Manchester Metrolink master thread

[tom1649]

Is Woodlands Road going to close? I was surprised to see that it is still open.

 

[Manchester77]

Is Woodlands Road going to close? I was surprised to see that it is still open.

So am I. It's very shabby and afaik is the only Stop to still have its old signs

 

[185]

Tis a good place for revenue inspectors to do a 'heist' ...it's horrid

It's closure is approved, however there are suggestions that it's closure has been on hold until the proposed Queens Road (passenger) stop moves a step closer.

There is already slack in the working timetable for services to call at the staff halt, so if this were to become a passenger stop, it should not adversely affect timings.

 

[tom1649]

I travelled on the new Oldham line for the first time yesterday. Mostly very impressive, but my goodness it is slow! I don't think the tram went over 30mph for the whole journey. We were constantly held at red signals too, especially on the return. Even after these red signals we still waited a few minutes at some of the stops. Are the timings going to be tightened up eventually, or will it always be like this?

I enjoyed travelling over the jointed track on an M5000 near Oldham Mumps. I guess as this bit of line is temporary there was little point in replacing it.

 

[185]

I travelled on the new Oldham line for the first time yesterday. Mostly very impressive, but my goodness it is slow! I don't think the tram went over 30mph for the whole journey. We were constantly held at red signals too, especially on the return. Even after these red signals we still waited a few minutes at some of the stops. Are the timings going to be tightened up eventually, or will it always be like this?

I enjoyed travelling over the jointed track on an M5000 near Oldham Mumps. I guess as this bit of line is temporary there was little point in replacing it.

It's only a temporary timetable whilst the route 'beds in', will be speeded up in months to come.

 

[tom1649]

Thanks, that is good to hear.

 

[beavercreek]

I drive this route regular and would agree that it needs about Six minutes taking of the journey.The main reason is that the driver must not enter the main Irk Valley junction early or you will get in front of the the Bury service.
As mentioned,the whole timetable will be adjusted once the line is opened shortly to Shaw or even Rochdale.
Not sure about the Red signals as there are none on this line as its run on line of sight.The only signal is a UTC signal on the single line section at Newton Heath.The signal at the Irk Valley is approached release and most of the time will change from danger to proceed when to arrive at the loop.

 

[tom1649]

Sorry for my poorly worded statement. The red signals were on the approach to Victoria. There must have been some congestion on the city centre section.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

As mentioned,the whole timetable will be adjusted once the line is opened shortly to Shaw or even Rochdale.

Will the next line re-opening be as far as the newly-sited station at Shaw or somewhere in the Rochdale area ? Does anyone have any definate information upon this particular point ?

 

[185]

Will the next line re-opening be as far as the newly-sited station at Shaw or somewhere in the Rochdale area ? Does anyone have any definate information upon this particular point ?

There is nothing definate, Paul... opening dates are never finalised because there are so many variables in play; contractors handing things over, jobs being signed off by TfGM; tram testing; ticket machines; driver training; once all this is done, only then can they give an opening date of about seven days in advance.

Estimates are the nearest you'll get to be honest. It would be in the public interest to try give a 'hoped for' date, but giving an exact date months ahead is totally foolish, it is just asking for the desperate local media to try find yet further fault with Metrolink.

 

[familyguy99]

No early opening for EML to Etihad Stadium but will now be opening allway to Droylsden.

End of the line for early opening of Metrolink stop near Manchester City stadium

Manchester City fans are not set to get an early ride on the new Droylsden Metrolink line.

Bosses at Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) had been looking at possibly opening the line from Piccadilly to the Etihad Stadium before the rest of the route opens.

But they have now decided it will be better to open the whole line to Droylsden in a single phase.

Philip Purdy, Metrolink director at TfGM, said sticking with the original plan would cause less confusion.

He said: "We explored the possibility of opening the line up to the Etihad Campus stop first but it’s clear that doing so would impact on the opening of the rest of the line to Droylsden.

"That’s because it would require temporary works and would affect our current processes, like testing and commissioning and driver training."

The M.E.N. told in June how trams had begun tests on the new line amid hopes passengers could start using it later this year.

The Droylsden line was due to open in the summer but problems with a new computer-controlled tram management system could delay it until autumn. The Oldham line from Manchester Victoria to Oldham Mumps was also due to open in two stages, but opened in a single phase in June.

Mr Purdy added: "We faced a similar situation with the new line to Oldham. That extension was originally due to open in two phases but we opened it in one phase because it made the testing and driver training process a lot more efficient.

"So, on balance, it’s only right that we open the whole line to Droylsden in one stage."

The line will have eight new stops at New Islington, Holt Town, Etihad Campus, Velopark, Clayton Hall, Edge Lane, Cemetery Road and Droylsden. It will be extended to Ashton-under-Lyne by the winter of 2013-14.

Four extra stops will then open at Audenshaw, Ashton Moss, Ashton West and Ashton-under-Lyne.

Trams are expected to run every six minutes to Manchester and Ashton at peak times and every 12 minutes off peak.

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereve...f-metrolink-stop-near-manchester-city-stadium

^^^^ The big question is will EML be opening at all this year or will it be early 2013 when is opening know?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I attempted a run from Victoria to Oldham and back yesterday at about 1245 (I'm not a regular tram user).
While scratching my head about which ticket to buy at Victoria, a Metrolink staff member wandered past and said "sorry, no trams running from here" so I gave up, luckily just before the point where you insert cash.
I looked for departure information but there didn't appear to be any.
Can it be the case that Victoria has no Metrolink PIS and relies on word of mouth?
Seemed a pretty feeble operation to me.

 

[northwichcat]

I attempted a run from Victoria to Oldham and back yesterday at about 1245 (I'm not a regular tram user).
While scratching my head about which ticket to buy at Victoria, a Metrolink staff member wandered past and said "sorry, no trams running from here" so I gave up, luckily just before the point where you insert cash.
I looked for departure information but there didn't appear to be any.
Can it be the case that Victoria has no Metrolink PIS and relies on word of mouth?
Seemed a pretty feeble operation to me.

The usual method is a generic PA announcement apologising for disruption across all affected stops. To obtain further information you need to use the Help Point or phone customer services. At most stops there are no Metrolink staff present and the driver of any replacement bus service quite often has to get off the bus, walk over to the platform and tell the passengers to get on the bus.

The original display system was deemed unreliable and turned off and the new one isn't fully operational a couple of years after the old one was turned off.

 

[tom1649]

I wonder why Metrolink has such great difficulty providing next tram information displays when most (all?) other systems seem to manage. The old displays at Victoria were still working last summer although some services seemed to be missed off.

 

[tbtc]

Can it be the case that Victoria has no Metrolink PIS and relies on word of mouth?
Seemed a pretty feeble operation to me.

To be fair, Sheffield's Supertram has no departure screens or tannoys (even though many busy bus stops do have updated screens, especially in the city centre).

 

[PR1Berske]

I didn't realise Sheffield was as bad as Manchester

Not having any PIDs is quite an embarrassment

 

[snail]

I wonder why Metrolink has such great difficulty providing next tram information displays when most (all?) other systems seem to manage. The old displays at Victoria were still working last summer although some services seemed to be missed off.

That's the answer. The old ones were unreliable, integrating the new system with the old is proving a lot harder to do than everyone thought. The test PIDs on the Eccles line appear to be working ok as do those on the line to Chorlton. It's where the old and new meet there are problems.

 

[185]

I wonder why Metrolink has such great difficulty providing next tram information displays when most (all?) other systems seem to manage. The old displays at Victoria were still working last summer although some services seemed to be missed off.

Chorlton and Oldham line PIDs have worked since opening.

Eccles line (Salford Quays, MediaCity, Langworthy) PIDs all went live last month.

As soon as TMS signalling is introduced on Bury and Altrincham lines, the last two pieces in the puzzle will enable the city centre PIDs to come on. At present they could work, but could only show the next Eccles Oldham or StW trams, as Bury and Altrincham would be missing.

 

[Tramfan]

To be fair, Sheffield's Supertram has no departure screens or tannoys (even though many busy bus stops do have updated screens, especially in the city centre).

Neither does the Blackpool Tramway despite its £100 million upgrade, and seeing as the trams often run really late on a seemingly daily basis, they'd be useful!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I still find it amazing that the departure platform at Manchester Piccadilly railway station, being well used by rail passengers making connectional journeys, still has no illustrated display showing what the next four trams will be with their destinations. Services run from there to Bury, Altrincham, Eccles and Media City.

I have made this posting having heard comments made from visitors to Manchester from London and from Birmingham in the last week or two on that platform.

 

[WatcherZero]

As has already been said, they cant tell the Pid how close each tram is until the signalling in the city centre is switched over so all it would be capable of doing is displaying the timetable and what tram would be expected at what time if there was no delay like what was at some of the larger stations when the original lines first opened.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

TfGM have sent out notification to the businesses and residents within the usual 200 metre Metrolink alignment on the Oldham/Rochdale Metrolink line, to say that they will be carrying out testing of the electrical circuits that will allow dynamic testing of this line to commence.

The works are scheduled for the latter part of September, all through October and carrying on into November.

 

[familyguy99]

Off skyscrapercity website that the rumours that there may be a few trams running up to Droylsden (EML) for testing them as early as October.

 

[HSTEd]

Following my tradition of coming up with mad transportation projects for manchester....

How about an urban Funitel (or a 3S) from the city centre to Fallowfield with an intermediate station at the University.
At 7.5m/s it would complete the full ~4500m in ten minutes.... no matter the traffic conditions. (A 3S would be more expensive but could both be faster and have more capacity)

Would have to have bus reregulation in Greater Manchester to allow it though.... unless they could force integrated ticketing with it on Stagecoach Manchester... or somehow get the University( or Universities depending on where the intermediate stop is) to cover student use.

A funitel would have a capacity of ~4000 passengers per hour per direction, which would allow many of the busses on the corridor to be eliminated or reduced to cheaper to run single deckers, or reduced in frequency.

Its a pipedream, but it seems a rather shiny one.

 

[Class377/5]

Off skyscrapercity website that the rumours that there may be a few trams running up to Droylsden (EML) for testing them as early as October.

However they now said they are working on the OHLE in October so no trams for awhile but does look like they are making adjustments prior to starting with driver training. That training is expected to take some 6-8 according to the rumours. That's going to be very tight to open on time for the holidays let alone any last minute issues.

 

[gnolife]

Following my tradition of coming up with mad transportation projects for manchester....

How about an urban Funitel (or a 3S) from the city centre to Fallowfield with an intermediate station at the University.
At 7.5m/s it would complete the full ~4500m in ten minutes.... no matter the traffic conditions. (A 3S would be more expensive but could both be faster and have more capacity)

Would have to have bus reregulation in Greater Manchester to allow it though.... unless they could force integrated ticketing with it on Stagecoach Manchester... or somehow get the University( or Universities depending on where the intermediate stop is) to cover student use.

A funitel would have a capacity of ~4000 passengers per hour per direction, which would allow many of the busses on the corridor to be eliminated or reduced to cheaper to run single deckers, or reduced in frequency.

Its a pipedream, but it seems a rather shiny one.

So, for people routes such as the 43 which get a lot of people travelling Manchester Airport, Wythenshawe and Northenden to the Universities and Manchester, or 42/142/X57 between Didsbury and Manchester, what would you suggest - a bus run that'll get you as far as Fallowfield, and then onto this 'funitel' thing, or diverting people via the already busy Princess Road routes (in the case of the 43) or via Parrs Wood (in the case of the 42)?

 

[185]

Monorail! Monorail! MONORAIL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEZjzsnPhnw

Or could we just remove all the trams and turn Metrolink into a giant cable car using the overhead wires?

Err....

 

[table38]

I want to invent something like the lifts on Star Trek that go sideways.

Imagine if you could get in a lift at Piccadilly that went down, then sideways off to Victoria then up again.

If it could do that in 2 or 3 minutes (it's only a mile after all) that's no worse than the time it takes to get from Platform 1 to Platform 14 at Piccadilly.

Then the two stations would affectively become one big station

 

[185]

I want to invent something like the lifts on Star Trek that go sideways.

Imagine if you could get in a lift at Piccadilly that went down, then sideways off to Victoria then up again.....

The one in Piccadilly's tower block up to the 9th floor has often tried to go sideways, usually resulting in not just a two-hour wait for trapped occupants, but many a cancelled train over the years. The max-weight sign is usually defaced - "Max 8 persons" then added, "...or 4 guards"; also "...or 2 drivers" or "1 useless manager"

 

[Eagle]

If it could do that in 2 or 3 minutes (it's only a mile after all)

Let's see, shall we?

The top acceleration that both lifts and trams use is usually about 1 m/s² (or about 0.1 g). Assuming it accelerates at this rate until the centre, and decelerates until the end—let's ignore the massive jerk in the middle that would create—then by my reckoning it'd only take 80 seconds, but with a top speed of 40 m/s (88 mph).

That's a little alarming, so if we make it accelerate to a more sensible top speed of 20 m/s (44 mph) and hold that until it's time to start decelerating, then we accelerate for 20 seconds over the first 200 metres, cruise along the next 1200 metres, and then decelerate over the final 200. Total time is not that much longer: 100 seconds.

Obviously that's all idealized, and also doesn't include any of the time taken for descent, ascent, doors opening and closing, passengers entering and leaving, inevitable safety announcements and all that.