New tram link through heart of city

Rochdale residents will ride into the heart of Manchester on a new £110m Metrolink line through the city.

Transport bosses have decided that Cross Street should be used for a second line because an alternative running along Deansgate would be less convenient — and cost £55m more.

A second crossing is needed because new links, including one from Rochdale, which will open between next year and 2013, will send far more trams through the city centre and far outstrip the operational capacity of the present line along Mosley Street and High Street.

Consultation will start next month on the second city crossing and a planning application will be lodged with the Government under the Transport and Works Act next autumn.

Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority’s capital projects committee chose the Cross Street option after hearing from officials that it is the only one which represents value for money.

The Deansgate route would have to miss out the Cornbrook interchange where the Eccles and Altrincham lines divide, meaning a longer journey time, and would need four new stops instead of two.

It would also conflict more with traffic, resulting in rush-hour delays. The authority’s chief executive, David Leather, said: “With such a large cost difference, the benefits of choosing Deansgate had to be very substantial indeed.

“In fact, the opposite is true. Deansgate does not come out on top for anything.”

The Deansgate option would involve trams leaving the Altrincham route before Cornbrook and going along Chester Road, underneath the Mancunian Way to join the one-time major shopping thoroughfare south of Liverpool Road.

The Cross Street route will include two stops, at Albert Square and the Market Street junction.