Plans to build a new Metrolink line through Trafford Park are being shown to the public this week as part of a consultation process.
Transport for Greater Manchester is developing the 5.5km line, which will run from the existing Pomona stop on a largely off-street route through to the Trafford Centre.
People will be able to have their say on the tram line proposals over the following 12 weeks, with fourteen staffed drop-in events arranged at public venues along the route.
A series of newly released visuals show services calling at six new stops, planned near to key destinations including Wharfside for Old Trafford, the Imperial War Museum North, Trafford Park Village, Parkway, EventCity and the intu Trafford Centre. The detail of the alignment may change as the design is developed.
Trafford Park is the largest major employment centre outside the city centre with more than 1,300 businesses and over 33,000 jobs and employees travelling from across the region.
The new Metrolink line will vastly improve sustainable transport links to the area and give more people across Greater Manchester better access to jobs and leisure.
The proposed route runs from the Pomona stop along the Manchester Ship Canal, following Trafford Wharf Road and Warren Bruce Road before running through the Village area of Trafford Park.
It then runs through the Parkway Circle area, where a nearby Park and Ride is proposed, and crosses the Bridgewater Canal before terminating at the intu Trafford Centre.
The new line would also allow for an increase in services for cricket and football match days and events at Old Trafford through a proposed new turn back facility at Warren Bruce Road, similar to that serving the Etihad Campus at Velopark.
The budget for the project has been estimated at £350 million and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) officials are actively exploring funding opportunities with the government.
The GMCA has already approved an initial £37 million of funding to get the scheme ‘shovel ready’, which included an order for 10 new trams to serve the line.
Ordering the vehicles early ensured TfGM secured the best price by maintaining the current supply stream from Bombardier, which is already providing a total of 94 new trams for the Metrolink network.
The new line could be built as early as 2019/20, but this would be subject to the timescales involved with securing both the necessary powers and full funding.
