Metrolink won’t stop on Drake Street

Plans to have a Metrolink stop on Drake Street are likely to be scrapped.

Papers for a meeting to be held on Friday (4 March 2011) by the Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority recommend that the ‘non provision of a stop on Drake Street’ is approved.

Removing the proposed stop from Drake Street means that passengers on the Metrolink wanting to visit shops on Drake Street will either have to alight at the train station or the town centre.

The report reads: “Assessment work has been undertaken and it is proposed to remove the Drake Street stop and deliver the Metrolink stop at Kingsway Business Park instead. Local traders and Elected Members for the area have been consulted and are in support of this proposal.”

The reason for the removal of the stop has been put down to an ‘over lap’ regarding the closeness of the train station stop and the town centre stop, at the side of the bus station.

The report adds: “The unnecessary duplication of catchment areas and the ability to improve the track alignment support the case for not providing the Drake Street stop, which is only 200m from the Rochdale Railway Station stop. This will also improve Metrolink journey times through Rochdale.”

However Philip Buckley, of Denis Hope, situated on Drake Street, said the way the ‘consultation’ to remove the proposed stop was presented didn’t give them any option.
Mr Buckley said: “As a trader obviously I would like a stop half way down. The way it was presented to us it seemed like that wasn’t an option.”

The report suggests that a stop at the Kingsway Business Park is approved instead.

“As indicated from consideration of the economic case, the non-provision of the Drake Street stop and the provision of a Kingsway stop overall generates no disbenefits to either the local area or to GMPTE’s business case for the Town Centre extension. The Kingsway Business Park stop makes a very significant positive contribution to the performance of Metrolink in Rochdale,” the report reads.