wasn’t a brisk swim across the Irish Sea!
Live in Manchester for about 7 years in total. The Metrolink really has begun to feel like a true network, allowing reliable travel to many places you might actually want to go. I seldom rode a bus apart from the Oxford Road corridor. As the video says, there's a lot more room for improvement. but it is already in a good place, especially in comparison to other English cities. Also: if you're visiting Manchester, take the train from the airport not the tram. The tram is excruciatingly long for that journey, as it was really designed for local travel and not a direct airport to hotel connection.
I remember feeling like.. once we had two routes from Deansgate to Vic, and several stops with more than 2 platforms... it went up a level to a 'big system'...
Additionally, the bus network ties in pretty well to the trams in the city centre, with the main interchanges at Piccadilly Gardens (and Market Street just across the square for the other lines) and Shudehill. Just a shame the "Gardens" themselves aren't all that pleasant, or gardeny.
I have the exact opposite experience! With living around the Oxford road corridor for about 5 years, I just never use the tram, honestly wish there was a route down Oxford road to maybe Didsbury, it could become one of the busiest routes. As stagecoach (at least used to) brag that this road is the busiest bus route in Europe!
Just to add Manchester used to have a tram which was ripped up in 1949 and had 470 KM of track and was the largest contiguous tram network in the UK until London combined it's tram services into one and keep in mind almost all the lines to the towns outside Manchester didn't exist because they all had their own independent tram networks, which shows how dense the network used to be.
…and when they came to install the Metrolink lines at Piccadilly, under the Tarmac they then had to rip up the old tram lines that had simply been covered over. Madness :)
Thank you for making this video, I've been waiting for it for a while, the Metrolink is one of my favourite transit systems in the UK and I always love traveling on it. I did find it amusing when the Government said in the Network North plan that they will extend the Metrolink to Manchester Airport, when it already goes there.
Besides the fact they messed it all up and cancelling HS2 was a complete sham, my hope was that they were talking about the planned extension at the airport to the new HS2/NPR station. While HS2 was cancelled, it was hoped that NPR would be resurrected. It turns out that's probably what they meant... but as we know, they probably also have no intention of actually resurrecting NPR.
While the "Old Trafford" stop isn't the closest to Old Trafford football ground, it is right next door to Old Trafford cricket ground, which sees international cricket as well as being the home of Lancashire cricket club. It also sees use for concerts, notably including the benefit concert arranged in the aftermath of the Manchester arena bombing.
Weirdly "Old Trafford Metrolink" (formerly Warwick Road) is not the closest stop to the "Old Trafford" district either, the centre of which is east of Trafford Bar (formerly "Old Trafford Station"). Neither Old Trafford sports ground are really in Old Trafford, but Gorse Hill.@@RMTransit
You've got the advantage of years on me Terry, but as long as I can remember west of Chester Road has never been Old Trafford. If it's not Gorse Hill what is it?@@TerryBell1968
The Mayor of Manchester is trying to make a TFL style transportation system in Manchester. E.g. Buses under public ownership... The only problem is the HS2 High Speed Trains from London just got cancelled to Manchester and will only go to Birmingham. Which is a huge blow to the UK. Very disappointed.
@@caw25sha It's a farce. Euston-New Street only takes (on average) 1h30, whereas EUS-MAN is closer to 2h30. The (projected) HS2 time savings to Manchester would be considerably more than that to Brum, but Sunak is an arsehole. Just like his recent predecessors. I just wish I could share your optimism for the HS2 project to be resurrected, but as a realist, I just can't see it happening without a change of government. When's the next General Election??? :)
It was always destined to be scrapped as HS2 started in London, it was never about levelling up the North, everything was about levelling up Londonistan.
@@caw25sha It definitely will be resurrected. HS2 just makes too much sense. All the tories are doing is delaying it and making it much more expensive than it would've been unfortunately. Hopefully they'll be out of power very soon!
@@MattForbes HS2 isn't about speed/ time savings. It's about taking high/ higher speed intercity services off of the current existing network and onto their own seperate network. Which would allow for more local, suburban, and regional services to be run, and result in improved reliability on all the aforementioned types of services compared to the current mixed-traffic network which tries to support every type of service and in doing so fails to do each well and reliably. Plus that's before even getting to how much more freight can be moved by rail along the corridor from taking high/ higher speed inter-city trains off the current network. HS2 is so much more than speed and time saving. It's about fixing rail travel in areas of the UK outside of London. (Plus thanks to the huge capacity boosts that would be unlocked, services would begin to become cheaper for passengers!)
I was responsible for that warning sound. To avoid confusion with car, burglar, fire and other alarms something different was needed. I came up with the chime whistle. To get the right sound I spent an afternoon playing chords on the Wurlitzer organ then in the Free trades hall, now Stockport town hall. Once I had “the sound” it was translated into a brass chime whistle. With the new trams, a digital recording was made. It may not be traditional, but it is unmistakeable and iconic.
It was great to see my home city featured on your channel. The bee network is promising. We have a good bus service for the Uk, but unified ticketing to allow unlimited travel across the region makes a real difference.
Lovely to see you talk about what has become a pretty successful network - here's a couple of extra points. Because they run a mix of single and double unit services, they let passengers know when a double unit is coming by adding 'Dbl' to the platform indicators. You mentioned they'd been 'clever' in their expansion; one of the best things they did involved their proposed "Big Bang", which was rejected by central Government as too expensive, so they went back, looked at the plans, and split them Santiago-style into sections, in order to get the funding approved. The Media City route had been a standalone service, but was withdrawn due to Covid and not reintroduced, replaced by the reversal you mentioned. Your comment about Old Trafford Station catches a lot of people out, as it's assumed it's the stop for the Football Ground, whereas it's the stop for Lancashire County Cricket Ground - also called Old Trafford!
As a Manc, you nailed the place names. Not easy for people making content about this wonderful city I call home. Kinda feels surreal seeing your city having content made about it.
The Old Trafford tram stop is (still) named that because it serves the much older Old Trafford Cricket Ground literally right next to the ground - home of Lancashire County Cricket Club and often England play test matches there too. Soccer isn't the only mass attended sport in Manchester.
Yes, but remember there are another 2 twists in the story - "Old Trafford" stop used to be the one that is now Trafford Bar, and was to serve the district of Old Trafford rather than either stadium. The cricket ground was "Warwick Road", and the football stadium did not have it's own stop until 2020. It seems ManU were not interested in naming this latter stop (ie put up some money), so it is the vague "Wharfside" - compared to the ManC which was branded "Etihad".
Good video, a few more points I think I'd like to add: - Some terminus stations are near or next to a regional rail station which is usually significantly faster to the city centre, so it's not always that useful if you're going end to end. - The quality of the lines correlates pretty well with the amount of street running. The ones with more street running are slower, the streets they use are often major roads (airport line mostly excepted, that seems to weave its way through low density suburbs like it's had a bit too much to drink) and are therefore congested during peak hours, and may only have a single route out to the terminus. Many of these lines also have sharp corners and low speed limits. The Eccles line is particularly bad, beyond about Broadway you're probably going to be able to cycle to the city centre faster than the tram. I used this line and if definitely gave me a more negative opinion of the system than it probably would have if I'd used a different line. - There is a lot of interlining which is the main driver of frequency, though this does mean transfers may be necessary if you want to go to a specific stop in the city center, which may not save you time if you aren't lucky. - There have been considerations on how to increase 12-15 minute frequency per route on sections with no interlining, but there are limits on traction current that have prevented this, not to mention congestion on interlined sections.
A city centre Stadtbahn tunnel is really in order for Manchester to speed the trams up through the city centre. Manchester should really have an underground, like many other urban areas its size, but of course nowhere outside London is considered worthy of that, even though 2nd cities of similar sizes in other countries have metro systems
@@grassytramtracks I think Manchester could go either way. Either it could pre-metro the city centre sections, or it could build a brand new automated light metro line between the highest density areas of the city, possibly converting one or more of the mostly grade separated tram lines outside of the city to light metro. Both options have their advantages and disadvantages, I think automation has probably made metro a little more attractive, higher upfront cost but no driver salaries to pay! The city centre transit times are incredibly slow, it would be quicker to get off, grab a "Bee" bike and cycle between stops in some cases.
Unconventional aside, this is a good example of how to build a modern tram/light rail system. It makes so much more sense when you have existing former or under-utlizied rail infrastructure and a dense urban core to connect it to.
Indeed - they did the best with what was there - and even though it was done 'on the cheap' (light rail, high platform, no underground) this is why it has been possible to expand it so much so quickly, compared to heavy rail like Merseyrail which had a better start but then has got stuck.
But to be fair the reason they did it was not to keep costs down but because the central government has cancelled/unwinded basically every much needed development it had planned in Manchester. It’s cobbled together forcefully
Here to comment from Nebula! Wonderful video, very good analysis. Another not-London city with surprisingly good public transport (and a great tram line!) is Nottingham! For a city of its size it is genuinely remarkable, and the tram was my favourite part of studying there for sure. Also, feedback on the Nebula version, the ending is quite abrupt, something small like "Thank you for watching" would make for a better viewing experience :)
Nottingham is interesting for 2 reasons a) it feels just about the right size for a Modern European Tramway b) it used workplace parking taxes to part finance its system, which in turn increased ridership
I’m from Salford and just wanted to say you’ve done a great level of research into this. A surprising fact until 1949 Manchester had a vast tram network that was shortsightedly scrapped. On occasion when they do road works they unearth the old tracks as they were mostly just covered with under the road surface. Side note the Hits Radio tram👍
Most places did, they were scrapped when motorised buses became a thing. You can get to see tram lines below road surfaces all over the place in metropolitan areas.
Finally! I've wanted this video for so long, and it's here. Thanks Reece for helping to put Manchester on the public transit map more. I watched the Nebula video, and as there's no comment feature, I'd like to share my thoughts here, sorry that this is really big, but so are my ideas. I think your ideas are cool, yet unrealistic, whilst I agree that metro tunnels would be incredible, and connections to both universities are much needed, I think your alignments are a bit weird. In my opinion, a better route would be to build a full metro line from Prestwich to West Didsbury, via Broughton, Blackfriars, Salford Central, Spinningfields, St. Peter's Square, Oxford Road station, the universities, Rusholme, Fallowfield and Withington. This could be extended to the airport on it's southern end via Northenden and acting as an express route in Wythenshawe. It would massively relieve capacity on the existing bus network, as well as the Airport, Didsbury and Bury lines, whilst still connecting to major transport hubs. I do agree that Media City could do with a quicker connection to the city centre, and currently during big events, the Metrolink can be overwhelmed, so more capacity to both stadiums would be great as well. Your MRT concepts are cool, they're a lot like your Stanley Line concept for Vancouver, but I feel that this could be done differently, rather than still funneling most people onto the existing Metrolink, and instead creating other corridors through dense areas. The Fallowfield Loop could be reinstated as an orbital Metrolink line to serve southern areas of Manchester, connecting with my proposed metro line at Fallowfield. This could also connect with other future metro lines, such as a Bolton to Hyde line at Debdale Park (which would serve Royal Bolton Hospital, Walkden, Swinton, Irlams o' th' Height, Salford Crescent, St. Peter's Square and Piccadilly before tunnelling beneath Hyde Road to serve Belle Vue, Debdale Park and Denton). A Davyhulme to Oldham metro line could start at Trafford General Hospital, before serving Urmston, Stretford, Chorlton, Whalley Range, Moss Side, Hulme, Deansgate-Castlefield, Spinningfields, the Arndale, Victoria, Fort Shopping Park, Abraham Moss, North Manchester General Hospital, Blackley, Middleton, Mills Hill, either Chadderton and Westwood or Elm Mill Shopping Park and Royal Oldham Hospital, before terminating at Oldham Central. Overall, these three metro lines could relieve capacity on almost all Metrolink lines, plus some National Rail lines, and along with Metrolink improvements and expansion, would help to provide massive capacity as our city continues to grow. I hope you like my ideas, and once again I am sorry for making you read this much. Have a nice day!
Its alright, my alignments are meant to be affordable given the high costs of rail in the UK, I tried to align under wide roads where possible to enable cut and cover (like is so often used in Germany) and avoided digging excess tunnels where I didn't think they were needed. Wholy new built metro lines would be nice, but I think the cost would be very high and the incremental benefit over this plan I don't think justifies that! Good to hear your opinion though!
Thanks! I agree entirely, we can't even build high speed rail right. I look forward to seeing more videos about rail systems in the UK. Perhaps you could make a video about a system for Leeds, which has needed one for years, and still has to rely on just buses and commuter rail? It'd be great to hear your thoughts.
@@RMTransit I think Manchester really has two choices when it comes to future rapid transit, go the pre-metro conversion route of making Metrolink faster and giving it more capacity by tunnelling existing parts of the network, or build new automated light metro lines serving higher demand areas on top of (or more correctly underneath) the Metrolink network. Personally I think both ideas can work, and both have advantages and disadvantages. A few years ago I'd probably advocate for the former, but with the decreasing costs of ALM technology and more standardisation, I don't think the choice is so obvious now.
as someone from manchester, i never thought you would cover our trams edit with the train stations: manchester oxford road station sees very frequent service to liverpool, north wales, scotland, the airport and various other places in the north west of the uk when explaining the services - you also missed the green line between altrinham and bury it was a really good and intresting video
As someone who caught the met to get to school way back in the nineties, i want to say a quick well done, not only on the smart video, but also on hitting the correct pronunciations for the various towns. Altrincham in particular often catches people out.
Without a doubt the most impressive light rail system in the United Kingdom, but still feels like it's not enough for an urban area the size of Greater Manchester...
Unless you call the DLR "light rail"...which arguably it is. The DLR definitely rivals the Metrolink in impressiveness (although I'm not sure which system has more mileage and ridership).
@@mdhazeldine From my personal observation I found the DLR to be more of a light metro with full grade-separation comparable to likes of Copenhagen metro and Rotterdam metro, whereas Manchester Metrolink just feels like a large tram network.
@@mdhazeldine That's a good point, my opinion is that the DLR was built impressively fast with good land use and planning, but Metrolink is both bigger and far more important to the city that it's based in.
@@mdhazeldine Of course the DLR is a proper light-rail network; whereas the Metrolink has trams that also pretend to be trains. Lastly the Manchester's tram network goes way too far out of Manchester, even beyond the boundaries of Greater Manchester which should not have been the case, a smaller network that functions well is better than a large network that doesn't function quite as well.
Thank you from Roger sexton for an excellent video. Speaking as a Brit, I have always thought that Bus Deregulation (from which London was excluded) was a disaster. At last, Manchester, thanks to mayor Andy Burnham, has introduced London-style franchising of bus services. Integrating Metrolink with the buses is now much easier. But including the heavy rail lines around Manchester will be much more difficult!
On the regional trains note, you should take a look at the PicVic project - essentially an RER/Crossrail/Thameslink style tunnel from the 80's (i think, I can't remember the exact date off the top of my head) that was to be built but never did. It would have linked Piccadilly and Victoria, and wouldn't have the issues the Ordsall Curve has due to issues like the Castlefield Corridor being so congested.
Proposed and cancelled in 1977. Obviously, this came down to cost issues rather than anything else, but if it were to be even vaguely feasible, an underground shuttle purely between Piccadilly and Victoria would be of next to no use. The line would needed to be extended (a la Thameslink) to at least the other sides of the city, if not further afield. Extensions over existing lines to Bury (1500V DC) or the airport (25KV AC with the then non-existent extension) would have meant more investment in tweaking existing dual-voltage units (313) to run over the Bury line, or re-electrifying it with a 3rd-raid top-contact system (#). Plus - digging a tunnel to accommodate "mainline" gauge trains as opposed to "tube" stock means a bigger hole - which means more £££ - although this may have been good in the long run as the stations on the Bury line wouldn't have needed to be altered (although a lick of paint would have helped). The current problem is that the line between Piccadilly 13&14 and Oxford Rd really needs to be doubled. It's all well and good that TPx trains to/from the airport to destinations in the NE don't have to reverse at Picc (giving that station more capacity), but the MAN-MCO-MCV line is stretched to it's limits. (#) - I'm not sure, but I think there was some legislation in place by then that banned "new" 3rd-rail TC systems, and only extensions to existing infrastructure was to be allowed (hence the NSE-fuelled Hastings line, Solent Link and Branksome-Weymouth schemes in the 80s being exempted, along with Blackfriars - Farringdon on Thameslink), as would Battledown-Salisbury/Exeter if it ever crops up on the railway's future plans (The DLR from the 90's was allowed as it's bottom-contact).
@@MattForbes Picc-Vic was always design for through running - from Bolton and Bury on the Vic side to Hazel Grove/Macc/Wilmslow on the Picc side. The map is out there if you google (I can't link here) The Oxford Road viaduct doesn't really need four-track, as nothing is overtaking - Thameslink, Crossrail, RER, MerseyRail, Tyne Metro etc are all two track. It needs: - 4 platform at Pic - Longer platforms / track sections at OxR (The above was included in the Northern Hub, cancelled by Gov) - What to do with Deansgate? Close? - Grade seperaation of at least some of the junctions. If you want four track for service separation (long distance v local), it's tunneling time...
@@RMTransit It's because the Northern Hub was only half done.... not ambitious enough in the first place (grade separation!), then half funded (on a whim) by one Westminster politician, then ignored by his successors...
Ideas for expansion would be -Tram to Stockport -Tram to Bolton -Tram to Middleton -Tram connecting Ashton and Oldham -Tram connecting Rochdale, Bury and Bolton - Perhaps a ring Line?
The guided busway to Leigh could/should have a tramway put on top of it. That same disused rail corridor could also take you to Wigan via Atherton and Hindley green. And up to Bolton Via the Roe green loopline
More Tram-train provides endless opportunities, along with the GM Metro plans, all suburban rail lines in Greater Manchester will be integrated and even a potential city centre tunnel can link these lines converting them back into proper suburban rail with much higher capacity than they are now
They need to not route everything through Cornbrook too. I've lost count of the number of times the whole network grinds to a halt because of "signalling or points problems at Cornbrook"
@@yoafaboyit’d be great but I have concerns with increased fares coz buses are only £4 for return and very likely that they will not to V1/V2s if there’s a tram line
@@lordgemini2376 Why did Manchester not get a tube network iike London (and lesser Tyneside and Merseyside which have tunnelled sections and stations ) ?
nice vid, used to do some security on the bury and rochdale lines, heads up for anyone using those lines theres lots of gang activity around abraham moss and chadderton stops and the lines and the stops frequently have vandalised lifts so if you can walk id take the stairs everytime. Also bury is pronounced as "berry" by the way.
Okay, bit of local history for you RM. I had the pleasure of using Metrolink on a daily basis since its inception except when I moved away. I used it both for school and work along the Altrincham line. First, Metrolink started as a conversion of old railway lines to trams which you highlight, which is why you have the so called City Train approach. It was hugely important that this be true because it uses old British rail infrastructure outside the city limits and does so specifically to bypass the Castlefield/Oxford Road corridor - it runs to the side and above and doesn't interfere with rail traffic at all as a result. The Oxford Road corridor is, much like its road namesake, one of the busiest rail lines in the whole of Europe. It has been at capacity for decades and is in large part responsible for why Metrolink isn't actually a rail service. The original link was Bury to Alltrincham (which I will now call Alty), with a central link in Piccadilly. As a general rule, the main exchange platforms for the Met were, in order of importance, Piccadilly Gardens, Mosely Street (which was about 30 metres down the Altrincham line from the Gardens and was necessary for reasons that don't make sense now), Market Street and what was then known as Deansgate. It was rare someone go to Piccadilly itself unless they were coming from or leaving the city via the West Coast Main Line on a direct route. The original service had three separate services interlaced: Bury to Pic Alty to Pic and Alty to Bury. Since all of the direct Alt to Bury trains bypassed Piccadilly Gardens, the main exchange stops for those trams were Mosely Street on the Alty line and Market Street on the Bury line. There was no Shudehill at this time, instead the service went straight to Victoria. The aim was a 6 minute service with 12 minutes outside of peak times. This I think is still the aim for the outer city lines - Metrolink operates as an 80kmh light rail system beyond inner city limits and that is by far its most efficient mode of transport. There are still some issues outside of the city - Navigation Road at one point set the tempo for the entire rail network owing to Metrolink having use of a single line out to Altrincham due to rail traffic having the other, but that line isn't as critical today as it used to be. Almost everything you see now arose out of this line and its problems. First, the main line through the centre of the city to Piccadilly Gardens heavily constrains the effectiveness of the network in the city centre. St Peters Square arose out of the internal extension of the Metrolink towards Victoria by providing two through routes in the city centre, allowing the Metrolink to bypass traffic issues and, as we saw the other day, broken down cars and buses. That internal connection is hugely important as Piccadilly Gardens is uniquely difficult to manage accounting for the fact that it is both highly pedestrianised and has heavy bus traffic. The original attempt at a 'hub' appeared during the MediaCity Eccles line, which is the Cornbrook interchange. This turned out not to be effective for inner city traffic owing to the real problem in the city centre being Piccadilly Gardens, but did allow for splitting of services to Eccles reasonably well. The expansion of lines further lead to Deansgate Castlefield, which remains the most efficient method of getting into the city via Northern line trains. The biggest issue for Metrolink capacity continues to be by the old GMEX centre (right by the infamous Castlefield/Oxford Road Corridor) where the Altrincham and Eccles lines merge into the city centre traffic via a single lane bridge which leads into a roadway. The St Peters Square Exchange was required in order to allow for the capacity to split trams between the two inner city lines which now exist, one going via Exchange Square and the other via Market Street. They both merge at Victoria, which is a major rail station and doesn't really pose an issue for capacity as far as I'm aware. If you want a local review, Metrolink makes journeys outwards from the city a breeze, but struggles at distance. It direly needs a circular line, preferably one following the inner ring road. Salford and West Manchester are badly served by it as it is assumed that Salford Crescent handles the bulk of Salford's commuting load, but a lot of services don't really stop in and around there. Manchester Airport link has a vastly superior train service competing with it. Almost all of this comes from the legacy of exactly how the train networks into Manchester were put together, and the climate of the time in the UK. What's quite remarkable is the Castlefield Corridor issue is an enforced error. Back when the Castlefield Corridor first became an issue (early 90s) the land around it was basically empty. Since then it has been regenerated and it would be impossible to build there now. There are options (reopening other train lines to let services bypass the corridor) but the government seems unwilling to consider anything that doesn't benefit London. Metrolink, incidentally, only exists because Manchester City Council and the Greater Manchester Authorities are extremely shrewed about investment opportunities, bought up the lines on which Metrolink operates during the BR firesale, and worked to keep them long enough to reestablish the rail links. They've run the service extremely well for decades now, even when it had ridiculous outsourcing problems enforced by central government policy, and most of its issues are just down to the infrastructure of Manchester's incredibly short sighted rail network issues.
I should note that while the local nimbys might get really uppity about this, as someone who occasionally commuted to Manchester by car when I was young, Manchester is one of the worst cities on Earth to drive in. Even before all the so called 'green crap' got done. You spent half of your time trapped on the Princess Parkway and the other half of the time being charged insane prices for parking. If instead of listening to the whiny car users for decades, we had appropriately reused post-industrial land to provide overground rail or even Metrolink links along dedicated lines, the city's transport network wouldn't need the Metrolink running through the centre like it does, and we could have used a lighter streetcar tram system. I should also note that for all the crap Northern rail gets and for all the problems with the West Coast Main Line, the journey from anywhere on the North West coast of England into Manchester is both painless and frankly far faster than any car travel, even during peak hours. Even with delays and stupidity, Transpennine can get you to Manchester from Lancaster (which even during good traffic is nearly two hours away) in just over an hour. The main problem continues to be cancellations and infrequent services due to capacity.
One of the biggest improvements to the network that’s been proposed by TfGM, but unfortunately is little more than a long term aspiration at this point, is to build an underground section in the city centre for some of the existing lines (or potentially future tram-train lines) to feed into, to turn the system into something a bit closer to a grade separated metro-style service - similar to what other European cities have done. The current network core is effectively at full capacity (the track between Cornbrook and St Peter’s Square sees more than 40tph at peak time) so this is very much needed to unlock the system’s full potential.
I'd love an underground section of metrolink, right now trying to dodge trams is quite the mission, and a ball ache if you're in a hurry and a tram is sitting at a stop signal blocking your path There are a small amount of stops in the centre too and as the city centre expands it will be harder to get from one side of the other via walking - I'd love for a tram to service Deansgate and Spinningfields - it could connect to Exchange Sq. and St. Peters Sq. via tunnels - Doubt it will ever happen though
@@alexthegrape1000 Yeah, I think in terms of new lines there absolutely needs to be one that goes north to south down Oxford Rd or one of the neighbouring roads, serving the University and Salford. It’s a huge population that’s currently underserved by either train or tram. I think a Y-shaped underground line linking Piccadilly, Victoria & Deensgate would be huge because it means that the lines that were originally former heavy rail track - Bury, Altrincham etc could run larger, higher capacity “tram-train” vehicles with most of their street-running segments removed, while the other lines that mostly run on street can use the existing city centre track with higher capacity. The tunnel could also serve trains travelling onto heavy-rail track to go to places like Bolton and Stockport. Unfortunately, the elephant in the room is that this sort of infrastructure would be very expensive, effectively Manchester’s own Elizabeth Line so it would require a lot of central government funding, it’s unlikely Greater Manchester in it’s own would be able to afford it. And I think whole HS2 thing shows just how… unreliable the government is when it comes to funding transport outside of London.
Which they should definitely do to make it into a high capacity system, Manchester is plenty big enough for that and it is comparable in size to many cities which do have a proper underground system
Well done, you nailed it. You sorted of hinted at it in the video, but Metrolink has put the bones down for a lot of TOD. Many of the routes out from the centre go through key brownfield regeneration sites, and those corridors grow in density ever year, and you are right to point out the network will soon be sub-scale. Date I say the centre gets more Toronto like with each passing day. Nowhere outside London adds more 100m+ and 150m+ residential than this town. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but driving a flywheel of housing growth-employment growth-retail&Nightlife growth.
The Old Trafford station you mention at 07:59 is adjacent to the Old Trafford Cricket Ground. I know, two stadiums with almost the same name about a kilometre apart can be confusing. But the entire area is called Old Trafford.
Bury is where I grew up. Usually pronounced “berry”. I always drive in Manchester because the Met is ridiculously expensive and routes not very convenient because of just how big and sprawling Manchester is. They opened it for my 18th birthday back when I didn’t drive, spent far too much time in pubs and benefited from concession fares so was far more practical… Your video is very well-researched and interesting.
I live in Whitefield (on the border between Manchester and Bury). I always take the tram if I go into Manchester. Finding a place to park is stressful, it's expensive and the traffic there and back can be a nightmare. It costs £4.30 for a one day off-peak pass (you can use it as many times as you wish). From Bury, which is one zone further out, it would cost £4.90 for a one day pass to Manchester. You can pay with a debit/credit card just tapping in and out. From where I live to Bury is £3.50 for a day pass. My son who has epilepsy has a disabled person's card which gives him free travel after 09.30. Older people with free bus passes can pay £10 a year to have their passes enabled for use on the tram system too.
@@barrysteven5964 Concessions aside that sounds pretty expensive to me especially when you consider the people who use public transport are usually not the wealthiest… A 2-mile drive to the Met, P&R parking full then the best part of a fiver into town or alternatively a 10-mile drive then free on-street parking off Oldham Street in Ancoats. Works for me every time. What would be useful would be a ticket valid on all forms of transport at a reasonable price. Where I live it’s a flat rate. €1.34 (€13.40 for a ‘book’ of ten tickets) for 1h30 on all buses, metros, trams and cable car as long as you don’t go back on yourself. We also have a free city bike scheme and a free electric circular bus route around the centre. So multimodal journeys are made simple and accessible. Connections between modes of transport are the key to getting cars off the road.
@@drillingig2368 It depends where you are and where you're going. I live in the suburbs of Manchester and I often use the tram if I'm going into Manchester. Driving is not pleasant, car parks aren't great and they are really expensive. And I can go for a drink too. I sometimes meet friends for a night out in Liverpool and I get the tram to Victoria and the train to Lime St which is right in the centre. Ideal.
Yay! So glad you've finally made this vid! I remember in the 90s riding the tram on the very first day of service out of Altrincham and being mesmerised by the tram's street running in the city centre!
One thing that I noticed when travelling around the system is the difference in the overhead wires. On the Altrincham and Bury former-heavy-rail sections the wires are very conventional rail catenary, with a catenary wire and a separate contact wire below. However, on the similar East Didsbury section there is just a single contact wire (presumably they determined that this was sufficient for the speeds involved - although there's a couple of shots in the video that show this single wire bowing upwards considerably under pressure from the pantograph!). Oh, and for architecture/bridge fans, the crossing at Besses o' th' Barn is very impressive and unusual.
At long last! Been waiting for this video for a lonnnng time. Although I'm 41 and have lived in the south of England all my life, my first visit to Manchester was just this year, and I was very impressed by both the city and Metrolink. It would be great to see you cover Merseyrail, the Tyne and Wear metro, Glasgow Subway, Edinburgh and Nottingham trams and the TFL trams too.
I really wish there was a tram that went directly south. The buses to both universities are extremely overcrowded and it’s a common sign to see 4 busses in a row that say ‘Sorry, bus full’ and this is with a ban on cars on the university portion of Oxford road and dedicated cycle lanes! To get from East didsbury to the centre with the tram takes about 3x longer so there should really be a tram serving the south and southeast in my opinion
Great video and a decent example of a city using the DLR philosophy to get a serviceable metro going. Birmingham (second biggest city in UK) is doing something similar and is worth a look to see how it's trying to integrate the metro into being line that brings together sizeable areas surrounding it to create an effect not too distention than what the London underground has done.
I’m not familiar with this channel so it was interesting to come across Ross this video. The bit where you mention connecting Bury and Rochdale to get Heywood on the map - YES. The difference this would make to my town (and commute) is immense. This was enjoyable! Appreciate all your research!
I’d really like to see Stockport via Longsight and Denton and Hyde via Gorton on the cards for Metrolink. Two very busy radial corridors with incredibly high bus usage and large flows of car traffic into and out of town at peak times
Early on you showed Crumpsall station!. Before I moved to Toronto (2000) my partner and I spent two years in Manchester and we bought a flat near Crumpsall. My partner worked near Old Trafford Cricket ground and I worked in Rochdale (Which was two buses at the time, transferring at Middleton). I did drive to work, but all our play time was down the Metrolink service to Victoria and Piccadilly. It sure has expanded since I left though. They were still recovering and rebuilding from the bombing. I should go back sometime to see how it has changed. Always thought it was cool how it switched to 'tram" mode at Victoria. There was a sign for the driver just after or before the station!
i've been fascinated by this system since i first heard of its existence, it should be viewed an example for future systems in the united kingdom or even other parts of the world that faced similar conditions as manchester had. The one thing i do find odd is the option to have a high-floor tram network as opposed to a low-floor network, however knowing the fact that it was built reusing old commuter line corridors and infrastructure and even interlining with active heavy rail lines it does make sense financially.
The high floors are beneficial - 100% level floors inside the tram and 100% level boarding from the stops - the system is truly accessible to all. There are too many steps on low-floor trams.
@@RMTransit Speaking of B-Wagen: Any plans on covering Essen? They've got a very interesting history to their transport network, including guided trolleybusses trundling through U-tram tunnels, second hand ex-DLR stock, dual gauge running, aborted plans for a fully standard gauge network, etc. I could get you a ton of footage from there.
Glad you're paying attention to the North of England! Sad to hear HS2 wont be serving the lovely city for now, hopefully if HS2.1 goes well they'll consider the Leeds and Manchester route again (with better planning this time...).
as someone who lives near rochdale and uses the metrolink on occasion, I absolutely love it. Super convenient to get to where you need to go. Only problem is that the bus route from my house to the rochdale metrolink station is run by a privately owned company and is pretty bad with scheduling but not much you can do there haha
it's a very good system for manchester central north /south, it's yet to be utilised in the west of the region , some plans have been made to reach out to Bolton, Wigan and Leigh, all towns in Greater Manchester but no plan to reach out in the near future.
I live in Salford and use the Metrolink a lot. There are some things both positive and negative that I can say about this light rail network: + It's bright and colourful, easy to spot and makes the city more vibrant. + It is very good for tourists visiting Manchester. The system covers the majority of what you want to see in and around the city and does so at an excruciatingly slow pace (see counter point below) which allows you to take in all the sights, sounds (and smells) the city has to offer. + It has very frequent stops which can place you closer to your destination. - The system is incredibly slow. It is by no means a rapid transit system since it was decided that the Metrolink system would be taken onto city streets mixing with street traffic and the general public. There is also very questionable design choices when it comes to routing and junctions which unnecessarily slows the trams (definitely trams, not trains!) down and thus leads to very long journey times. This alongside the fact; - The system is very congested. As you can imagine with such a fast expansion rate, there are so many more lines and thus so many more trams. The most notable section for congestion is between Cornbrook and Deansgate-Castlefield where you often have to wait in a queue of trams for an available platform at either station. There doesn't seem to be much communication between the town planners and the Metrolink as expansion space is quickly turned into an incredibly unaffordable glass shoebox. - The system is becoming seemingly... neglected. Much of the network has seen "temporary speed restrictions" added in areas where there are track defects or some operating hazard, and these are now widespread, slowing down the system even more. Going forward, for the Metrolink to survive into the future, the city centre section needs to be taken underground, out of conflict with road traffic and the public, with more routes across the city.
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You mentioned the vehicles were similar to Frankfurt, but you omitted Cologne and Bonn which actually operate the exact same type including the same front design. Actually, even the type M5000 is derived from the K5000 used in Cologne because that was the number series assigned to the vehicles pre-order. (Cologne also operates K4000 and K4500 trams/LRVs)
@jornwagner7480 The K5200 is pretty much identical to the K5100. It's basically just a reorder to expand the fleet for a new line (that still is under construction). The K5300 is a bigger improvement, introduced in 2020 for Cologne and Düsseldorf
I live in Manchester since 2016, Bee network is best thing to happen to public transport that I ever saw so far. Taking power from private companies (which would just increase fare prices). Its subsidised now, but hey - that's a good way to spend tax money I think. First 2 months were rough, ngl. A lof of bus routes used to have set drivers. After the switch - all drivers got to train on all the routes. So there were some problems with time of the bus, or bus not ariving at all. But, and its a BIG part why I think network works - standard fare. Its 2£ for any bus journey. Il take 2 months of slightly disrupted travel with a benefit of saving me hundreds of pounds every year.
@10:42 For those wondering why it's the 'Bee' network, the bee is the symbol of Manchester, and you'll see it a lot as bumper stickers on cars, especially in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing. It's on the city coat of arms (7 of them for the seven seas Manchester traded across), and it's a worker bee, to symbolise Manchetser's industrial roots (being the heart/start of the Industrial revolution) and being built by workers.
I really love the Metrolink system, but it definitely has capacity issues and the high-floor city centre stations don't make for great public spaces. But still a great system with great looking trams.
Thanks Reece, I really enjoyed this video. Manchester was my closest city when I was a teenager, and I remember travelling on both the Altrincham and Bury lines before they were converted.
They were purpose developed for the Cologne/Bonn network and were introduced there in 2003. Also, the ones in Cologne, although older, have passenger A/C. Manchester somehow didn't spec it
Been waiting for this especially, thank you for uploading! As you might be able to guess, I'm a fan of the Metrolink myself, and your information is on point.
Metrolink is great but nowhere near big enough yet. I lived in Salford for 3 years for university and the system barely scrapes the area, for those 3 years I lived there I think I used the system like, twice. I plan on moving back later in life so I hope it's expanded by then because I can see myself using it regularly.
I want say that is very similar to a German Stadtbahn.This concept will you find in many german cities. If someone wants to what a Stadtbahn is you can ride down into the comments
Well, the M5000 trains used there are basically the same as the K5000 in Cologne so that's no surprise for the similarities. The one notable difference, though, is the lack of tunnels, the short section for Piccadilly station aside.
The system is good but it's very much a cheap option slapped together because the government refuses to give much funding to public transport outside of London. To show how much the government cares about investing in Manchester's transport, last week they came to Manchester and announced they are cancelling HS2 and promised to build a Metrolink line to the airport which already exists, as you showed in your video.
Yay, my childhood city! I'd say one of the biggest issues with the Metrolink is that they're trying to build it into an ersatz metro, but the lines are getting a bit too long and the trains just don't have the capacity. At peak times even coupling two units together isn't enough, four cars get easily overcrowded. The long length and numerous stops makes travel quite slow too. So rather than expanding the Metrolink, I'd argue that Manchester should instead focus on a) tram-train operation onto the existing National Rail network and b) copy London by taking over the much of the suburban rail network and building their own Overground system. Many of these lines still aren't electrified and have diesel trains with slow acceleration and infrequent service. Back when I lived there my local commuter service was every half an hour at peak times and every hour otherwise (and trains were frequently short-formed, delayed or cancelled). It's why I'm so grateful to live down south where Thameslink delivers a very frequent service every 5-10 minutes with new and very large electric trains. Wish something vaguely similar was built up north, maybe it'll happen with the devolved powers. Finally, if you need inspiration for another not-London video, it's worth checking out the Tyne & Wear Metro in the Newcastle region, which unlike Metrolink is a real metro.
I live a 10min train ride from Piccadilly. For some reason there's a train every 30mins if they're not cancelled. The bus takes nearly half an hour so I tend not to use it. Funnily enough there were extensive tram services back in the past, but I suppose with cars we'll never see that again.
Now we've broken the London bubble, im interested in a video like the one you did for the worlds longest tramway but for the Blackpool tramway. In theory it is both the oldest still operating electric tramway and the oldest 'normal service' electric tramway in the world.
My Dad was a core engineer at Metrolink from day 1! I was lucky enough to drive both the original blue and newer yellow trams when I was a child, only in the depot of course!
As a Brit who often feels ashamed of public transit outside of London, this gives me hope. Anyone from Manchester know what the cycling situation is like? I may just have to visit
Don’t forget about Merseyrail, Newcastle’s real metro, and Nottingham’s tram system. I really do think that Nottingham is a shining example for British transportation in the future. It’s walkable, it’s rather bikeable, it has good rail links, and of course it has the aforementioned tram system. I’d love to visit someday.
It’s alright in South Manchester, from the city centre through the University areas out towards Didsbury, otherwise it’s pretty awful for cycling. Oh and beware of the tram tracks on your bike if you have tyres narrower than 40 mm, I have fallen off my bike this way!
Haha it’s so weird to not only see the tram system I use everyday in a youtube video, but a few of the shots actually included my previous flat (apartment) building too! Great video :)
Manchester also has a partly built and never opened underground system, called the Picc-Vic tunnel. Now I don't think they ever actually built all that much, but there is definitely a void beneath the Arndale shopping centre where a station was supposed to be. I believe it was the cancellation of the this project that eventually lead to Metrolink.
Yes, Picc-Vic was cancelled in the 70s although the Liverpool and Newcastle tunnels went ahead. After that, everything in the UK has been light rail - DLR, then Metrolink, the the others. It was never a system though - just a plan - I think the Arndale builders just left a space in case it was needed (passive provision).
- Manchester now will have its entire Bus Network locally controlled by the City - The same thing will happen to the Train Network by 2030 If they could smoothly integrate the Train System to the Network as planned and expand the existing Tram System then the overall system could be a legit force in less than 15 Years offering variety. Its got potential and a very high Ceiling.
If you're talking about Bee Network buses, those are managed by Go North West (Part of Go Ahead Group), similar to TFL (although buses in London are also operated by Stagecoach, Arriva and Transport UK, formerly Abellio) buses in London.
@@heidirabenau511 GNW are the launch partner - Stagecoach will follow very soon, along with Arriva. Plus - you missed Metroline and RATP from your major London operators.
Thank you for the fascinating video - I've visited Manchester many times, but learned a lot about Metrolink from this. Have you considered doing one about the Tyne and Wear Metro? It involves fully grade-separated routes, some underground, using what are effectively tram style vehicles, in a much smaller and less wealthy part of the UK, covering two separate cities as well.
T&W metro is also built on alot of former track that used to be the NER's tyneside electrics. Also you say "tram style" those old boxy bois have just started getting replaced by class 555's (a sub version of class 777) that look closer to trains. Also some parts of the network share heavyrail track like around sunderland till it head over to a grade separated junction at pelaw and quad tracking to heworth and beyond to gateshead before heading separate from the mainline.
Very very well researched, I was born and still live in South Manchester and I can’t fault a single thing you said. The Altrincham to Bury line was the first Metrolink route to open and I grew up about a 3 minute walk from a stop so I’ve been using the system since I was a small child. I’m hoping the Bee Network really improves public transport around Manchester and reduces some of the dreaded morning traffic on our arterial roads.
Yup, the gap in population between the West Midlands and Greater Manchester is less than 100k and both are fast growing regions with a lot of development going on rn. A better Birmingham and Manchester is only a good thing for the country :)
@@Rijowhi1980 The argument always comes up, so I always simplify it for others by saying: London is about 9 million, Birmingham and Manchester are both about 3 million, and then come the rest...
Please cover the Merseyrail system! Very few people know that in Liverpool we have our own underground tube system - would love to know more about the history behind this
Generations of Canadians have grown up with daily episodes of Coronation Street on the CBC. Now we finally have a second piece of Manchester content to sink our teeth into
... and the Trafford Park line goes right past the Coronation Street set and studios! (The programme makers supposedly objected due to possible 'wheel-screeching' on the bend disrupting the recordings.... but it seemed to get sorted in the end)
Wasn’t there a storyline many years ago involving a Metrolink derailment in Weatherfield? (I must confess that I’ve not followed Corrie since Mr Swinley (Arthur Lowe) left in 1968!).
@@arwelp Almost.. they called the fictional system "Politanlink" (geddit!?) for ..err.. legal reasons? But Metrolink cooperated with the filming of the story. Plus being a soap... it wasn't a mere derailment.. the viaduct blew-up and the tram landed on the shop!!!
Nice to see a UK-related video from your channel which isn't about London - I do love the London-related content from your channel but its always nice to focus on other parts of the UK. I have ridden the Metrolink once last year (hopefully shouldn't be the last time I ride it as I might visit Manchester more in the future) on the newest line of the network - the Trafford Park Line from the Trafford Centre (I travel to the Trafford Centre quite a lot but weirdly have hardly been into Manchester city centre) into the city centre when I went to see the famous Manchester Christmas Markets in the city centre. And I did find the tram network (while you might call them "City Trains", any train or rail vehicle which is designed with street running in mind, despite being high floor or low floor, to me is a tram) pretty convenient for me. However, I do agree the fact that the Trafford Park Line service doesn't run further into the city centre (to terminate at Crumpsall - although I personally think it should instead be extended across the city centre to the east of the city [similar to the the Ashton Line] to maybe Denton or Hyde) like the other lines isn't great (another issue I have with the Metrolink is the lack of staff/conductors in the trams which can enable some unruly people to get on board). But nevertheless, I do like the system for its vast extensive coverage of the Greater Manchester Area (even though I do wish that some lines like the Bury, Altrincham & Rochdale Lines maybe should have been built as a proper rapid transit/light metro system from the start) which is something I do wish other tram systems in the UK were also like that - only Nottingham has significantly expanded its tram network over the last decade while places like Sheffield, Edinburgh, Birmingham/West Midlands, Blackpool & Croydon have been either much slower to expand their systems or in the case of Croydon, not done any expansion for years. And I also do think Manchester is heading in the right direction by creating the Bee Network for the trams and buses which will later include the commuter rail and that'll ensure an integrated network like London. Although I haven't seen your Nebula video on the Metrolink (I have no intention of joining Nebula at the moment as I'm not quite fond of paying for subscriptions unless its absolutely important) I definitely also think a strategic tram tunnel through the city centre (perhaps between Cornbrook & Manchester Victoria) should be done in the future when the Metrolink expands further in order to relieve/complement the current on-street sections (which could enable a metro-like service for some of the lines I mentioned above) - they do have a city centre Metrolink tunnel planned for the future so who knows. I also think a heavy-rail tunnel would be useful in the future between Piccadilly & Victoria and I do think that should've been done instead of the Ordsall Chord, given that the Ordsall Chord was built on existing railways that are already above capacity. Anyway, really loved this video and if you plan on doing any more UK-related videos, some videos on Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, the cancelled High Speed 2 North project, the North-South divide in England and maybe Scotland/Wales-related vids would be nice (or even Northern Ireland and maybe if you go slightly away from the UK countries, perhaps a vid on the Republic of Ireland, especially Dublin).
The Rochdale to Bury line you suggest would be interesting - it already exists barring a couple of new chords which would be needed, but is run as a heritage steam railway. I'm not sure how well the two would run together - or how willing the steam railway would be to give up or share the alignment its volunteers built - there is room to double track most of it, and potentially have the steam railway run alongside the tram tracks. That would make for a very interesting journey!
Thanks for the great video! It’s a great network but it’s desperate for some circular lines, even just linking the existing endpoints. Ashton and Oldham are not that far from each other as the crow flies, but to go from Ashton to Oldham on the tram, you have to come all the way into the city and go back out. The Eccles line could link up with the end of the new Trafford Park line to improve getting across the Irwell from Manchester to Salford. Express trams on the Media City line would also be great for commuters; miss out the MC spur and reduce the amount of stops it makes going through Salford Quays (a lot very close together) after picking up a lot of passengers from Eccles to Langworthy who are going to the city.
Hi RM, first time seeing a video of yours, I’m a local Resident, born and raised just outside the city but now living in MCR. Love the video, great research and I learned some things! One small correction though: The Altrincham line all the way to Bury (pronounced Berry), but there is also a Picadilly-Bury line. I think there was (or maybe there sometimes still is on Man City match days) a tram that runs from Bury to Etihad Campus as well - i could be misremembering that though. But yeah, theres a BuryAltrincham line and a PiccadillyBury line and I think thats the only think you got wrong, so really well done! Cornbrook is another big hub for tram changes, as thats where the lines for Trafford Centre and Eccles splits off from the Airport, Altrincham and Didsbury lines as they continue to either Pomona or Trafford Bar. The Trafford Centre line also ONLY just started to move to Deansgate (originally only coming from Cornbrook) in the last 18 months or so i think, maybe 2 years. The maps on the trams still say it terminates at Cornbrook, but all the info on the electronic and audio announcements are very clear. All in all, great video, not something I expected to see on my TH-cam feed but there we go! I do hope the Network is expanded… you can see loads of potential space for it!
Further to this: there was actually a tube planned for the city but it got scrapped, and i think there are still some old stations built… however, it was replaced by the tram network in the 90s!
You should have included the iconic warning sound the trams make to warn pedestrians in the video. Most emblematic sound in all of Manchester for me haha
Toot! _Toot!_ *_HONK!_*
Very good point, I forgot to include it!
That iconic noise is apparently a recording of the air whistles fitted to the T68 trams, and played back through a speaker
The honking is how I nearly caused an accident, every other tram I've ever come across goes "ding"! 😂
I don't think I've heard the new trams actually honk with a rail horn, but the old ones definitely did if people weren't heeding the whistle. The driver would briefly switch the mode lever to "segregated" (heavy rail) mode so that the whistle became a full-on horn.
As a former Manchester resident, I just wanted to say well done on your pronunciation of our place names! People from outside the region rarely get Altrincham right.
@@TerryBell1968 Yeah, a lot of chaps from across the pond pronounce 'Berry' and 'Bury' quite similarly.
Yeah Babycham! ;)
@@BritishTeaLover Most people in Greater Manchester ignore how people in Bury pronounce Bury and pronounce it correctly instead :P
All-Trin-Chum is how it usually goes.
@@TerryBell1968 From new Moston with love. It's Berry.
I think one important thing to mention for your viewers is how the expansion of Metrolink has mirrored Manchester's rise in fortunes over the last couple of decades. Manchester was in a deep post-industrial depression over the latter half of the last century. Now there is A LOT of new development, with a new skyscraper going up seemingly every other week. The city centre population is booming. The relatively good tram network is important to the city's newfound attractiveness.
Indeed - Manchester had to give up on being industrial, then post-industrial, and got on with the future. It all started to turn around in around 1986/87 and it has been leading the way ever since, setting the standards in the UK outside London.
We have to admit (without condoning) that the IRA might have helped the city centre out in 1996!
@@ianhalsall-fox It did help, but only one area. The effect of that event is often overstated (without diminishing the immediate shock of it) as if no other development was happening (before or after).
The direct financial effect of the IRA bomb was minimal at the time, especially as the UK government contributed very little to the rebuild (as always because it is a strong Labour voting constituency) however it did bring in significant funding from elsewhere and acted as a powerful catalyst for change, which is something Manchester has always excelled at. The bomb was a reset for the city and it hasn't looked back since. @@metropleb
@@TerryBell1968 world keeps spinning. Nostalgia merchants keep crying about how things were and cry about how things are
As you started out by saying, it's really refreshing to see someone from across The Pond take a look at transport in the UK that's _not_ London. Thank you.
It's just unfortunate that rail based urban transport in the rest of the UK is so limited
@@grassytramtracks
Which is strange since the UK has so many cities with over one million people
As a lifelong mancunian and regular user of the metrolink for Manchester United matches the biggest issue the metrolink has is an inability to gear up additional services for events.
Football matches are a prime example as Old Trafford seats 73,000 average per match, yet service from Trafford Bar to East Didsbury on match days is always dangerously full and has been for a long time. We are talking overcrowded to the point the trams get weighed down to the degree that the doors cannot open at some stations due them now interfering with the platform.
And Old Trafford is very well served with Old Trafford, Trafford Bar, Exchange Quay and Wharfside all within walking distance and featuring services across five differnt lines. The Etihad on the other hand is woefully underserved with only one line serving it, which considering the average attendance there is 53,000 a game is pretty dire.
Add in the concerts held at the Etihad and also Old Trafford cricket ground (literally 50m from Old Trafford Tram stop) and thats lots of days per year where the system can be totally overwhelmed. E.g Both United and City usually play minimum 22 (usually closer to 30) home matches per year but due to policing they don't play at home the same time so thats upto 60 instances per year before any concerts, Cricket Matches or additional events.
Still despite that significant issue the system is pretty great and frankly outside of London we have some of if not the best public transport in the UK.
And Northern;s inability to feel like re-opening Old Trafford train station . Also though Old Trafford has a large resident population that walks to the area the stadium has been in for many years. City fans it is more difficult owing to the nature of the area, but maybe more City fans are from Gorton/Ashton/Stockport which have usable bus services
@@highpath4776the wiki page on the Old Trafford halt says Manchester United themselves requested the station not be used.
@@highpath4776The station was closed at the club's request AFAIK
@@highpath4776Half the card machines not working most of the time too. Every platform at least one card tap machine thing that’s not working..
@@highpath4776 In addition, the borough of Stockport (as well as Bolton and Wigan) isn't on the Metrolink network at all. The Didsbury line gives up a few hundred metres before the Manchester/Stockport boundary.
it is hard to describe how much the metrolink has improved travel in manchester. Genuinely revolutionary for us mancs
Fun fact: the Bury line, before conversion, had very non-standard electrification. Yes, it was a British Rail line, but it had 3rd rails that were SIDE-CONTACT (inherited from the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, at 1200 volts DC. It was a natural candidate for conversion, and so it was, in 1991 (to become the first Metrolink branch to open in 1992)
Two third rails? So third and fourth?
Pre grouping era electrics are really wacky and based.
@@RMTransitNo - it was a standard third-rail arrangement, with power being delivered through the "juice" rail (staggered offset by 30cm from the running rails) and the return current going through the running rails. Only real difference was the fact that the collection shoes on the units were sprung horizontally to hit the side of the live rail rather than vertically to contact at the top (Southern /LU) or vertically to hit the bottom (DLR). And, of course, the voltage difference.
I used to love those old trains. The big soft seats, the wood, the doors, their handles and the noise they made when you shut them; the noise of the train’s motors whirring…
I'd like to note I've not heard anyone else outside the town pronounce 'Bury' as the locals do. Pretty much everyone else, including the BBC, pronounce it 'berry'.
I'm terribly disappointed that you didn't address the most important part of the Metrolink - the charming "Bonk" sound they make to gently warn pedestrians to get out of the way, before they go as far as the angry horn!
It's a ubiquitous part of Manchester's urban soundscape
AKA the "toot" -You know you someone has fucked up when you hear the horn blast though haha
There's a bit of a story behind that, it's a recording of the old T-68 air horn. Initially when the M5000's were brought in they had a different sound, but locals seemed to have grown so fond of the old sound they changed it.
@@Croz89 that's a lovely detail I didn't know!
@@alexthegrape1000 Same in Dublin. The bell is for pedestrians, and the full train horn is usually reserved for bad drivers!
@@Croz89 I have so much nostalgia for the old trams and their toot sounds, never knew that the new ones had a different sound when they were first introduced though, how funny that they changed the noise back to a toot i love that
I live in Liverpool but recently went on vacation to San Francisco. I spoke to some of the locals and lots of them this that most of the UK is London. I had to explain that England has way more to it than London, Wales wasn’t a ten minute walk away, Scotland wasn’t a short bus ride up the road and that Northern Ireland wasn’t a brisk swim across the Irish Sea!
Liverpool? That's an outer suburb of London right? 😂
@@jay-em thought it was in Glasgow
Liverpool aka one of the best clubs in Premier League?
ME TRYING TO BE AMERICAN:
"Liverpool? isn't that the Capital of London?"
Londoners can get to Wales a lot quicker than Friscans can get to LA....
Live in Manchester for about 7 years in total. The Metrolink really has begun to feel like a true network, allowing reliable travel to many places you might actually want to go. I seldom rode a bus apart from the Oxford Road corridor. As the video says, there's a lot more room for improvement. but it is already in a good place, especially in comparison to other English cities.
Also: if you're visiting Manchester, take the train from the airport not the tram. The tram is excruciatingly long for that journey, as it was really designed for local travel and not a direct airport to hotel connection.
I remember feeling like.. once we had two routes from Deansgate to Vic, and several stops with more than 2 platforms... it went up a level to a 'big system'...
Oh yeah, its a veeeeeerrrrry winding route!
Additionally, the bus network ties in pretty well to the trams in the city centre, with the main interchanges at Piccadilly Gardens (and Market Street just across the square for the other lines) and Shudehill. Just a shame the "Gardens" themselves aren't all that pleasant, or gardeny.
I have the exact opposite experience! With living around the Oxford road corridor for about 5 years, I just never use the tram, honestly wish there was a route down Oxford road to maybe Didsbury, it could become one of the busiest routes. As stagecoach (at least used to) brag that this road is the busiest bus route in Europe!
That airport line is so slow with too many stops.
Just to add Manchester used to have a tram which was ripped up in 1949 and had 470 KM of track and was the largest contiguous tram network in the UK until London combined it's tram services into one and keep in mind almost all the lines to the towns outside Manchester didn't exist because they all had their own independent tram networks, which shows how dense the network used to be.
…and when they came to install the Metrolink lines at Piccadilly, under the Tarmac they then had to rip up the old tram lines that had simply been covered over. Madness :)
Thank you for making this video, I've been waiting for it for a while, the Metrolink is one of my favourite transit systems in the UK and I always love traveling on it. I did find it amusing when the Government said in the Network North plan that they will extend the Metrolink to Manchester Airport, when it already goes there.
I was hoping they meant from Stockport/Ashton area
Yeah that was quite a LOL moment, must have been because my video wasn't out yet - they were flying blind.
@@RMTransit They said they'd extend the line into *Manchester Aiport Terminal 2*
Besides the fact they messed it all up and cancelling HS2 was a complete sham, my hope was that they were talking about the planned extension at the airport to the new HS2/NPR station. While HS2 was cancelled, it was hoped that NPR would be resurrected. It turns out that's probably what they meant... but as we know, they probably also have no intention of actually resurrecting NPR.
They marked Preston as Manchester on the prospectus too. So basic relativity and geography are beyond them it seems.
While the "Old Trafford" stop isn't the closest to Old Trafford football ground, it is right next door to Old Trafford cricket ground, which sees international cricket as well as being the home of Lancashire cricket club. It also sees use for concerts, notably including the benefit concert arranged in the aftermath of the Manchester arena bombing.
Yeah! I just mention because a lot of outsiders are gonna think of Man U
Weirdly "Old Trafford Metrolink" (formerly Warwick Road) is not the closest stop to the "Old Trafford" district either, the centre of which is east of Trafford Bar (formerly "Old Trafford Station"). Neither Old Trafford sports ground are really in Old Trafford, but Gorse Hill.@@RMTransit
Yep, it is a bit confusing that Manchester has two major sporting grounds, both called Old Trafford@@RMTransit
You've got the advantage of years on me Terry, but as long as I can remember west of Chester Road has never been Old Trafford. If it's not Gorse Hill what is it?@@TerryBell1968
As a resident of MCR, I asked about this and i've been looking forward to this video so much! Thank you RMTransit!
Thanks for your patience, it takes a long time to make videos I am happy with but usually I get there
The Mayor of Manchester is trying to make a TFL style transportation system in Manchester. E.g. Buses under public ownership...
The only problem is the HS2 High Speed Trains from London just got cancelled to Manchester and will only go to Birmingham. Which is a huge blow to the UK. Very disappointed.
Very short sighted but I believe it will be resurrected within a very few years, and will be hugely popular and provide widespread economic benefits.
@@caw25sha It's a farce. Euston-New Street only takes (on average) 1h30, whereas EUS-MAN is closer to 2h30. The (projected) HS2 time savings to Manchester would be considerably more than that to Brum, but Sunak is an arsehole. Just like his recent predecessors. I just wish I could share your optimism for the HS2 project to be resurrected, but as a realist, I just can't see it happening without a change of government. When's the next General Election??? :)
It was always destined to be scrapped as HS2 started in London, it was never about levelling up the North, everything was about levelling up Londonistan.
@@caw25sha It definitely will be resurrected. HS2 just makes too much sense. All the tories are doing is delaying it and making it much more expensive than it would've been unfortunately. Hopefully they'll be out of power very soon!
@@MattForbes HS2 isn't about speed/ time savings.
It's about taking high/ higher speed intercity services off of the current existing network and onto their own seperate network. Which would allow for more local, suburban, and regional services to be run, and result in improved reliability on all the aforementioned types of services compared to the current mixed-traffic network which tries to support every type of service and in doing so fails to do each well and reliably.
Plus that's before even getting to how much more freight can be moved by rail along the corridor from taking high/ higher speed inter-city trains off the current network.
HS2 is so much more than speed and time saving. It's about fixing rail travel in areas of the UK outside of London. (Plus thanks to the huge capacity boosts that would be unlocked, services would begin to become cheaper for passengers!)
I was responsible for that warning sound. To avoid confusion with car, burglar, fire and other alarms something different was needed. I came up with the chime whistle. To get the right sound I spent an afternoon playing chords on the Wurlitzer organ then in the Free trades hall, now Stockport town hall. Once I had “the sound” it was translated into a brass chime whistle. With the new trams, a digital recording was made. It may not be traditional, but it is unmistakeable and iconic.
@@screwdriver5181 thank you for your service
You sir/madam/etc. need a tram stop and/or blue plaque, that sound is now truly iconic for Manchester as a resident here. Thank you :)
rubbish 😄
It was great to see my home city featured on your channel. The bee network is promising. We have a good bus service for the Uk, but unified ticketing to allow unlimited travel across the region makes a real difference.
Top marks for the correct pronunciation of Altrincham. 👍🏻
The locals helped me ;)
@@RMTransitI'm glad you listened and fixed that :)
But as someone from Bury...
Lovely to see you talk about what has become a pretty successful network - here's a couple of extra points.
Because they run a mix of single and double unit services, they let passengers know when a double unit is coming by adding 'Dbl' to the platform indicators.
You mentioned they'd been 'clever' in their expansion; one of the best things they did involved their proposed "Big Bang", which was rejected by central Government as too expensive, so they went back, looked at the plans, and split them Santiago-style into sections, in order to get the funding approved.
The Media City route had been a standalone service, but was withdrawn due to Covid and not reintroduced, replaced by the reversal you mentioned.
Your comment about Old Trafford Station catches a lot of people out, as it's assumed it's the stop for the Football Ground, whereas it's the stop for Lancashire County Cricket Ground - also called Old Trafford!
The Media CIty service is back now... hurrah!
I had no idea what Dbl meant, thank you 🤣
When I first started taking the tram I thought DBL stood for “Don’t Be Late” 😂😂
@goob8945 And did "SGL" stand for "Seriously Gonna (be) Late"?
As a Manc, you nailed the place names. Not easy for people making content about this wonderful city I call home.
Kinda feels surreal seeing your city having content made about it.
@@CloudCoderChap The "Bury" is a bit off, but honestly you couldn't ask much more from a foreigner.
i work in mediacity and it's so weird seeing the place where i go to so often in a video 😭 i'm so used to watching videos about other places
Babe, wake up! Reece uploaded the Metrolink video!
Finally been waiting for some video from him on Manchester!
It only took like 7 years but its here!
@@RMTransit You should visit Manchester in the future I think you would enjoy it
@@RMTransit"7 years" still quicker time than the planning and installing of some routes
@@olavsantiago Lmao ‘Northern Powerhouse’
The Old Trafford tram stop is (still) named that because it serves the much older Old Trafford Cricket Ground literally right next to the ground - home of Lancashire County Cricket Club and often England play test matches there too. Soccer isn't the only mass attended sport in Manchester.
Yes, but remember there are another 2 twists in the story - "Old Trafford" stop used to be the one that is now Trafford Bar, and was to serve the district of Old Trafford rather than either stadium. The cricket ground was "Warwick Road", and the football stadium did not have it's own stop until 2020. It seems ManU were not interested in naming this latter stop (ie put up some money), so it is the vague "Wharfside" - compared to the ManC which was branded "Etihad".
City has all that lovely Saudi money to splash around :D Dunno what united has, I only hear about their player's, cough, cases ont'news :D
Good video, a few more points I think I'd like to add:
- Some terminus stations are near or next to a regional rail station which is usually significantly faster to the city centre, so it's not always that useful if you're going end to end.
- The quality of the lines correlates pretty well with the amount of street running. The ones with more street running are slower, the streets they use are often major roads (airport line mostly excepted, that seems to weave its way through low density suburbs like it's had a bit too much to drink) and are therefore congested during peak hours, and may only have a single route out to the terminus. Many of these lines also have sharp corners and low speed limits. The Eccles line is particularly bad, beyond about Broadway you're probably going to be able to cycle to the city centre faster than the tram. I used this line and if definitely gave me a more negative opinion of the system than it probably would have if I'd used a different line.
- There is a lot of interlining which is the main driver of frequency, though this does mean transfers may be necessary if you want to go to a specific stop in the city center, which may not save you time if you aren't lucky.
- There have been considerations on how to increase 12-15 minute frequency per route on sections with no interlining, but there are limits on traction current that have prevented this, not to mention congestion on interlined sections.
A city centre Stadtbahn tunnel is really in order for Manchester to speed the trams up through the city centre. Manchester should really have an underground, like many other urban areas its size, but of course nowhere outside London is considered worthy of that, even though 2nd cities of similar sizes in other countries have metro systems
@@grassytramtracks I think Manchester could go either way. Either it could pre-metro the city centre sections, or it could build a brand new automated light metro line between the highest density areas of the city, possibly converting one or more of the mostly grade separated tram lines outside of the city to light metro. Both options have their advantages and disadvantages, I think automation has probably made metro a little more attractive, higher upfront cost but no driver salaries to pay! The city centre transit times are incredibly slow, it would be quicker to get off, grab a "Bee" bike and cycle between stops in some cases.
Unconventional aside, this is a good example of how to build a modern tram/light rail system. It makes so much more sense when you have existing former or under-utlizied rail infrastructure and a dense urban core to connect it to.
Indeed - they did the best with what was there - and even though it was done 'on the cheap' (light rail, high platform, no underground) this is why it has been possible to expand it so much so quickly, compared to heavy rail like Merseyrail which had a better start but then has got stuck.
But to be fair the reason they did it was not to keep costs down but because the central government has cancelled/unwinded basically every much needed development it had planned in Manchester. It’s cobbled together forcefully
Here to comment from Nebula! Wonderful video, very good analysis. Another not-London city with surprisingly good public transport (and a great tram line!) is Nottingham! For a city of its size it is genuinely remarkable, and the tram was my favourite part of studying there for sure.
Also, feedback on the Nebula version, the ending is quite abrupt, something small like "Thank you for watching" would make for a better viewing experience :)
Nottingham is interesting for 2 reasons a) it feels just about the right size for a Modern European Tramway b) it used workplace parking taxes to part finance its system, which in turn increased ridership
Thanks for the feedback!
I’m from Salford and just wanted to say you’ve done a great level of research into this. A surprising fact until 1949 Manchester had a vast tram network that was shortsightedly scrapped. On occasion when they do road works they unearth the old tracks as they were mostly just covered with under the road surface. Side note the Hits Radio tram👍
Most places did, they were scrapped when motorised buses became a thing. You can get to see tram lines below road surfaces all over the place in metropolitan areas.
Finally! I've wanted this video for so long, and it's here. Thanks Reece for helping to put Manchester on the public transit map more. I watched the Nebula video, and as there's no comment feature, I'd like to share my thoughts here, sorry that this is really big, but so are my ideas.
I think your ideas are cool, yet unrealistic, whilst I agree that metro tunnels would be incredible, and connections to both universities are much needed, I think your alignments are a bit weird. In my opinion, a better route would be to build a full metro line from Prestwich to West Didsbury, via Broughton, Blackfriars, Salford Central, Spinningfields, St. Peter's Square, Oxford Road station, the universities, Rusholme, Fallowfield and Withington. This could be extended to the airport on it's southern end via Northenden and acting as an express route in Wythenshawe. It would massively relieve capacity on the existing bus network, as well as the Airport, Didsbury and Bury lines, whilst still connecting to major transport hubs. I do agree that Media City could do with a quicker connection to the city centre, and currently during big events, the Metrolink can be overwhelmed, so more capacity to both stadiums would be great as well. Your MRT concepts are cool, they're a lot like your Stanley Line concept for Vancouver, but I feel that this could be done differently, rather than still funneling most people onto the existing Metrolink, and instead creating other corridors through dense areas. The Fallowfield Loop could be reinstated as an orbital Metrolink line to serve southern areas of Manchester, connecting with my proposed metro line at Fallowfield. This could also connect with other future metro lines, such as a Bolton to Hyde line at Debdale Park (which would serve Royal Bolton Hospital, Walkden, Swinton, Irlams o' th' Height, Salford Crescent, St. Peter's Square and Piccadilly before tunnelling beneath Hyde Road to serve Belle Vue, Debdale Park and Denton). A Davyhulme to Oldham metro line could start at Trafford General Hospital, before serving Urmston, Stretford, Chorlton, Whalley Range, Moss Side, Hulme, Deansgate-Castlefield, Spinningfields, the Arndale, Victoria, Fort Shopping Park, Abraham Moss, North Manchester General Hospital, Blackley, Middleton, Mills Hill, either Chadderton and Westwood or Elm Mill Shopping Park and Royal Oldham Hospital, before terminating at Oldham Central. Overall, these three metro lines could relieve capacity on almost all Metrolink lines, plus some National Rail lines, and along with Metrolink improvements and expansion, would help to provide massive capacity as our city continues to grow. I hope you like my ideas, and once again I am sorry for making you read this much. Have a nice day!
Its alright, my alignments are meant to be affordable given the high costs of rail in the UK, I tried to align under wide roads where possible to enable cut and cover (like is so often used in Germany) and avoided digging excess tunnels where I didn't think they were needed. Wholy new built metro lines would be nice, but I think the cost would be very high and the incremental benefit over this plan I don't think justifies that! Good to hear your opinion though!
Thanks! I agree entirely, we can't even build high speed rail right. I look forward to seeing more videos about rail systems in the UK. Perhaps you could make a video about a system for Leeds, which has needed one for years, and still has to rely on just buses and commuter rail? It'd be great to hear your thoughts.
@@RMTransit I think Manchester really has two choices when it comes to future rapid transit, go the pre-metro conversion route of making Metrolink faster and giving it more capacity by tunnelling existing parts of the network, or build new automated light metro lines serving higher demand areas on top of (or more correctly underneath) the Metrolink network. Personally I think both ideas can work, and both have advantages and disadvantages. A few years ago I'd probably advocate for the former, but with the decreasing costs of ALM technology and more standardisation, I don't think the choice is so obvious now.
Very good idea Sir!!
as someone from manchester, i never thought you would cover our trams
edit with the train stations: manchester oxford road station sees very frequent service to liverpool, north wales, scotland, the airport and various other places in the north west of the uk
when explaining the services - you also missed the green line between altrinham and bury
it was a really good and intresting video
As someone who caught the met to get to school way back in the nineties, i want to say a quick well done, not only on the smart video, but also on hitting the correct pronunciations for the various towns. Altrincham in particular often catches people out.
Without a doubt the most impressive light rail system in the United Kingdom, but still feels like it's not enough for an urban area the size of Greater Manchester...
Unless you call the DLR "light rail"...which arguably it is. The DLR definitely rivals the Metrolink in impressiveness (although I'm not sure which system has more mileage and ridership).
@@mdhazeldine From my personal observation I found the DLR to be more of a light metro with full grade-separation comparable to likes of Copenhagen metro and Rotterdam metro, whereas Manchester Metrolink just feels like a large tram network.
@@Steve_McMillen Yeah. The Light Rail name is pretty vague. Haha
@@mdhazeldine That's a good point, my opinion is that the DLR was built impressively fast with good land use and planning, but Metrolink is both bigger and far more important to the city that it's based in.
@@mdhazeldine Of course the DLR is a proper light-rail network; whereas the Metrolink has trams that also pretend to be trains. Lastly the Manchester's tram network goes way too far out of Manchester, even beyond the boundaries of Greater Manchester which should not have been the case, a smaller network that functions well is better than a large network that doesn't function quite as well.
Thank you from Roger sexton for an excellent video. Speaking as a Brit, I have always thought that Bus Deregulation (from which London was excluded) was a disaster. At last, Manchester, thanks to mayor Andy Burnham, has introduced London-style franchising of bus services. Integrating Metrolink with the buses is now much easier. But including the heavy rail lines around Manchester will be much more difficult!
Why was London excluded? Because the government knew it would be a disaster. Fine for the rest of us though, apparently. Wankers.
Great video, Reece. More non-London transit videos are always very welcome!
Thank you! More to come!
On the regional trains note, you should take a look at the PicVic project - essentially an RER/Crossrail/Thameslink style tunnel from the 80's (i think, I can't remember the exact date off the top of my head) that was to be built but never did. It would have linked Piccadilly and Victoria, and wouldn't have the issues the Ordsall Curve has due to issues like the Castlefield Corridor being so congested.
Proposed and cancelled in 1977. Obviously, this came down to cost issues rather than anything else, but if it were to be even vaguely feasible, an underground shuttle purely between Piccadilly and Victoria would be of next to no use. The line would needed to be extended (a la Thameslink) to at least the other sides of the city, if not further afield. Extensions over existing lines to Bury (1500V DC) or the airport (25KV AC with the then non-existent extension) would have meant more investment in tweaking existing dual-voltage units (313) to run over the Bury line, or re-electrifying it with a 3rd-raid top-contact system (#). Plus - digging a tunnel to accommodate "mainline" gauge trains as opposed to "tube" stock means a bigger hole - which means more £££ - although this may have been good in the long run as the stations on the Bury line wouldn't have needed to be altered (although a lick of paint would have helped).
The current problem is that the line between Piccadilly 13&14 and Oxford Rd really needs to be doubled. It's all well and good that TPx trains to/from the airport to destinations in the NE don't have to reverse at Picc (giving that station more capacity), but the MAN-MCO-MCV line is stretched to it's limits.
(#) - I'm not sure, but I think there was some legislation in place by then that banned "new" 3rd-rail TC systems, and only extensions to existing infrastructure was to be allowed (hence the NSE-fuelled Hastings line, Solent Link and Branksome-Weymouth schemes in the 80s being exempted, along with Blackfriars - Farringdon on Thameslink), as would Battledown-Salisbury/Exeter if it ever crops up on the railway's future plans (The DLR from the 90's was allowed as it's bottom-contact).
Ruairidh MacVeigh did a good video on that.
@@MattForbes Picc-Vic was always design for through running - from Bolton and Bury on the Vic side to Hazel Grove/Macc/Wilmslow on the Picc side. The map is out there if you google (I can't link here)
The Oxford Road viaduct doesn't really need four-track, as nothing is overtaking - Thameslink, Crossrail, RER, MerseyRail, Tyne Metro etc are all two track. It needs:
- 4 platform at Pic
- Longer platforms / track sections at OxR
(The above was included in the Northern Hub, cancelled by Gov)
- What to do with Deansgate? Close?
- Grade seperaation of at least some of the junctions.
If you want four track for service separation (long distance v local), it's tunneling time...
It would be a good topic for a future video, as would the Ordsall curve and how projects *meant* to fix things don't always do so!
@@RMTransit It's because the Northern Hub was only half done.... not ambitious enough in the first place (grade separation!), then half funded (on a whim) by one Westminster politician, then ignored by his successors...
Newcastle next pls!!! underrated city and system, wld love to see you cover it
Newcastle and Sunderland (aka Tyne and Wear).
I will cover it, I just need to pull together some footage!
Ideas for expansion would be
-Tram to Stockport
-Tram to Bolton
-Tram to Middleton
-Tram connecting Ashton and Oldham
-Tram connecting Rochdale, Bury and Bolton
- Perhaps a ring Line?
The guided busway to Leigh could/should have a tramway put on top of it. That same disused rail corridor could also take you to Wigan via Atherton and Hindley green. And up to Bolton Via the Roe green loopline
More Tram-train provides endless opportunities, along with the GM Metro plans, all suburban rail lines in Greater Manchester will be integrated and even a potential city centre tunnel can link these lines converting them back into proper suburban rail with much higher capacity than they are now
They need to not route everything through Cornbrook too. I've lost count of the number of times the whole network grinds to a halt because of "signalling or points problems at Cornbrook"
@@yoafaboyit’d be great but I have concerns with increased fares coz buses are only £4 for return and very likely that they will not to V1/V2s if there’s a tram line
@@lordgemini2376 Why did Manchester not get a tube network iike London (and lesser Tyneside and Merseyside which have tunnelled sections and stations ) ?
nice vid, used to do some security on the bury and rochdale lines, heads up for anyone using those lines theres lots of gang activity around abraham moss and chadderton stops and the lines and the stops frequently have vandalised lifts so if you can walk id take the stairs everytime. Also bury is pronounced as "berry" by the way.
Okay, bit of local history for you RM. I had the pleasure of using Metrolink on a daily basis since its inception except when I moved away. I used it both for school and work along the Altrincham line.
First, Metrolink started as a conversion of old railway lines to trams which you highlight, which is why you have the so called City Train approach. It was hugely important that this be true because it uses old British rail infrastructure outside the city limits and does so specifically to bypass the Castlefield/Oxford Road corridor - it runs to the side and above and doesn't interfere with rail traffic at all as a result. The Oxford Road corridor is, much like its road namesake, one of the busiest rail lines in the whole of Europe. It has been at capacity for decades and is in large part responsible for why Metrolink isn't actually a rail service.
The original link was Bury to Alltrincham (which I will now call Alty), with a central link in Piccadilly. As a general rule, the main exchange platforms for the Met were, in order of importance, Piccadilly Gardens, Mosely Street (which was about 30 metres down the Altrincham line from the Gardens and was necessary for reasons that don't make sense now), Market Street and what was then known as Deansgate. It was rare someone go to Piccadilly itself unless they were coming from or leaving the city via the West Coast Main Line on a direct route.
The original service had three separate services interlaced: Bury to Pic Alty to Pic and Alty to Bury. Since all of the direct Alt to Bury trains bypassed Piccadilly Gardens, the main exchange stops for those trams were Mosely Street on the Alty line and Market Street on the Bury line. There was no Shudehill at this time, instead the service went straight to Victoria. The aim was a 6 minute service with 12 minutes outside of peak times. This I think is still the aim for the outer city lines - Metrolink operates as an 80kmh light rail system beyond inner city limits and that is by far its most efficient mode of transport. There are still some issues outside of the city - Navigation Road at one point set the tempo for the entire rail network owing to Metrolink having use of a single line out to Altrincham due to rail traffic having the other, but that line isn't as critical today as it used to be.
Almost everything you see now arose out of this line and its problems. First, the main line through the centre of the city to Piccadilly Gardens heavily constrains the effectiveness of the network in the city centre. St Peters Square arose out of the internal extension of the Metrolink towards Victoria by providing two through routes in the city centre, allowing the Metrolink to bypass traffic issues and, as we saw the other day, broken down cars and buses. That internal connection is hugely important as Piccadilly Gardens is uniquely difficult to manage accounting for the fact that it is both highly pedestrianised and has heavy bus traffic.
The original attempt at a 'hub' appeared during the MediaCity Eccles line, which is the Cornbrook interchange. This turned out not to be effective for inner city traffic owing to the real problem in the city centre being Piccadilly Gardens, but did allow for splitting of services to Eccles reasonably well. The expansion of lines further lead to Deansgate Castlefield, which remains the most efficient method of getting into the city via Northern line trains.
The biggest issue for Metrolink capacity continues to be by the old GMEX centre (right by the infamous Castlefield/Oxford Road Corridor) where the Altrincham and Eccles lines merge into the city centre traffic via a single lane bridge which leads into a roadway. The St Peters Square Exchange was required in order to allow for the capacity to split trams between the two inner city lines which now exist, one going via Exchange Square and the other via Market Street. They both merge at Victoria, which is a major rail station and doesn't really pose an issue for capacity as far as I'm aware.
If you want a local review, Metrolink makes journeys outwards from the city a breeze, but struggles at distance. It direly needs a circular line, preferably one following the inner ring road. Salford and West Manchester are badly served by it as it is assumed that Salford Crescent handles the bulk of Salford's commuting load, but a lot of services don't really stop in and around there. Manchester Airport link has a vastly superior train service competing with it. Almost all of this comes from the legacy of exactly how the train networks into Manchester were put together, and the climate of the time in the UK.
What's quite remarkable is the Castlefield Corridor issue is an enforced error. Back when the Castlefield Corridor first became an issue (early 90s) the land around it was basically empty. Since then it has been regenerated and it would be impossible to build there now. There are options (reopening other train lines to let services bypass the corridor) but the government seems unwilling to consider anything that doesn't benefit London.
Metrolink, incidentally, only exists because Manchester City Council and the Greater Manchester Authorities are extremely shrewed about investment opportunities, bought up the lines on which Metrolink operates during the BR firesale, and worked to keep them long enough to reestablish the rail links. They've run the service extremely well for decades now, even when it had ridiculous outsourcing problems enforced by central government policy, and most of its issues are just down to the infrastructure of Manchester's incredibly short sighted rail network issues.
I should note that while the local nimbys might get really uppity about this, as someone who occasionally commuted to Manchester by car when I was young, Manchester is one of the worst cities on Earth to drive in. Even before all the so called 'green crap' got done. You spent half of your time trapped on the Princess Parkway and the other half of the time being charged insane prices for parking. If instead of listening to the whiny car users for decades, we had appropriately reused post-industrial land to provide overground rail or even Metrolink links along dedicated lines, the city's transport network wouldn't need the Metrolink running through the centre like it does, and we could have used a lighter streetcar tram system.
I should also note that for all the crap Northern rail gets and for all the problems with the West Coast Main Line, the journey from anywhere on the North West coast of England into Manchester is both painless and frankly far faster than any car travel, even during peak hours. Even with delays and stupidity, Transpennine can get you to Manchester from Lancaster (which even during good traffic is nearly two hours away) in just over an hour. The main problem continues to be cancellations and infrequent services due to capacity.
One of the biggest improvements to the network that’s been proposed by TfGM, but unfortunately is little more than a long term aspiration at this point, is to build an underground section in the city centre for some of the existing lines (or potentially future tram-train lines) to feed into, to turn the system into something a bit closer to a grade separated metro-style service - similar to what other European cities have done. The current network core is effectively at full capacity (the track between Cornbrook and St Peter’s Square sees more than 40tph at peak time) so this is very much needed to unlock the system’s full potential.
I'd love an underground section of metrolink, right now trying to dodge trams is quite the mission, and a ball ache if you're in a hurry and a tram is sitting at a stop signal blocking your path
There are a small amount of stops in the centre too and as the city centre expands it will be harder to get from one side of the other via walking - I'd love for a tram to service Deansgate and Spinningfields - it could connect to Exchange Sq. and St. Peters Sq. via tunnels - Doubt it will ever happen though
@@alexthegrape1000 Yeah, I think in terms of new lines there absolutely needs to be one that goes north to south down Oxford Rd or one of the neighbouring roads, serving the University and Salford. It’s a huge population that’s currently underserved by either train or tram.
I think a Y-shaped underground line linking Piccadilly, Victoria & Deensgate would be huge because it means that the lines that were originally former heavy rail track - Bury, Altrincham etc could run larger, higher capacity “tram-train” vehicles with most of their street-running segments removed, while the other lines that mostly run on street can use the existing city centre track with higher capacity. The tunnel could also serve trains travelling onto heavy-rail track to go to places like Bolton and Stockport.
Unfortunately, the elephant in the room is that this sort of infrastructure would be very expensive, effectively Manchester’s own Elizabeth Line so it would require a lot of central government funding, it’s unlikely Greater Manchester in it’s own would be able to afford it. And I think whole HS2 thing shows just how… unreliable the government is when it comes to funding transport outside of London.
Which they should definitely do to make it into a high capacity system, Manchester is plenty big enough for that and it is comparable in size to many cities which do have a proper underground system
Well done, you nailed it. You sorted of hinted at it in the video, but Metrolink has put the bones down for a lot of TOD. Many of the routes out from the centre go through key brownfield regeneration sites, and those corridors grow in density ever year, and you are right to point out the network will soon be sub-scale. Date I say the centre gets more Toronto like with each passing day. Nowhere outside London adds more 100m+ and 150m+ residential than this town. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but driving a flywheel of housing growth-employment growth-retail&Nightlife growth.
The Old Trafford station you mention at 07:59 is adjacent to the Old Trafford Cricket Ground.
I know, two stadiums with almost the same name about a kilometre apart can be confusing. But the entire area is called Old Trafford.
I know, just mentioning since people will think about it given Man U!
Bury is where I grew up. Usually pronounced “berry”. I always drive in Manchester because the Met is ridiculously expensive and routes not very convenient because of just how big and sprawling Manchester is. They opened it for my 18th birthday back when I didn’t drive, spent far too much time in pubs and benefited from concession fares so was far more practical…
Your video is very well-researched and interesting.
I live in Whitefield (on the border between Manchester and Bury). I always take the tram if I go into Manchester. Finding a place to park is stressful, it's expensive and the traffic there and back can be a nightmare. It costs £4.30 for a one day off-peak pass (you can use it as many times as you wish). From Bury, which is one zone further out, it would cost £4.90 for a one day pass to Manchester. You can pay with a debit/credit card just tapping in and out. From where I live to Bury is £3.50 for a day pass.
My son who has epilepsy has a disabled person's card which gives him free travel after 09.30. Older people with free bus passes can pay £10 a year to have their passes enabled for use on the tram system too.
@@barrysteven5964 Concessions aside that sounds pretty expensive to me especially when you consider the people who use public transport are usually not the wealthiest… A 2-mile drive to the Met, P&R parking full then the best part of a fiver into town or alternatively a 10-mile drive then free on-street parking off Oldham Street in Ancoats. Works for me every time.
What would be useful would be a ticket valid on all forms of transport at a reasonable price. Where I live it’s a flat rate. €1.34 (€13.40 for a ‘book’ of ten tickets) for 1h30 on all buses, metros, trams and cable car as long as you don’t go back on yourself. We also have a free city bike scheme and a free electric circular bus route around the centre. So multimodal journeys are made simple and accessible. Connections between modes of transport are the key to getting cars off the road.
Driving is just better in general. No amount of public transport can convert me otherwise.
@@drillingig2368 Until you need to pay for/find parking, or you've having a drink and wouldnt be able to drive anyway.
@@drillingig2368 It depends where you are and where you're going. I live in the suburbs of Manchester and I often use the tram if I'm going into Manchester. Driving is not pleasant, car parks aren't great and they are really expensive. And I can go for a drink too. I sometimes meet friends for a night out in Liverpool and I get the tram to Victoria and the train to Lime St which is right in the centre. Ideal.
Yay! So glad you've finally made this vid! I remember in the 90s riding the tram on the very first day of service out of Altrincham and being mesmerised by the tram's street running in the city centre!
One thing that I noticed when travelling around the system is the difference in the overhead wires. On the Altrincham and Bury former-heavy-rail sections the wires are very conventional rail catenary, with a catenary wire and a separate contact wire below. However, on the similar East Didsbury section there is just a single contact wire (presumably they determined that this was sufficient for the speeds involved - although there's a couple of shots in the video that show this single wire bowing upwards considerably under pressure from the pantograph!).
Oh, and for architecture/bridge fans, the crossing at Besses o' th' Barn is very impressive and unusual.
At long last! Been waiting for this video for a lonnnng time. Although I'm 41 and have lived in the south of England all my life, my first visit to Manchester was just this year, and I was very impressed by both the city and Metrolink. It would be great to see you cover Merseyrail, the Tyne and Wear metro, Glasgow Subway, Edinburgh and Nottingham trams and the TFL trams too.
I’m really proud of how far Manchester has come in the past 20-30 years and the Metrolink is a testament to that. Choo choo!
I really wish there was a tram that went directly south. The buses to both universities are extremely overcrowded and it’s a common sign to see 4 busses in a row that say ‘Sorry, bus full’ and this is with a ban on cars on the university portion of Oxford road and dedicated cycle lanes! To get from East didsbury to the centre with the tram takes about 3x longer so there should really be a tram serving the south and southeast in my opinion
Great video and a decent example of a city using the DLR philosophy to get a serviceable metro going.
Birmingham (second biggest city in UK) is doing something similar and is worth a look to see how it's trying to integrate the metro into being line that brings together sizeable areas surrounding it to create an effect not too distention than what the London underground has done.
I’m not familiar with this channel so it was interesting to come across Ross this video.
The bit where you mention connecting Bury and Rochdale to get Heywood on the map - YES. The difference this would make to my town (and commute) is immense.
This was enjoyable! Appreciate all your research!
Thank you for giving a link to the nebula video for those of us already signed up, it's frustrating when other creators fail to do this
You are very welcome!
Having a video about my local system makes me smile quite alot
I’d really like to see Stockport via Longsight and Denton and Hyde via Gorton on the cards for Metrolink. Two very busy radial corridors with incredibly high bus usage and large flows of car traffic into and out of town at peak times
What - down the A34? A6 too narrow surely. Good idea though.
@@doodlelogic A6. Drop a lane in each direction and have reserved tramway
huh? its only one lane each side through levy@@miniaturesteamnick
Early on you showed Crumpsall station!. Before I moved to Toronto (2000) my partner and I spent two years in Manchester and we bought a flat near Crumpsall. My partner worked near Old Trafford Cricket ground and I worked in Rochdale (Which was two buses at the time, transferring at Middleton). I did drive to work, but all our play time was down the Metrolink service to Victoria and Piccadilly. It sure has expanded since I left though. They were still recovering and rebuilding from the bombing. I should go back sometime to see how it has changed. Always thought it was cool how it switched to 'tram" mode at Victoria. There was a sign for the driver just after or before the station!
i've been fascinated by this system since i first heard of its existence, it should be viewed an example for future systems in the united kingdom or even other parts of the world that faced similar conditions as manchester had. The one thing i do find odd is the option to have a high-floor tram network as opposed to a low-floor network, however knowing the fact that it was built reusing old commuter line corridors and infrastructure and even interlining with active heavy rail lines it does make sense financially.
Croydon/London of course demolished the rail platforms to allow lower new platforms in the street running areas
The high floors are beneficial - 100% level floors inside the tram and 100% level boarding from the stops - the system is truly accessible to all. There are too many steps on low-floor trams.
Completely agree@@metropleb, though I do think the *ideal* model is the DLR, much higher capacity too! Metrolink is a decent compromise!
@@RMTransit Yes, DLR style is what the Quays area really needed in particular.. almost like a Light Railway for a former Docklands...
2:40 These specific ones are the same type that also run in Köln, beside the Duewag B-Wagen.
Indeed! I am not sure which livery I like more!
@@RMTransit Speaking of B-Wagen: Any plans on covering Essen? They've got a very interesting history to their transport network, including guided trolleybusses trundling through U-tram tunnels, second hand ex-DLR stock, dual gauge running, aborted plans for a fully standard gauge network, etc. I could get you a ton of footage from there.
Glad you're paying attention to the North of England! Sad to hear HS2 wont be serving the lovely city for now, hopefully if HS2.1 goes well they'll consider the Leeds and Manchester route again (with better planning this time...).
as someone who lives near rochdale and uses the metrolink on occasion, I absolutely love it. Super convenient to get to where you need to go. Only problem is that the bus route from my house to the rochdale metrolink station is run by a privately owned company and is pretty bad with scheduling but not much you can do there haha
You finally did it! Thank you Reece!
Thank you for watchign!
it's a very good system for manchester central north /south, it's yet to be utilised in the west of the region , some plans have been made to reach out to Bolton, Wigan and Leigh, all towns in Greater Manchester but no plan to reach out in the near future.
Omg there’s finally a video about my cities light rail network!
I hope it was worth the wait!
I live in Salford and use the Metrolink a lot. There are some things both positive and negative that I can say about this light rail network:
+ It's bright and colourful, easy to spot and makes the city more vibrant.
+ It is very good for tourists visiting Manchester. The system covers the majority of what you want to see in and around the city and does so at an excruciatingly slow pace (see counter point below) which allows you to take in all the sights, sounds (and smells) the city has to offer.
+ It has very frequent stops which can place you closer to your destination.
- The system is incredibly slow. It is by no means a rapid transit system since it was decided that the Metrolink system would be taken onto city streets mixing with street traffic and the general public. There is also very questionable design choices when it comes to routing and junctions which unnecessarily slows the trams (definitely trams, not trains!) down and thus leads to very long journey times. This alongside the fact;
- The system is very congested. As you can imagine with such a fast expansion rate, there are so many more lines and thus so many more trams. The most notable section for congestion is between Cornbrook and Deansgate-Castlefield where you often have to wait in a queue of trams for an available platform at either station. There doesn't seem to be much communication between the town planners and the Metrolink as expansion space is quickly turned into an incredibly unaffordable glass shoebox.
- The system is becoming seemingly... neglected. Much of the network has seen "temporary speed restrictions" added in areas where there are track defects or some operating hazard, and these are now widespread, slowing down the system even more.
Going forward, for the Metrolink to survive into the future, the city centre section needs to be taken underground, out of conflict with road traffic and the public, with more routes across the city.
You mentioned the vehicles were similar to Frankfurt, but you omitted Cologne and Bonn which actually operate the exact same type including the same front design. Actually, even the type M5000 is derived from the K5000 used in Cologne because that was the number series assigned to the vehicles pre-order. (Cologne also operates K4000 and K4500 trams/LRVs)
My bad! You're tight! They arguaby look better than Frankfurts cars - I just love the U5-50
There’s even a K5200 series and the 4000 was introduced to the Croydon Tramlink system in London as CR4000.
@jornwagner7480 The K5200 is pretty much identical to the K5100. It's basically just a reorder to expand the fleet for a new line (that still is under construction).
The K5300 is a bigger improvement, introduced in 2020 for Cologne and Düsseldorf
I live in Manchester since 2016, Bee network is best thing to happen to public transport that I ever saw so far. Taking power from private companies (which would just increase fare prices). Its subsidised now, but hey - that's a good way to spend tax money I think. First 2 months were rough, ngl. A lof of bus routes used to have set drivers. After the switch - all drivers got to train on all the routes. So there were some problems with time of the bus, or bus not ariving at all. But, and its a BIG part why I think network works - standard fare. Its 2£ for any bus journey. Il take 2 months of slightly disrupted travel with a benefit of saving me hundreds of pounds every year.
Hey great video. Good research and well put together. Please can you do the neighbouring city of Liverpools Merseyrail network?
Need to put some footage together!
@@RMTransitThey’ve just extended Merseyrail to a new station at Headbolt Lane, Kirby, which the trains reach on battery power as it’s not electrified.
@10:42 For those wondering why it's the 'Bee' network, the bee is the symbol of Manchester, and you'll see it a lot as bumper stickers on cars, especially in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing.
It's on the city coat of arms (7 of them for the seven seas Manchester traded across), and it's a worker bee, to symbolise Manchetser's industrial roots (being the heart/start of the Industrial revolution) and being built by workers.
I really love the Metrolink system, but it definitely has capacity issues and the high-floor city centre stations don't make for great public spaces. But still a great system with great looking trams.
Thanks Reece, I really enjoyed this video. Manchester was my closest city when I was a teenager, and I remember travelling on both the Altrincham and Bury lines before they were converted.
I think it would have been very interesting to mention that the stock here is also used in the Stadtbahn in Cologne!
A big miss on my part!
They were purpose developed for the Cologne/Bonn network and were introduced there in 2003.
Also, the ones in Cologne, although older, have passenger A/C. Manchester somehow didn't spec it
Been waiting for this especially, thank you for uploading!
As you might be able to guess, I'm a fan of the Metrolink myself, and your information is on point.
Metrolink is great but nowhere near big enough yet. I lived in Salford for 3 years for university and the system barely scrapes the area, for those 3 years I lived there I think I used the system like, twice. I plan on moving back later in life so I hope it's expanded by then because I can see myself using it regularly.
Love the metro link but unbelievably jealous of it as a Leeds resident.
Hell will freeze over before Westminster let’s us build a mass transit system.
I want say that is very similar to a German Stadtbahn.This concept will you find in many german cities. If someone wants to what a Stadtbahn is you can ride down into the comments
Well, the M5000 trains used there are basically the same as the K5000 in Cologne so that's no surprise for the similarities. The one notable difference, though, is the lack of tunnels, the short section for Piccadilly station aside.
Exactly, no tunnels is really too bad!@@MarioFanGamer659
So happy you’ve done this video for my city’s trams! Amazing
The system is good but it's very much a cheap option slapped together because the government refuses to give much funding to public transport outside of London. To show how much the government cares about investing in Manchester's transport, last week they came to Manchester and announced they are cancelling HS2 and promised to build a Metrolink line to the airport which already exists, as you showed in your video.
Impressive pronunciation considering many other videos made by UK residents get them wrong. You've done your research ❤❤
Been waiting for the Manchester episode for bloody ever!!
Yay, my childhood city! I'd say one of the biggest issues with the Metrolink is that they're trying to build it into an ersatz metro, but the lines are getting a bit too long and the trains just don't have the capacity. At peak times even coupling two units together isn't enough, four cars get easily overcrowded. The long length and numerous stops makes travel quite slow too.
So rather than expanding the Metrolink, I'd argue that Manchester should instead focus on a) tram-train operation onto the existing National Rail network and b) copy London by taking over the much of the suburban rail network and building their own Overground system. Many of these lines still aren't electrified and have diesel trains with slow acceleration and infrequent service.
Back when I lived there my local commuter service was every half an hour at peak times and every hour otherwise (and trains were frequently short-formed, delayed or cancelled). It's why I'm so grateful to live down south where Thameslink delivers a very frequent service every 5-10 minutes with new and very large electric trains. Wish something vaguely similar was built up north, maybe it'll happen with the devolved powers.
Finally, if you need inspiration for another not-London video, it's worth checking out the Tyne & Wear Metro in the Newcastle region, which unlike Metrolink is a real metro.
I live a 10min train ride from Piccadilly. For some reason there's a train every 30mins if they're not cancelled. The bus takes nearly half an hour so I tend not to use it. Funnily enough there were extensive tram services back in the past, but I suppose with cars we'll never see that again.
I'm English and as a whole unpatriotic, but Manchester lights up a British pride in me I can't explain.
Now we've broken the London bubble, im interested in a video like the one you did for the worlds longest tramway but for the Blackpool tramway. In theory it is both the oldest still operating electric tramway and the oldest 'normal service' electric tramway in the world.
My Dad was a core engineer at Metrolink from day 1! I was lucky enough to drive both the original blue and newer yellow trams when I was a child, only in the depot of course!
As a Brit who often feels ashamed of public transit outside of London, this gives me hope. Anyone from Manchester know what the cycling situation is like? I may just have to visit
Don’t forget about Merseyrail, Newcastle’s real metro, and Nottingham’s tram system.
I really do think that Nottingham is a shining example for British transportation in the future. It’s walkable, it’s rather bikeable, it has good rail links, and of course it has the aforementioned tram system. I’d love to visit someday.
It’s alright in South Manchester, from the city centre through the University areas out towards Didsbury, otherwise it’s pretty awful for cycling. Oh and beware of the tram tracks on your bike if you have tyres narrower than 40 mm, I have fallen off my bike this way!
@@NewsFlashStudiosSheffield, Glasgow, Edinburgh
Generally in britain people perfer walking and transit...
Haha it’s so weird to not only see the tram system I use everyday in a youtube video, but a few of the shots actually included my previous flat (apartment) building too! Great video :)
Manchester also has a partly built and never opened underground system, called the Picc-Vic tunnel. Now I don't think they ever actually built all that much, but there is definitely a void beneath the Arndale shopping centre where a station was supposed to be. I believe it was the cancellation of the this project that eventually lead to Metrolink.
Yes, Picc-Vic was cancelled in the 70s although the Liverpool and Newcastle tunnels went ahead. After that, everything in the UK has been light rail - DLR, then Metrolink, the the others. It was never a system though - just a plan - I think the Arndale builders just left a space in case it was needed (passive provision).
Without a doupt this is my favourite video
- Manchester now will have its entire Bus Network locally controlled by the City
- The same thing will happen to the Train Network by 2030
If they could smoothly integrate the Train System to the Network as planned and expand the existing Tram System then the overall system could be a legit force in less than 15 Years offering variety. Its got potential and a very high Ceiling.
If you're talking about Bee Network buses, those are managed by Go North West (Part of Go Ahead Group), similar to TFL (although buses in London are also operated by Stagecoach, Arriva and Transport UK, formerly Abellio) buses in London.
@@heidirabenau511 GNW are the launch partner - Stagecoach will follow very soon, along with Arriva. Plus - you missed Metroline and RATP from your major London operators.
Yep! I talked about at the end, very exciting stuff!
Also Diamond and even Vision have some routes in the Bee Network.@@heidirabenau511
Thank you for the fascinating video - I've visited Manchester many times, but learned a lot about Metrolink from this.
Have you considered doing one about the Tyne and Wear Metro? It involves fully grade-separated routes, some underground, using what are effectively tram style vehicles, in a much smaller and less wealthy part of the UK, covering two separate cities as well.
T&W metro is also built on alot of former track that used to be the NER's tyneside electrics. Also you say "tram style" those old boxy bois have just started getting replaced by class 555's (a sub version of class 777) that look closer to trains.
Also some parts of the network share heavyrail track like around sunderland till it head over to a grade separated junction at pelaw and quad tracking to heworth and beyond to gateshead before heading separate from the mainline.
Please do Newcastle upon tyne next
As a Mancunian, I never thought I'd learn something new about the tram system from a Canadian on TH-cam. This is a great video!
Next door, Leeds, with a population of 800k, has a trackless, rubber wheeled METRO system.
The bus!
Very very well researched, I was born and still live in South Manchester and I can’t fault a single thing you said. The Altrincham to Bury line was the first Metrolink route to open and I grew up about a 3 minute walk from a stop so I’ve been using the system since I was a small child. I’m hoping the Bee Network really improves public transport around Manchester and reduces some of the dreaded morning traffic on our arterial roads.
West Midlands Metro next? I'd love for a video about that please
Yh but we only one got one line, he’d be better off focusing on our commuter rail 😂
Yup, the gap in population between the West Midlands and Greater Manchester is less than 100k and both are fast growing regions with a lot of development going on rn. A better Birmingham and Manchester is only a good thing for the country :)
@@Rijowhi1980 The argument always comes up, so I always simplify it for others by saying: London is about 9 million, Birmingham and Manchester are both about 3 million, and then come the rest...
The West Midlands Metro is a morte egregious non metro than manchester
@@gol.drodger5261 Maybe improvements or something, we need better here in brum lmao
Please cover the Merseyrail system! Very few people know that in Liverpool we have our own underground tube system - would love to know more about the history behind this
Generations of Canadians have grown up with daily episodes of Coronation Street on the CBC. Now we finally have a second piece of Manchester content to sink our teeth into
Being a soap it's obviously set in the present but in some ways it's stuck in 1960 when it first started.
I have never seen Coronation Street haha
... and the Trafford Park line goes right past the Coronation Street set and studios! (The programme makers supposedly objected due to possible 'wheel-screeching' on the bend disrupting the recordings.... but it seemed to get sorted in the end)
Wasn’t there a storyline many years ago involving a Metrolink derailment in Weatherfield? (I must confess that I’ve not followed Corrie since Mr Swinley (Arthur Lowe) left in 1968!).
@@arwelp Almost.. they called the fictional system "Politanlink" (geddit!?) for ..err.. legal reasons? But Metrolink cooperated with the filming of the story. Plus being a soap... it wasn't a mere derailment.. the viaduct blew-up and the tram landed on the shop!!!
Nice to see a UK-related video from your channel which isn't about London - I do love the London-related content from your channel but its always nice to focus on other parts of the UK. I have ridden the Metrolink once last year (hopefully shouldn't be the last time I ride it as I might visit Manchester more in the future) on the newest line of the network - the Trafford Park Line from the Trafford Centre (I travel to the Trafford Centre quite a lot but weirdly have hardly been into Manchester city centre) into the city centre when I went to see the famous Manchester Christmas Markets in the city centre. And I did find the tram network (while you might call them "City Trains", any train or rail vehicle which is designed with street running in mind, despite being high floor or low floor, to me is a tram) pretty convenient for me. However, I do agree the fact that the Trafford Park Line service doesn't run further into the city centre (to terminate at Crumpsall - although I personally think it should instead be extended across the city centre to the east of the city [similar to the the Ashton Line] to maybe Denton or Hyde) like the other lines isn't great (another issue I have with the Metrolink is the lack of staff/conductors in the trams which can enable some unruly people to get on board).
But nevertheless, I do like the system for its vast extensive coverage of the Greater Manchester Area (even though I do wish that some lines like the Bury, Altrincham & Rochdale Lines maybe should have been built as a proper rapid transit/light metro system from the start) which is something I do wish other tram systems in the UK were also like that - only Nottingham has significantly expanded its tram network over the last decade while places like Sheffield, Edinburgh, Birmingham/West Midlands, Blackpool & Croydon have been either much slower to expand their systems or in the case of Croydon, not done any expansion for years. And I also do think Manchester is heading in the right direction by creating the Bee Network for the trams and buses which will later include the commuter rail and that'll ensure an integrated network like London. Although I haven't seen your Nebula video on the Metrolink (I have no intention of joining Nebula at the moment as I'm not quite fond of paying for subscriptions unless its absolutely important) I definitely also think a strategic tram tunnel through the city centre (perhaps between Cornbrook & Manchester Victoria) should be done in the future when the Metrolink expands further in order to relieve/complement the current on-street sections (which could enable a metro-like service for some of the lines I mentioned above) - they do have a city centre Metrolink tunnel planned for the future so who knows. I also think a heavy-rail tunnel would be useful in the future between Piccadilly & Victoria and I do think that should've been done instead of the Ordsall Chord, given that the Ordsall Chord was built on existing railways that are already above capacity.
Anyway, really loved this video and if you plan on doing any more UK-related videos, some videos on Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, the cancelled High Speed 2 North project, the North-South divide in England and maybe Scotland/Wales-related vids would be nice (or even Northern Ireland and maybe if you go slightly away from the UK countries, perhaps a vid on the Republic of Ireland, especially Dublin).
Glad my home city gets a mention, ride the met every day
Thanks for watching!
The Rochdale to Bury line you suggest would be interesting - it already exists barring a couple of new chords which would be needed, but is run as a heritage steam railway. I'm not sure how well the two would run together - or how willing the steam railway would be to give up or share the alignment its volunteers built - there is room to double track most of it, and potentially have the steam railway run alongside the tram tracks. That would make for a very interesting journey!
Can't wait for merseyrail network
lol
As someone who lived in Liverpool, that's all I ever did. Wait for it.
It might be a while, need to find some locals who can help!
@@RMTransit quite happy to wait for as long as it will take
Thanks for the great video! It’s a great network but it’s desperate for some circular lines, even just linking the existing endpoints. Ashton and Oldham are not that far from each other as the crow flies, but to go from Ashton to Oldham on the tram, you have to come all the way into the city and go back out. The Eccles line could link up with the end of the new Trafford Park line to improve getting across the Irwell from Manchester to Salford. Express trams on the Media City line would also be great for commuters; miss out the MC spur and reduce the amount of stops it makes going through Salford Quays (a lot very close together) after picking up a lot of passengers from Eccles to Langworthy who are going to the city.
Pls make a video about Kuala Lumpur transit system
Its coming soon
Hi RM, first time seeing a video of yours, I’m a local Resident, born and raised just outside the city but now living in MCR. Love the video, great research and I learned some things! One small correction though: The Altrincham line all the way to Bury (pronounced Berry), but there is also a Picadilly-Bury line. I think there was (or maybe there sometimes still is on Man City match days) a tram that runs from Bury to Etihad Campus as well - i could be misremembering that though.
But yeah, theres a BuryAltrincham line and a PiccadillyBury line and I think thats the only think you got wrong, so really well done!
Cornbrook is another big hub for tram changes, as thats where the lines for Trafford Centre and Eccles splits off from the Airport, Altrincham and Didsbury lines as they continue to either Pomona or Trafford Bar.
The Trafford Centre line also ONLY just started to move to Deansgate (originally only coming from Cornbrook) in the last 18 months or so i think, maybe 2 years. The maps on the trams still say it terminates at Cornbrook, but all the info on the electronic and audio announcements are very clear.
All in all, great video, not something I expected to see on my TH-cam feed but there we go! I do hope the Network is expanded… you can see loads of potential space for it!
Further to this: there was actually a tube planned for the city but it got scrapped, and i think there are still some old stations built… however, it was replaced by the tram network in the 90s!
Please talk about the Melbourne tram!
he already did
I've done a few videos on it!