page_title: Manchester Metrolink
section_title: T-68/68A
hierarchical_section_title: Manchester Metrolink / Rolling stock / Former fleet / T-68/68A
caption_attribution_description: Greater Manchester Metrolink number 1006, an Ansaldo T68 (Phase 1) tram turns off Mosley Street, Manchester into Piccadilly Gardens with an inbound service for Manchester Piccadilly railway station service. Friday 25th July 2008
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: To commence operations, a fleet of 26 T-68 trams manufactured by AnsaldoBreda in Italy was delivered in 1992. To provide extra trams for the Eccles Line, six modified T-68A trams were purchased in 1999. The T-68A vehicles were based on the original T-68s but had modifications replacing destination rollblinds with dot matrix displays, and retractable couplers and covered bogies necessary for the high proportion of on-street running close to motor traffic.
  Three of the earlier T-68 fleet were similarly equipped and were known as T-68Ms. Mechanically and electrically, the T-68M vehicles were essentially a T-68 with modifications to its brakes, mirrors, and speed limiters to suit the Eccles line. Initially only these vehicles were permitted to operate the Eccles line but the entire fleet except for 3 (1018, 1019, 1020) were modified between 2008 and 2012 for universal running, under a programme known as the T-68X Universal Running programme.
  The newer M5000 trams proved to be considerably more reliable than the T-68/A fleet, which averaged 5,000 miles between breakdowns, while the M5000s averaged 20,000 miles. This led to a decision in 2012 to withdraw the entire fleet from service and replace them with M5000s. The T-68 and T-68As were withdrawn between April 2012 and April 2014.
  Tram no. 1007, the first to pass through the city centre on the opening day, is at Heaton Park Tramway, awaiting restoration.
caption: AnsaldoBreda T-68 in Manchester city centre in 2008.
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