page_title: Manchester Metrolink
section_title: Phase 2: Salford Quays, Eccles
hierarchical_section_title: Manchester Metrolink / History / Construction / Phase 2: Salford Quays, Eccles
caption_attribution_description: A Manchester Metrolink tram running along streets in Eccles near Manchester. Photo by G-Man May 2005
context_page_description: Manchester Metrolink is a tram/light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. The network has 99 stops along 65 miles of standard-gauge track, making it the most extensive light rail system in the United Kingdom. Metrolink is owned by Transport for Greater Manchester and operated and maintained under contract by a Keolis/Amey consortium. In 2018/19, 43.7 million passenger journeys were made on the system.
  The network consists of eight lines which radiate from Manchester city centre to termini at Altrincham, Ashton-under-Lyne, Bury, East Didsbury, Eccles, Manchester Airport, Rochdale and Trafford Centre. It consists of a mixture of on-street track shared with other traffic; reserved track sections, segregated from other traffic, and converted former railway lines. It is operated by a fleet of Bombardier M5000s.
  A light rail system for Greater Manchester emerged from the failure of the 1970s Picc-Vic tunnel scheme to obtain central government funding. A light-rail scheme was proposed in 1982 as the least expensive rail-based transport solution for Manchester city centre and the surrounding Greater Manchester metropolitan area.
context_section_description: In Phase 2 the Metrolink network was extended westwards to Eccles along the new 4-mile (6.4 km) Eccles Line, as part of the 1990s urban regeneration of Salford Quays, increasing the total Metrolink route length to 24 miles (39 km). The extension cost £160 million (equivalent to £271 million in 2019) and was funded by the GMPTA, the ERDF and private developers. It was constructed 1997–99 by Altram (a consortium of Serco, Ansaldo and John Laing) and six new AnsaldoBreda T-68A trams were bought to operate services. The line was inaugurated by Prime Minister Tony Blair on 6 December 1999 and officially opened by Princess Anne on 9 January 2001.
caption: A (now retired) T-68A tram on the Eccles line, opened in 1999–2000 during Phase 2
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