The history of Manchester Metrolink begins with its conception as Greater Manchester's light rail system in 1982 by the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, and spans its inauguration in 1992 and the successive phases of expansion.
Background
Trams had previously operated on Manchester streets from 1877 to 1949. The original trams of the Manchester Suburban Tramways Company were horse-drawn tram, but from 1901 these were supplanted by electrically powered trams. A network of neighbouring municipal tramway systems such as Bury Corporation Tramways, Rochdale Corporation Tramways and Manchester Corporation Tramways expanded and overlapped across the city. By 1930, Manchester's tram network had grown to route miles, making it the third largest tram system in the United Kingdom. After World War II, electric trolleybuses and motor buses began to be favoured by local authorities as a cheaper transport alternative, and by 1949 the last Manchester tram line was closed. Trolleybuses were withdrawn from service in 1966.
Manchester's mainline railway network historically suffered from poor north–south connections. The development of the railway network around Manchester in the 19th and 20th centuries had resulted in the location of major railway termini around the periphery of Manchester city centre. The main stations of Manchester Victoria in the north and Manchester London Road (now Manchester Piccadilly) in the south were built in the 1840s, followed by in 1880, all by rival companies using cheaper land on the fringes of the city centre. Unlike central London, which had linked its stations with the London Underground, the stations were not connected, and as a result, a large area of Manchester's central business district was not served by rail transport.
A scheme to develop a light rail system for Greater Manchester was first conceived by Greater Manchester County Council (GMC), the local authority that governed the metropolitan county from 1974 to 1986. The GMC was obliged under its structure plan and the Transport Act 1968 to provide "an integrated and efficient system of public transport". Faced with increasing traffic congestion and a lack of rail links in Manchester city centre, the GMC began to examine light rail as an affordable transport solution.
Early transit proposals
As early as 1839, in anticipation of the opening of Victoria and London Road stations, there was a proposal to construct a connecting underground railway tunnel, but this was abandoned on economic grounds. Over the years, a number of other unsuccessful schemes were put forward to connect Manchester's rail termini, including an underground tramway in 1903 and 1914 and an underground railway in 1938.
In the 1960s, central government began to recognise the problems caused by traffic congestion in British towns and cities. While the 1963 Buchanan Report focused mainly on traffic management, the public discussion increasingly turned towards public transport improvement schemes. The Department of the Environment sponsored a number of design studies of new systems of urban public transport.
In 1966, a proposal was explored to construct an above-ground suspended monorail across central Manchester. The £21m plan involved the construction of a line from Ringway Airport, running north through Wythenshawe, Didsbury and Moss side to Central Station, crossing the city centre via a tunnel from Ancoats to Victoria, and then onwards through Collyhurst and Alkrington to Middleton. Supported by the Ministry of Transport, Manchester Corporation analysed the possibility of investing in the SAFEGE monorail system which had been developed in France, and the possibility of running monorail trains suspended from tracks along the centre of existing roads, above vehicular traffic.
The Manchester Rapid Transit Study, published in 1967 by the City of Manchester and the Ministry of Transport along with British Rail, evaluated several systems in detail, including: SAFEGE, Alweg, Aérotrain and Westinghouse Transit Expressway (Skybus) monorail systems; a "Passenveyor" people mover system; a gondola lift system; guided busways; and more traditional duorail metro systems. The monorail proposals were all eventually abandoned.
In 1971, SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive — the body established in the 1960s to improve public transport for Manchester and its surrounding municipalities – put forward draft proposals for a Picc-Vic tunnel, "a proposed rail route beneath the city centre" forming "the centrepiece of a new electrified railway network for the region". Proponents of the scheme envisaged constructing a tunnel under the city centre, linking Piccadilly and Victoria mainline stations. The underground line would have enabled local trains from and to cross the city and run on to terminate at or . Three new intermediate stations were proposed, at Princess Street, Albert Square/St Peter's Square and Market Street. Following local government reorganisation, the subterranean railway project came under the aegis of the newly formed Greater Manchester County Council. Despite investigatory tunnelling under the Manchester Arndale shopping centre, when the GMC presented the project to the British Government in 1974, it was unable to secure the necessary funding. The Picc-Vic Line was abandoned on economic grounds when the County Council dropped the plans in 1977.
SELNEC, now under the administration of the GMC, was re-organised as the Greater Manchester PTE, known as Greater Manchester Transport (GMT). To address the problem of cross-city transfer, GMT introduced a flat-fare shuttle bus service in 1974 called Centreline, which ran high-frequency circular services between Piccadilly and Victoria stations.
Light rail proposals In 1982, the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE; the successor to SELNEC PTE) concluded that an overground metropolitan light rail system to replace or complement the region's under-used heavy railways was the most economical solution to improving Greater Manchester's public transport network, which suffered from poor integration and outdated infrastructure; a Rail Study Group, composed of officials from British Rail, Greater Manchester County Council and GMPTE formally endorsed the scheme in 1984.
1984 proposals
Abstract proposals based on light rail systems from elsewhere in Europe and from North America , and a draft network consisting of three lines were presented by the Rail Study Group to the Government of the United Kingdom for funding in 1984. The proposed system was described as a "Light Rapid Transit" (LRT) network, "a cross between a tram and a train". – publicity brochure The network was planned to begin operation in 1989 pending approval from the Government, and construction costs were estimated at £42.5million.
The proposals outlined a network of three lines traversing Greater Manchester, linking converted heavy rail lines with an on-street tramway through Manchester city centre. A fleet of two-car vehicles (known as "supertrams") with a top speed of 80 km/h would run services at a ten-minute frequency.
The lines proposed were:
+1984 proposalsLine A:Altrincham – Hadfield/GlossopLine B:Bury – Rose Hill/MarpleLine C:Rochdale – East Didsburyconnecting the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway to the Glossop Lineconnecting the Bury-Manchester line to part of the Hope Valley Lineconnecting the Oldham Loop Line to the re-opened Manchester South District Line
Obtaining Government grants towards development was not easy and subject to certain criteria, and it was proposed to build the system in phases, beginning with the Altrincham and Bury lines, and the city centre track as far as Piccadilly.
1987 proposals
In 1987, when powers and funding had been secured for Phase 1 of the network to go ahead, the brand name Metrolink was first introduced.
Around this time, proposals were put forward by GMPTE for further extensions to the network; in addition to the Bury/Altrincham lines and city centre tracks already confirmed, it was envisaged that the network be extended with lines along the Manchester Ship Canal in Salford and Trafford. Station names vary from the 1984 proposals, for instance with the renaming of Central tram stop to G-Mex, and the addition of Cornbrook. A spur into Rochdale town centre was also proposed.
+1987 proposalsAltrincham – Hadfield/GlossopBury – Marple/Rose HillRochdale Bus Station – East DidsburyBroadway/Dumplington – Piccadilly GardensAs the 1984 proposalsBury Line/Hope Valley Line, as the 1984 proposalsOldham Loop Line/Manchester South District Line – as the 1984 proposals, with an extension from Rochdale to Wet Rake and the bus stationa new line to Salford Quays
Of these proposals, parts have survived as extension plans: the lines to Rochdale and East Didsbury formed part of the Phase 3; the Eccles Line is a modified version of the proposed extension into Salford Quays. The proposal to convert the / and / lines to Metrolink running was abandoned, and does not feature in the current Phase 3 expansion plans. The Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority did, however, commission in 2004 a feasibility study into converting the Marple line for tram-train operation; and in this revised form it remains on the "reserve list" of proposals for future Metrolink expansion, and was proposed to the Department for Transport in 2008 as a candidate for the national tram-train pilot.
Project Light Rail
British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) began researching developments in light rail technology around the world, and in 1986 identified a light rail vehicle designed by the Urban Transportation Development Corporation in Canada for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (UTDC) in California, USA, as an example of the type of LRV that could run in British cities. BREL planned to organise a live demonstration by shipping a UTDC vehicle which had been on display at the 1986 World Expo in Vancouver. Manchester was selected as the preferred venue for the demonstration as the city had the most developed light rail proposals, but negotiations to loan the vehicle fell through and the event was postponed until spring 1987.
The event that eventually took place in Manchester, billed as Project Light Rail, was jointly staged by GMPTE, British Rail, BREL, GEC Alsthom, Balfour Beatty and Fairclough Civil Engineering. It was the first major public relations event for GMPTE to promote the light rail scheme for Manchester, and to demonstrate the proposed system the organisers looked instead to a new light rail system that was about to open later that year in London, the Docklands Light Railway (DLR). The public demonstration used an operational DLR train, DLR P86 number 11, which was on loan from GEC Transportation Projects. The train had been shipped over to Britain from the manufacturer, Linke-Hofmann-Busch, in Salzgitter, Germany, prior to its introduction onto the DLR system in London.