Mayhem on the Metrolink as snow wreaks havoc with signalling equipment

Every single line has been impacted by the adverse weather.

Author: Victoria GloverPublished 27th Feb 2018

Metrolink bosses say they're working to get services back to normal after snow affected signalling equipment.

The service has been plagued by a number of issues this morning from points failures, to a collision between a car and a tram.

Customer Service Representatives are at key stops and stations to help customers find the right trams or alternative transport methods so they can get on with their journeys.

A spokesperson said: "Teams of engineers are working at sites affected by issues to fix problems, and try and restore services to normal as soon as possible.

"Points have been prevented from working in locations at Bury and Cornbrook because of the heavy snow fall.

"Issues began at 7.07am this morning, when points at Cornbrook failed causing services to slow and stop in the area.

"At 7.08am, points at Bury failed to operate to allow services to pass through safely. Staff managed to work around the problem by operating services via one platform.

"At 7.28am, a car and a tram collided near to Clayton Hall on the Ashton line.

"At 8.05am, there was a further points failure at Cornbrook.

"These separate issues resulted in severe delays across the network and the decision was made to part suspend services on the Eccles Line, which was the least busy line, to allow services on the rest of the network to run as best possible.

"Metrolink staff arranged for tickets to be accepted on bus and rail services as well as requesting bus companies run bespoke services on the Eccles line. Full details of the bus and rail services that Metrolink tickets can be used on are available on the TfGM website www.tfgm.com and official Twitter account @MCRmetrolink.

"As well as trying to resolve the immediate issues, a specialist team has formed to plan how Metrolink services can best run for the extreme weather that is predicated for the rest of the week."