Millions wasted on Metrolink plan, claims MEP

A MULTI-million-pound plan to bring trams along Oldham’s loop line has gone off the rails thanks to “stop-go” Government transport policies.

Euro-MP Chris Davies reckons the one-and-a-half-mile length of track from Freehold to Mumps — currently out of use while it is upgraded for Metrolink — will be closed forever within three years of trams first running along Union Street.

The Liberal Democrat claims hopes of an express service from Shaw and Derker to Manchester running alongside trams through Oldham town centre are certain to be dashed.

Mr Davies predicts that all track and electrification equipment on the loop line will be torn up and the rebuilt station at Mumps demolished as soon as the town centre route is complete.

He has been told by Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive officers that no estimate has been made of the cost of the work now taking place on the loop line, but he believes it tops £10million.

He said: “I am assured that the work will be done as cheaply as possible but the railway was said to be clapped out so the upgrading must be substantial or the trams will not be given a licence to operate.

“Tunnels and bridges will have been repaired, drainage improved, ballast and some track replaced, electrification equipment installed and stations at Werneth and Oldham Mumps improved or rebuilt.

“Some £84 million has been set aside for building the tram line through Oldham town centre so people can make their own guess about the cost of the work on the parallel railway.

“Every pound that will be lost represents a terrible return on precious investment. There will be bills to be paid for decades to come.”

Mr Davies claims that Government indecision and changing policies are the principal reason for the current dilemma.

He said that councillors of all parties have for many years made clear their wish to ensure that Oldham town centre was better served by public transport.

With Government funding unlikely, they took the opportunity to bring Metrolink trams to Oldham using the railway route.

Once funds for a town centre line were found it was too late to halt the work. Mr Davies added: “Nowhere else in Europe are the hands of local councils so tied by government when it comes to investment in public transport.

“Councillors here have taken the best decisions they could in the circumstances that prevailed.

“But we are left with a situation that is very unsatisfactory and the question is whether we can prevent the investment now taking place being wholly wasted.”

The Euro-MP wants local politicians to raise their sights and make provision for a long-term expansion of the tram system serving Oldham.

He added: “Everywhere else in Europe trams are built to supplement train services not to replace them. The plans here are very limited in vision.

We should be thinking about how the tram network could one day be extended to serve many other parts of the borough.

“Travellers to Manchester from Milnrow, Shaw and Derker will be short-changed by having to use trams that will have longer journey times than the trains they replaced.

“We should certainly keep alive the option of one day using the former rail route but this will only be practical when the tram network has been extended.

“Short-term thinking has been a folly that we should no longer indulge.

“For once, let’s not destroy assets that could be of future use, but let’s have the imagination to consider just how good transport in Oldham could one day be.”