Stagecoach takes rap for trams delay

The company behind Rochdale’s new tram services has been lambasted for its “bravado and buccaneering” in dealing with the upgrade of Metrolink lines.

Stagecoach is being blamed for a week of chaos following the month-long closure of lines between Manchester, Eccles and Altrincham.

Commuters who had been forced on to replacement buses throughout August were promised trams from 1 September.

But it wasn’t until the evening of 6 September when the full service was restored because of problems with overhead power lines.

As a result, all Metrolink passengers will travel free for one day in November as an apology.

Stagecoach has agreed to pay all the extra costs of the delays.

Councillor Andrew Fender, of the Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority (GMITA), said: “We have a culture clash here between the rather unfortunately maligned old school public sector approach of testing everything properly to the bravado and buccaneering private sector approach which just hopes that everything will be alright.”

Managing director of Stagecoach Light Rail, Andy Morris, said: “We would again like to apologise to the Metrolink customers who were affected by the issues encountered last week. In the two years that Stagecoach has maintained and operated the system, we have built a reputation for an extremely high standard of service delivery.

“We appreciate how important the Metrolink system is to the people and functioning of Greater Manchester. Any project which involves such complex technical installations can encounter unforeseen problems and we took our responsibility very seriously indeed to put these right.

“We expect an extremely high standard from the contractors and subcontractors we work with and we have already started reviewing the project to examine what lessons can be learned. We remain absolutely determined to ensure that we deliver a safe, reliable and high-quality Metrolink system to our passengers.”