Testing times on overdue Metrolink line
Trams will be tested on the new Metrolink line to Droylsden from Monday – amid hopes passengers could start using it later this year.
Letters sent to businesses and households on the four-mile route say two-week trial runs will begin between Pollard Street, Ancoats, and Williamson Lane, Droylsden.
Testing will take place between 11pm and 5am and the tram speeds will not exceed 30mph.
Between these times access to side roads will be temporarily restricted along Ashton New Road, Manchester Road and Ashton Road.
The Droylsden line was due to open in the summer but problems with a new computer control system could delay it until autumn.
It is possible that trams will run to City’s Etihad Stadium in advance of the full opening of the line.
The line will have eight new stops at New Islington, Holt Town,
Etihad Campus, Velopark, Clayton Hall, Edge Lane, Cemetery Road and Droylsden.
It will be extended to Ashton-under-Lyne by the winter of 2013-14.
Four extra stops will then open at Audenshaw, Ashton Moss, Ashton West and Ashton-under-Lyne.
Trams are expected to run every six minutes to Manchester and Ashton-under-Lyne at peak times and every 12 minutes off peak with a 15 minute service on Sundays and Bank Holidays once the line is fully open.
News of the Droylsden tests comes a day after it was revealed that trams will start carrying passengers on another long-awaited line from next week.
The M.E.N. told yesterday how the first service from Manchester Victoria to Oldham Mumps will start at 5.24am on Wednesday.
The Oldham line had been due to open last year but was also delayed by computer control system problems.
It is expected to be extended to Rochdale railway station later this year and then on through Oldham and Rochdale town centres in two years’ time.
A spokesman for Transport for Greater Manchester said: “A two-week period of dynamic testing on the Metrolink line to Droylsden is set to start on Monday – which means people in the area may begin to see trams on the line during that time.
“This testing is an essential stage in the process of bringing Metrolink to Droylsden.”
