Six-minute tram service to return on busiest lines

A six-minute service between East Didsbury and Shaw and Crompton will resume on September 6

More frequent trams are set to be reintroduced on Metrolink’s busiest lines from this week.

From tomorrow (Tuesday), trams will run every six minutes on the Bury and Altrincham lines at peak times (7am – 8pm, Mon – Sat), as part of a phased return to more frequent services on the network. 

This will be followed by the reintroduction of a six-minute service between East Didsbury and Shaw and Crompton on September 6.

Peak time services between MediaCityUK and Etihad Campus will be reintroduced in the coming weeks, subject to staff availability.

A temporary 12-minute network-wide service was introduced on August 6 to ensure the Metrolink operator could provide a more reliable and consistent service for customers following a significant increase in coronavirus-related staff absences.

The return to more frequent services follows the launch of the ‘It’s Time’ campaign, introduced to support the safe reopening of the region, ahead of the return to education and workplaces and as people get back to doing the things they love.

TfGM’s Head of Metrolink, Danny Vaughan, said: “The temporary service change was needed because of very high levels of covid-related staff absences – and I’d like to thank everyone for their understanding and for bearing with us during this extremely challenging period.

“While staff absences remain high, it is an improving picture, and we are now gearing up to reintroduce more frequent services across the network.

“This will be done in a phased approach ahead of the new school year, as more workplaces welcome staff back and we all start to get back to doing the things we love with family and friends.

“We will continue to use all available trams to target the areas where demand is highest, and I’d encourage people to still check before they travel and plan their journeys in advance.”

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