Greater Manchester Metro Limited (GMML) was a private company formed by the GMA

consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...

(

GEC Alsthom GEC or Gec may refer to: Education * Gedo Education Committee, in Somalia * Glen Eira College, in Caulfield East, Victoria, Australia * Goa Engineering College, India * Government Engineering College (disambiguation) * Guild for Exceptiona ...

John Mowlem John Mowlem (12 October 1788 – 8 March 1868) was an England, English stonemason, builder and founder of the quarrying and construction company "Mowlem, Burt and Freeman". Career Mowlem was born in Swanage, Dorset, the son of a quarryman. As a ...

and

AMEC Amec Foster Wheeler plc was a British multinational consultancy, engineering and project management company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. In October 2017, it was acquired by Wood Group. It was focused on the Oil, Gas & Chemicals, M ...

) in 1989 to design, build and operate the Metrolink light rail system in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

, England. Construction of the Metrolink system began in March 1990. The contract was awarded for 15 years subject to early termination should the network be extended. In 1997 contracts for extension was let to Altram (Manchester), a consortium of Ansaldo Transporti,

Serco Serco Group plc is a British company with headquarters based in Hook, Hampshire, England. Serco primarily derives income as a contractor for the provision of government services, most prominently in the sectors of health, transport, justice, i ...

, Laing Civil Engineering and 3i. Serco Metrolink, a wholly owned subsidiary of Serco Limited, took over the operations and maintenance of the system on 26 May 1997. In March 2003, Serco bought out its partners and Altram (Manchester) Limited became a wholly owned subsidiary of Serco. In July 2007 the contract to operate Metrolink was awarded to

Stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

. Unlike Serco, Stagecoach did not own the concession, merely operated it on a fixed-term management contract. Stagecoach later sold the contract to the

RATP Group RATP may refer to: Transportation: * RATP Group, or ', a public transport operator based in Paris, France * RATP Iași (), a transit operator responsible for public transportation in Iași, Romania * RATP Ploiești (), a transit operator responsi ...

.RATP buys Manchester Metrolink operator
''

Railway Gazette International ''Railway Gazette International'' is a monthly business magazine and news website covering the railway, metro, light rail and tram industries worldwide. Available by annual subscription, the magazine is read in over 140 countries by transport p ...

'' 2 August 2011

References

Companies based in Manchester John Laing Group Manchester Metrolink Post-privatisation British railway companies 3i Group companies 1989 establishments in England 1997 disestablishments in England British companies established in 1989 {{GreaterManchester-stub