ST PETER'S Square station is due to close for over a year as part of the major Metrolink Second City Crossing programme.
“This is undoubtedly a major piece of work and the task for us is to minimise the impact, as far as possible, on our customers and the service we offer them"
During the fourteen month work programme - due to start this summer - the stop will be closed but trams will continue to run on a single line through the square for ten months.
There will be two eight-week periods during the summer when all tram services through St Peter’s Square will be suspended.
St Peter's station will also be moved closer to Manchester Art Gallery, allowing more room for public events in the square as part of the council’s overhaul of the area.
The expanded stop will have two new island platforms and four sets of new track.
St Peter's Square Plans
Peter Cushing, TfGM’s Metrolink Director, said: “This is undoubtedly a major piece of work and the task for us is to minimise the impact, as far as possible, on our customers and the service we offer them.
“We’ve planned carefully and the service pattern agreed today will allow us flexibility to maintain reliable, frequent tram links across the city while we deliver a hugely challenging and complex construction project.”
Work will start at St Peter’s Square this summer following the redevelopment of the Deansgate-Castlefield stop currently underway, which will provide a turning point for trams south of the city centre.
The new Second City Crossing, due in 2017, will begin in Lower Mosley Street and run through St Peter’s Square, turn down Princess Street and head along Cross Street and Corporation Street before re-joining the existing Metrolink line at the expanded Metrolink Victoria stop.
A brand new stop is also being built at Exchange Square, and trams could be running between Victoria and the brand new Exchange Square stop by winter 2015/16.
The Second City Crossing is part of a co-ordinated £1bn three-year programme of works, known collectively as Grow.
New station map
The following services will run on a single line through St Peter’s Square from September 2015 to June 2016.
- Altrincham to Piccadilly, 12-minute service with double trams
- Altrincham to Cornbrook, 12-minute service with single trams
- Bury to Piccadilly, 12-minute service with single trams
- Bury to East Didsbury, 12-minute service with double trams
- Eccles-MediaCityUK to Deansgate-Castlefield, 12-minute service with double trams
- Rochdale to Ashton-Under-Lyne, 12-minute service with single and double trams
- Manchester Airport to Cornbrook, 12-minute service with single trams
For more info see www.transformationinformation.co.uk
