Snow won’t halt trams

Oldham’s trams will not be halted by the wrong kind of snow if there is ever a repeat of this winter’s appalling weather, Metrolink bosses have promised.

Modifications to the undercarriage will be carried out after road salt put many trams into the depot for repairs during the big freeze.

Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive’s Metrolink director Phil Purdy said some of the worst weather Greater Manchester has ever seen caused a high number of trams to fail in service after gritted roads caused an accumulation of a salty slush within the motor, causing short circuits.

Operator Stagecoach had to secure “a robust supply chain” to ensure that repaired traction motors were delivered to the depot in the shortest possible time.

General manager Carl Williams told Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority members that the position of compressors on the original 20-year-old trams were not suited to bad weather and vulnerable to damp. Engineers had fitted a device which stopped water getting in but not snow.

“We are now looking at a better way to deal with deep-lying snow,” he told the authority’s Rail and Metrolink Committee.

A report to the committee gives an insight into what Oldham can expect when trams eventually arrive in the town centre and the weather turns wintry.

Points heaters were kept on all night and the points were operated every 20 minutes while signalling and telecommunication technicians stood by at key locations during peak times in the event that points failed.

Stagecoach formed a team to remove snow and ice from stops, ramps, stairwells and platforms on the Bury line, while contractors were hired to do the same on the Eccles and Altrincham lines. There was constant monitoring of the stops during the adverse weather and removal teams were kept on call throughout.