METROLINK
Cllr Andrew Fender on board one of the new M5000s
The newest additions to the Metrolink fleet
New style Metrolink trams have joined the M5000 fl eet in Manchester. RTM spoke to Metrolink director Peter Cushing. T
he fl eet of Metrolink trams is expanding to 104 of the new M5000 vehicles.
The newest batch feature a revised seating lay-out, giving eight additional seats, based on passenger feedback and a survey in 2011, with input from Metrolink’s Disability Design Reference Group.
Metrolink director Peter Cushing told RTM: “We asked whether people would prefer more seating room or more standing room – there was a fair balance, but predominately people were asking for additional seats. There’s only two ways you can deliver that: either you deliver double-trams or more frequent trams, or you put more seats on the trams you have.
“We’ve looked at the lay-out and completely revised it, and managed to get another eight seats on the vehicle, without restricting standing room too much either, so we can still get the same number of people on a unit.”
Tram numbers 3075, 3076 and 3077, which each now have 60 seats and additional hand- holds, are the fi rst three of an order for 30 new M5000 trams from Bombardier / Vossloh Kiepe, which began their life in Manchester by being tested on the Oldham and Rochdale line, currently being extended.
Cushing explained: “As part of their commissioning they were being used to test and commission the Oldham line; it made sense to use them to do their mileage as well as to build up the testing on the new line.”
But those trams are in service now, and like the rest of the fl eet, will be used across all the Metrolink lines as required.
Cushing said there are no current plans to 114 | rail technology magazine Feb/Mar 14
retrofi t the existing M5000 fl eet to give them more seats, but added: “There may be an opportunity, at some sort of mid-life refurb, to do that – but that’s something we’ll look at closer to the time.”
Cllr Andrew Fender, chair of the TfGM Committee, added: “The new layout and seating are a direct result of us acting on feedback. What these improvements demonstrate is that not only do we listen to our customers and value their feedback, but we also attach great importance their comfort and convenience.”
End of the line for the T68s
The older T68 trams are basically gone from the network now, with the new M5000s being 10 tonnes lighter and up to four times less likely to develop a disruptive fault.
Two T68As are being retained as stand-bys, but not in daily service. “They’re out on very rare occasions,” Cushing said.
The original T68s have been sold for scrap, except for a few – one has gone to Heaton Park Tram Museum in Manchester, which will become part of a permanent exhibit there, running on the heritage tramway. Another has gone to be used as a training vehicle for fi re and rescue personnel.
In December 2013, Transport for Greater Manchester exercised an option to extend the original 2007 order for new trams by 10. That contract extension is worth about £18m, Bombardier
said. As consortium leader,
Bombardier designs and manufactures the vehicles at its sites in Bautzen, Germany, and Vienna, Austria. Bombardier’s Siegen plant in Germany is responsible for delivering
the bogies. The consortium partner Vossloh Kiepe provides the electrical equipment.
Cushing said 104 trams is precisely the right fl eet size to cope with the currently funded and planned network extensions: that includes the Rochdale town centre extension, the extension of the East Didsbury line down to Manchester Airport, the Second City Crossing, and the proposed Trafford Centre line (the only element of the extension that does not currently have funding or approval).
He explained: “It’s all been calculated in terms of run-times and headways. Obviously that may change in the future with additional capacity requirements or requirements to run more frequent services, but as it currently stands, 104 is enough for all the extensions.”
Discussing the Second City Crossing (2CC), he added: “It’s going very well so far. The fi rst part of the works are the utility diversions – making sure we’ve got everything out of what’s going to be the tramway. That work started a few weeks ago and is going to be continuing for quite a while. Obviously once we’ve moved through the city, we can start moving on with the tram alignment.
“We are going to be looking at what routes we can put down 2CC, and whether we mix that across routes.
“We’re ploughing on with the extensions, and 2CC is obviously very busy and important. But everything so far is going well.”
Peter Cushing
www.metrolink.co.uk FOR MORE INFORMATION
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132