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Full speed for new Metro lines


18/12/2004

TRANSPORT chiefs remain committed to the construction of three new Metrolink tram lines after crunch talks yesterday.

Revised proposals will be drawn up in the next three months amid fresh hope more money can be squeezed out of the Treasury.

But the upbeat message was tempered by news that work may now not start until 2007.

Roger Jones, chairman of the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority, confirmed: "There is still a commitment to three lines. Clearly some civil servants don't agree, but we think light rail is the best option for us."

Mr Jones was speaking after Metrolink campaigners and local politicians met Greater Manchester MPs yesterday (Friday) to discuss an announcement by transport secretary Alistair Darling that '520m was being made available to expand the tram network.

Package

The money is effectively the same package that was withdrawn, to a huge outcry, in summer. Around '170m has already been spent and '130m was coming not from the Government but local authorities.

Local transport chiefs say the '520m is an estimated '380m less than they now need for the "Big Bang" expansion, with new lines to Oldham and Rochdale, East Manchester and the airport.

They will urgently press civil servants to clarify key issues before submitting new proposals in an integrated transport strategy due by the end of March.

Specifically, they want to know if the '520m, initially agreed in December 2002, will be upgraded in line with inflation to '645m - enough for at least two of the three new lines.

They are also keen to find out whether the Big Bang could get extra funding from a new Government transport pot, as Mr Darling seemed to suggest this week. And they want to know how whether a bill of approximately '100m to renovate existing lines is included in the package.

Chris Mulligan, director general of the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, confirmed more money would also be sought from other sources, including Manchester Airport. But he warned the airport had already committed around '34m and was unlikely to give much more.

Privately many Greater Manchester MPs were shocked to learn yesterday how little comfort local Metrolink supporters took from news the '520m was back on the table.


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Most recent 2 of 3 user comments

   Whilst the cash being back on the table is welcome, we still don't have a clear, un-spun, statement from the national Labour government that it remains committed to Metrolink, and its benefit to the people of Greater Manchester. There are still numerous road schemes, the A6(M) motorway round Stockport, dressed up as a "relief road", and the Longdendale/Mottram Bypass, which will destroy historic woodland and build through Britain's first national park. Are those schemes under such tight scrunity for cost over benefit? No. Then why should money from them, not be diverted in Metrolink, a far greater need?
Charley Ashbury, Huddersfield/Manchester
20/12/2004 at 18:09

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   Knowing how desperate the GMPTA is to get the new Metrolink lines established (there were planning permission notices for Metrolink stations on the old Didsbury railway line in the Manchester Evening News on 16/11/04 - even before Alistair Darling had made his decision!), I think the travelling public should be very wary of cuts in other forms of public transport in Greater Manchester to pay for Metrolink (we have already had reductions to services at various rail stations in the Urmston area). One wonders why the politicians are so keen to promote Metrolink - it is publically funded - do they maybe siphon off profits made from it? It can't be because they genuinely believe it is a good system - it is expensive to travel on, unreliable and not at all comfortable!
ma, urmston
20/12/2004 at 11:22

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