The Eccles Line is a

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ...

line of the

Manchester Metrolink Manchester Metrolink (branded locally simply as Metrolink) is a tram/ light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. The network has 99 stops along of standard-gauge route, making it the most extensive light rail system in the United Ki ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

running from

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

to Eccles via

Salford Quays Salford Quays is an area of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, near the end of the Manchester Ship Canal. Previously the site of Manchester Docks, it became one of the first and largest urban regeneration projects in the United Kingdom fol ...

, with a short spur to

MediaCityUK MediaCityUK is a mixed-use property development on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The project was developed by Peel Media; its principal tenants are media organisations and the Quayside Media ...

. It was opened in phases during 1999–2000 as part of the second phase of the system's development. The spur to MediaCityUK was opened in 2010. The line contains a mixture of reserved track beds and a street running section.

Route

The line physically starts at a junction with the

Altrincham Line The Altrincham Line is a tram line of the Manchester Metrolink running from Manchester to Altrincham in Greater Manchester. Originally a railway line, it was, along with the Bury Line, converted into a tramway during 1991–92, as part of the fir ...

, just west of

Cornbrook tram stop Cornbrook tram stop is a tram stop on Greater Manchester's light rail Metrolink system in the Cornbrook area of Manchester, England. It is an interchange station, allowing passenger transfer between the network's Altrincham, Eccles, Airport ...

, which itself was opened with the line, initially as an interchange between the Eccles and Altrincham lines. It then runs over the 650-metre-long Pomona Viaduct, which carries the line over both the

Bridgewater Canal The Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester. It was opened in 1761 from Wo ...

and the

Manchester Ship Canal The Manchester Ship Canal is a inland waterway in the North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea. Starting at the Mersey Estuary at Eastham, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, it generally follows the original routes of the ri ...

Pomona tram stop Pomona is a tram stop located just east of the junction of the Eccles Line and Trafford Park Line of Greater Manchester's light rail system, known as Metrolink. It opened to passengers on 6 December 1999, as part of Phase 2 of the network's e ...

is located upon this viaduct south of the ship canal, and is the interchange with the

Trafford Park Line The Trafford Park Line is a light rail line on the Manchester Metrolink network in Greater Manchester, England, running from Pomona to The Trafford Centre. Its name derives from Trafford Park, an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford ...

which opened in Spring 2020. The line then weaves through the Salford Quays area on a

reserved track Reserved track, in tram transport terminology, is track on ground exclusively for trams (in the US, typically called a "private right-of-way"). Description Unlike street running track embedded in streets and roads, reserved track does not need t ...

bed, which is segregated from other traffic (except pedestrians in some places). This section serves stops at , , , , (at the end of a short spur) and . The line then leaves the Salford Quays area and runs on-street towards the terminus at

Eccles Interchange Eccles Interchange is a transport hub in Eccles, Greater Manchester, England. It is composed of a bus station, and a single-platform Metrolink light rail station, the latter of which is the terminus of the system's Eccles Line. It opened on 21 ...

along the South Langworthy Road and then the Eccles New Road (the A57), serving stops at , and .

Route map

History

During the 1990s, Salford Quays became a business district specifically redeveloped for commerce, leisure, culture and tourism with a high density of business units and modern housing, complemented by a cinema complex, office blocks, and waterfront promenade. As it had poor public transport integration and no rail provision, it was earmarked for a potential Metrolink line as early as 1986 and legal authority to construct the line through the Quays was acquired in 1990. The Quays received millions of pounds of investment and a public consultation and

public inquiry A tribunal of inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body. In many common law countries, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and Canada, such a public inquiry differs from a royal commission in that ...

resulted in government endorsement in 1994. In autumn 1995 a Metrolink line branching from

to Eccles via Salford Quays capitalising on the regenerated Quayside was confirmed as Phase 2 of Metrolink. No funding came from central government and money was raised from the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority (GMPTA), the European Regional Development Fund and private developers. In April 1997 Altram, a consortium of the

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, ...

Ansaldo Ansaldo Energia S.p.A. is an Italian power engineering company. It is based in Genoa, Italy. The absorbed parent company, Gio. Ansaldo & C., started in 1853. It was taken over by Leonardo S.p.A. In 2011, Leonardo S.p.A. sold 45% stake in A ...

and John Laing, was appointed to construct the Eccles Line; Serco, responsible for the

Sheffield Supertram The Sheffield Supertram is a tram and tram-train network covering Sheffield and Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. The infrastructure is owned by the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE), with Stagecoach responsible for t ...

would operate the whole network under contract; Ansaldo provided six additional vehicles —

T-68 The Firema T-68 was a model of light rail passenger vehicle first operated on the Manchester Metrolink network in England in 1992. Constructed by Firema specifically as a high-floor, articulated bi-directional tram to operate solely on the Ma ...

As – and signalling equipment. Construction work officially began on 17 July 1997. The Eccles Line was officially opened as far as

Broadway tram stop Broadway is a tram stop on the Eccles Line of Greater Manchester's light rail Metrolink system. It opened to passengers on 12 June 1999 as part of Phase 2 of the network's expansion, and is located in the Salford Quays area of the City of Salf ...

on 6 December 1999 by the Prime Minister,

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of t ...

, who praised Metrolink as "exactly the type of scheme needed to solve the transport problems of the metropolitan areas of the country"; a service to

joined the network on 21 July 2000, and was officially declared open by

Anne, Princess Royal Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of ...

at a ceremony on 9 January 2001. The specially-constructed 360-metre (0.22 mi) long spur to MediaCityUK tram stop was opened on 20 September 2010, to serve the

development. The Eccles Line underwent essential track renewal over a two-month period in 2016.

Services

As of 2016, there are two services running on the Eccles Line: *A 12-minute interval service from to , running during Monday to Saturday daytimes only. *A 12-minute interval service from Eccles to running all hours, during evenings and Sundays this service runs via MediaCityUK.

Rolling stock

To commence operations in 1999, six

A trams were ordered to operate the line. These were variants of the original T-68 trams which had operated the original system from 1992, which had modifications to allow them to operate on the street running section of the Eccles line with other motor traffic. All of the T-68 fleet was eventually modified to allow them to operate on the Eccles line. From 2009 the new fleet of M5000 trams were introduced, and these replaced the T-68/A trams during 2012–14.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

LRTA entry on this line

Entry on this line from thetrams.co.uk
{{Manchester Metrolink stations Manchester Metrolink lines Railway lines opened in 1999 1999 establishments in England