Power outage leads to major disruption on Manchester trams

Services have been suspended because of problems with overhead lines

Author: Liam ArrowsmithPublished 29th Apr 2025

Commuters are facing major disruption on trams in and around Manchester city centre due to a power outage.

A problem with overhead lines has completely suspended services on the Ashton line, while others are running buses between stops.

Transport for Greater Manchester has confirmed tickets will be accepted on buses and has released a list of affected services:

Bury - Victoria

Rochdale - Victoria (Shaw & Crompton service withdrawn)

Didsbury - Firswood

Manchester Airport - Firswood

Altrincham - Old Trafford

Trafford Park - Wharfside

Eccles - MediaCityUK

It is not yet known when the problem will be fixed.

TfGM’s Network Director for Metrolink, Ian Davies, said: “Due to a loss of power we are currently unable to run tram services across the city centre and other parts of the network.

“We are investigating this as a matter of urgency, with operator staff on site and across the network and apologise for the inconvenience this is causing.

“Given the nature of the incident we expect this could last for some time and potentially affect peoples’ journey home from school and work later.

“We will of course keep customers updated throughout the day and I’d encourage customers to check the Bee Network app, website and social channels for the latest information and advice.”

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.